Nazzareno Camilleri

Nazzareno Camilleri
Born November 10, 1906
Sliema, Malta
Died 1973 (66 years)
Rome, Italy
Occupation Philosophy, Education, Ascetism

Nazzareno Camilleri (1906–1973) was a Maltese philosopher, theologian, and mystic. His areas of specialisation in philosophy were chiefly metaphysics and pedagogy.[1]

Life

Beginnings

Camilleri was born at Sliema, Malta, on November 10, 1906.[2] Since his family lived very close to the Salesian oratory there, he was familiar with the Salesians from a very tender age. He joined them at the young age of fifteen, in 1921, and immediately sent to Sicily to continue his studies at San Gregorio di Catania.

He studied there up till 1926, when subsequently he was enrolled at the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome to pursue his institutional studies for the priesthood. There he successfully completed his philosophy (1926–29) and theology (1931–35) courses. Between the two (1929–31), he was sent for a short stint to Sicily to teach at San Gregorio di Catania. He was ordained a priest in Malta in 1934.

Pre-war and war periods

After finishing his studies in Rome, Camilleri was sent to Rome, to the Salesian oratory situated close to the Catacombs of San Callisto. Here he was appointed professor of theology and Prefect of Studies.

Camilleri stayed there for two years, until 1937. He was afterwards sent to teach moral theology at the Don Bosco International Institute at the Crocetta, Turin. Here he stayed for another two years, at the end of which he successfully completed his doctorate in theology.

In 1940, when Italy entered World War II on the Axis side, Camilleri was interned, since, as a Maltese citizen, he was a British subject. He spent the war period in the north of Italy, first at Chieri (1940–42), then at Montalenghe (1942–45). At Chieri he was Director of the Salesian theology students; at Montalenghe, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy.

At Turin, Rome and death

After the end of the war, Camilleri was back at Turin as Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Salesian Pontifical University. He stayed in this office for nine years (1945–54), teaching dogmatic theology and ascetism. Afterwards, at the same university, he taught at the Institute of Pedagogy and Religious Studies (later, in 1956, called the Faculty of Educational Sciences) eleven years, up till 1965.

At the close of that academic year (1964–65), the whole of the Turin branch of the university was assimilated by the Rome branch. Thus Camilleri continued to teach at Salesian Pontifical University in Rome for another year, retiring from his teaching profession due to ill health in 1966..

He died in Rome in 1973, in aura sanctitatis (in fame of holiness). He was buried at the Cemetery of Genzano in Rome within the chapel of the Salesians.

Sainthood

Twenty-one years after Camilleri’s death, in 1994, the Salesians began the process for his canonisation. The so-called Evidential Statements of Witness to his heroic virtues were published in 1989. Camilleri bears the title of Venerable.

Works

Unpublished Journal

Between September 1923 and February 1973 (nine days before his death), Camilleri held a diary which was never intended to be published or even read by others.[3] Its Italian publishers call it Diario Intimo (Intimate Journal). Unfortunately, only short extracts of this remarkable document have ever been published. It runs over twenty-eight registers containing in all some four thousand pages. They are held at the archives of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome.

Representative writings

The following works are probably the most representative works of Camilleri’s philosophical thought and speculation.

Other works

The following are the other published works of Camilleri. Though no review is provided here, any one of these works might be of interest to philosophy, especially for a holistic view of Camilleri’s philosophy.

Articles

Camilleri published some 360 articles. These have still not been classified or compiled, much less studied or analysed. The articles were published in journals such as the following:

Abroad

Salesianum, Orientamenti Pedagogici, Rivista di Pedagogia e Scienze Religiose, Perfice Munus, Doctor Communis, Catechesi, Didascalia, Settimana del Clero, Meridiano 12, Rivista dei Giovani, Presenza Cristiana (Catania), Bollettino Salesiano, Voci Fraterne, Le Campagnie, Can Roma, Teatro dei Giovani, Il Salesiano Coadiutore, Unione, L’Osservatore Romano, Il Nostro Tempo, and Il Popolo Nuovo.

In Malta

Buttlettin Salesjan, Lehen is-Sewwa, Il-Hajja, The Future, Times of Malta, Il Ponte, and Malta.

Appreciation

The intellectual, professional and practical work of Camilleri was all related to education, particularly the youth education. Well known for his personal holiness, Camilleri possesses a formidable speculative mind. In his teaching and writings he communicates the security and finesse he encountered in the philosophy and theology of scholasticism linked, however, to the insights and sensibleness he read in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Camilleri cherished a deep affection for the thinking of Thomas Aquinas, and desired that his students learn to read him attentively and interpret him faithfully. Camilleri was no arid or repetitive Thomist. Intellectually, he harboured an active mind. In this some compared him to Antonio Rosmini.

On the other hand, Camilleri was not attracted to positive research for its own sake. He always seems to have seen his philosophical studies in the context of concrete life, particularly the Christian way of life. His objectives were speculative, one might say, but always at the service of practicality.

Much research and study is still to be done on the philosophy of Camilleri. Though the outlines are known, the specific knowledge of his philosophy is as yet unidentified.

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ↑ Montebello (2001), Vol. I, pp. 66–67
  2. ↑ For other biographical details, see also Eugenio Valentini (1975) and Valentini (1979).
  3. ↑ Valentini (1975)
  4. ↑ Montebello (2001), Vol. II, p. 32
  5. ↑ Montebello (2001), Vol. I, p. 23
  6. ↑ Montebello (2001), Vol. II, p. 136
  7. ↑ Montebello (2001), Vol. I, p. 6
  8. ↑ UPS, 2-C-2599.

Sources

  • Montebello, Mark (2001). Il-Ktieb tal-Filosofija f'Malta [A Source Book of Philosophy in Malta]. Malta: PIN Publications. ISBN 9789990941838. 
  • Valentini, Eugenio, ed. (1975). Don Nazareno Camilleri nel suo 'Diario Intimo' [Nazzareno Camilleri in his 'Intimate Diary']. Collana Spirito e Vita 3. Rome, Italy: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano. 
  • Valentini, Eugenio, ed. (1979). Don Nazareno Camilleri: un Maestro di Vita Spirituale [Nazzareno Camilleri: a Master of Spiritual Life]. Collana Spirito e Vita 2. Rome, Italy: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano. 
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