Rising of the Priests
| Rising of the Priests | |||
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| Part of the decline of the Order of Saint John | |||
Entrance to Fort Saint Elmo
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| Date | 8 September 1775 | ||
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Valletta, Malta 35°54′7″N 14°31′7″E / 35.90194°N 14.51861°E |
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The Rising of the Priests (Maltese: Ir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin), also known as the Maltese Rebellion of 1775 and the September 1775 Rebellion, was an uprising led by Maltese clergy against the Order of Saint John, who had sovereignty over Malta. The uprising took place on 8 September 1775, but was suppressed by the Order within a few hours. The rebels were then captured and some were executed, exiled or imprisoned.
The causes of the revolt can be traced back to 1773, when Francisco Ximenes de Texada was elected Grand Master upon the death of Manuel Pinto da Fonseca. Upon his election, Ximenes found a depleted treasury, so he introduced austerity measures, including reducing spending and increasing the price of corn. These made him unpopular, both with the clergy and the common people.
Ximenes issued an edict banning the hunting of hares (Maltese: Fenek tax-xiber), and was opposed by Bishop Giovanni Carmine Pellerano and the clergy. Other events also created tension between the clergy and the Order.
Due to the tension between the Order and the clergy, and the negative public opinion of Ximenes, some priests led by Don Gaetano Mannarino began to plot against the Order. They chose 8 September as the day of the rebellion, when the Order's ships were at sea with the Spanish Navy and Valletta was not well defended. A total of 28 clergymen and a larger number of laymen were involved in the planning of the uprising.
On 8 September 1775, the day of the revolt, only 18 of the 28 clergymen showed up. Despite this, Mannarino still decided to carry on with the uprising. A group of 13 people took over Fort Saint Elmo on the northern tip of Valletta, while the rest of the rebels captured Saint James Cavalier on the opposite end of the city. In both cases, the Order's flag was lowered and the banner of St. Paul was hoisted instead.
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Wikipedia