The Bible’s irrelevance in Malta at the time of the Knights

There is, so far, absolutely no confirmation in Maltese records that the Holy Scriptures were ever printed or widely circulated in Malta during the rule of the Order of St John, in their original languages, in the Latin Vulgate edition, or in translation. Considering that Malta was, in that period, almost a Catholic theocracy, scarce evidence exists that the Bible enjoyed any widespread popularity among the knights, the lay population, or the ecclesiastical class itself.

In Malta, three religious entities uncomfortably shared between them the entirety of civil and spiritual power: the Grand Master of the religious Order of St John, the Bishop of Malta and the Inquisitor, all three directly subject to the ultimate jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome. And yet the living presence on the island of the fundamental books of the Christian faith is difficult to trace and to profile, quite likely because of their really minor relevance to local spiritual life, not to say their stark irrelevance.
No entire or partial printed translation of the Bible into Maltese is known to exist before the British period. The records of the Order’s printing press suggest that in 1757 (twice) and again in...