Baldassare Cagliares ( 1575 – 4 August 1633) was a Maltese

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

prelate who was the

Bishop of Malta The Archdiocese of Malta (Malti: ''Arċidjoċesi ta' Malta'') is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in Malta. History Tradition claims that St. Paul the Apostle established the diocese of Malta in the year 60 A ...

from 1615 until his death.

Biography

Baldassare Cagliares was born in

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

in around 1575; this year is approximate and the exact day and month are not known. His father was of Spanish descent and his mother was a Maltese from

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...

. Cagliares was appointed as Bishop of Malta by

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

in 1615, when he was 40 years old. Cagliares was a person who loved art and lived in a period when the church and state were competing to carry out the best works of art. He was also the only Maltese Bishop chosen to lead the Diocese of Malta when Malta was under the rule of the Order of St John between 1530 and 1798. During his episcopate, he built the Bishop's Palace in Valletta and numerous residences in various localities around Malta such as in

Żejtun Żejtun ( mt, Iż-Żejtun ) is a city in the South Eastern Region of Malta, with a population of 11,218 at end 2016. Żejtun is traditionally known as Città Beland, a title conferred by the grandmaster of the Order of the Knights of Malta, F ...

, the

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

in Gozo and

Buskett The Buskett Gardens ( it, Boschetto) forming one of the few woodland areas in Malta, are located in the fertile valley of ''Wied il-Luq'' in Rabat. The 30 ha site lies to the west of Siġġiewi (Città Ferdinand) and just east of Dingli. The ...

. Cagliares also established a number of parishes such as that of

Qrendi Qrendi ( mt, Il-Qrendi) is a village in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 2752 people as of March 2014. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siggiewi. Within its boundaries are two well-known Neolithic temples called ...

in 1618 and restored the parish of

Dingli Dingli ( mt, Ħad-Dingli) is a village in the Northern Region, Malta, Northern Region of Malta, with a population of 3,865 as of 2021. It is from the capital Valletta and two kilometers () from the nearest town, Rabat, Malta, Rabat. The vill ...

by appointing a rector for the local church of the village which was left without a priest for a number of years. Cagliares died on 4 August 1633 at the age of 58 after 18 years as bishop.

Biography

References

Further reading