Miguel Juan Balaguer de Camarasa also known as Miguel Balaguer or Michele Balaguer (1597 – 5 December 1663) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

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 served as

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 1635 to 1663.

Biography

Miguel Juan Balaguer Camarasa was born in

Camarasa Camarasa is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Noguera (comarca), Noguera in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated at the confluence of the Segre (river), Segre and Noguera Pallaresa rivers. The Ca ...

, in Spain. Upon the death of Bishop Baldassare Cagliares, Grandmaster

Antoine de Paule Fra' Antoine de Paule (c. 1551 – 9 June 1636) was elected the 56th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (the Order of Malta) on 10 March 1623. He died on Malta thirteen years later, on 9 June 1636, after a long illness and at the age of 85 ...

and the council recommended that Balaguer be appointed bishop of Malta.

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...

accepted Balaguer's nomination and formally appointed him to the see of Malta on February 12, 1635. He was ordained bishop on February 18, 1635 and installed as Bishop of Malta on March 25, 1635. During his episcopacy Balaguer donated a wooden crucifix by Innocenzo da Petralia Soprano (1592-1648), a Franciscan friar from Sicily which today is found in the Chapel of the Holy Crucifix in

St. Paul's Cathedral, Mdina The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul ( mt, Il-Katidral Metropolitan ta' San Pawl), commonly known as St Paul's Cathedral or the Mdina Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mdina, Malta, dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle. The cathedral w ...

. Also Bishop Balaguer consecrated the oldest bell in Malta dating from Medieval times. The bell, christened Petronilla was, reconsecrated on August 7, 1645 and installed in its place in the cathedral's belfry."Island's oldest bell restored"
''

Times of Malta The ''Times of Malta'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Malta. Founded in 1935, by Lord and Lady Strickland and Lord Strickland's daughter Mabel, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in Malta. It has the widest circu ...

'', Malta, 22 October 2007. Retrieved on 22 July 2015. His episcopacy is characterised with accusations and conflict with lay persons, the Inquisitors and the

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

. There were numerous occasions where Bishop Balaguer was about to resign though at the same time he was needed to reform the much slacking diocese. He had a rather long episcopacy of 28 years. He died as a result of a stroke on December 5, 1663 at the age of 66.

References

* Bonnici, Alexander. ''I vescovi di Malta Baldassare Cagliares (1615-1633) e Michele Balaguer (1635-1663)''. Melita Historica, 5(2), 114–157. Malta Historical Society, 1969. L-Università ta'Malta

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balaguer Camarasa, Miguel Juan 1597 births 1663 deaths 17th-century Spanish people 17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Malta Spanish Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Malta