Breaking a long tradition of naming State schools after Maltese personalities such as Mikiel Anton Vassalli and Vincenzo Bugeja, Education Minister Louis Galea announced on Monday that nine out of 10 newly launched State colleges will be named after Catholic saints.
Of these, only one – St Gorg Preca – has any real connection with Malta: the rest appear to have been selected at random from a hagiography manual, with little or no thought given to local relevance. The tenth school will be named simply “Gozo College”.
Explaining the rationale behind this curious decision, the Education Ministry’s PRO Claude Sciberras claimed that the idea was to minimise confusion. “In our experience, schools named after non-religious personalities are rarely referred to by their proper name. Instead, people refer to ‘Tal-Verdala’ or ‘Ta’ Bormla’. However, established schools with names like Marija Regina and San Guzepp all retain their original names.”
But the decision to name nine out of 10 colleges after saints has been widely interpreted as yet another nail in the coffin of Malta’s secularity, already under siege by a government which has actively resisted any legislation falling foul of Catholic doctrine: divorce being but one example of many.
Edward Fenech, financial spokesman for Alternattiva Demokratika/The Green Party, complained in a letter published in this newspaper (see page 23) that “the decision smacks of neo-clericalism and Catholic nepotism.”
“These colleges belong to our state, and our state is secular,” Fenech wrote. “The attempt to brand these state schools as Church schools is an insult to all those who are not Catholic as well as an affront to others who uphold the separation between Church and state.”
Fenech also appears to be hinting that Louis Galea’s choice of nomenclature may further blur an already hazy demarcation line between Church and State schools. Church schools in Malta are already subsidised by the government thanks to the Church-State agreement of 1992. To add to the confusion, private schools such as St Edwards’ College, St Martin’s and San Andrea are also named mainly after Catholic saints.
From this perspective, the decision may prove to be a first step in the government’s gradual appropriation of Church schools, which are widely believed to be financially unviable under the present set up. If so, this would prove a remarkable volte-face for a government which rode into power in 1987 after a Titanic struggle precisely to stop an aggressive State takeover of Church schools.
Elsewhere, Luxembourg-based Maltese blogger Jacques Rene Zammit also commented unfavourably on his blogspot, www.jaccuse.wordpress.com.
“Sometimes I find the secular vs religious debate nauseating,” Zammit decreed. “Sometimes I find the liberal element exaggeratedly defensive and over-reactionary to manifestations of faith in Malta. But this time I really have my doubts. Did we really have to give State schools such a religious twist? What would have been wrong with Temi Zammit College?”
Questions sent to the Education Minister on Monday on the subject of the new colleges and their names remained unanswered by the time of going to print. But it appears that, after Justice Minister Tonio Borg’s resolve to entrench an abortion ban in the Constitution, as well as the President’s threat to precipitate a Constitutional crisis if parliament legislates in favour of divorce, Louis Galea evidently considers himself next in line for canonisation in a long list of blessed Nationalists.

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College of Saints
A few of the names and their significance

1. St George Preca: not to be confused with his dragon-slaying namesake, Preca is the only one of the nine saints commemorated who has any local connection whatsoever. Born in Valletta in 1880, Preca founded the MUSEUM in Hamrun with a view to spreading the word of God. Initially viewed with suspicion by the Church, he was eventually accepted by Archbishop Caruana. Preca was canonised on June 3 2007.

2. St Benedict – A somewhat obscure monastic figure with little or no local following, Benedict was presumably chosen in honour of the current Pontiff, Benedict XVI ne Joseph Ratzinger. Also known for the potent alcoholic beverage brewed by his Belgian devotees, and marketed under the name “Benedictine”.

3. St Thomas More – Britain’s first lay Lord Chancellor, More’s chief claim to canonisation took the form of his headstrong resistance to Henry VIII’s plans to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1527. A fitting choice, then, for a government which has itself resisted the introduction of divorce for decades…

4. St Nicholas – Fondly known as Santa Claus in the USA (as well as “Il-Krismiss Fader” in other places), this jolly, obese, red-clad elderly gentleman is believed to reside in the company of numerous elves at the North Pole, from where he travels the globe on the night of 24 December to deliver presents to all good little girls and boys. ‘Nuff said.

5. St Clare of Assisi is also the patron saint of “sore eyes”. As there are plenty of eyesores in Malta, her choice is somewhat appropriate.