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- The Roman Patricanship
of Abela The
(joint) dignity of Patrician of Rome (L. Abela, P.
Abela, A. Abela, di Ferro, Surdo
and Testaferrata, 1590)
Footnote: The “Dignity
of Roman Patrician” was granted jointly to Monsignor Don Leonardo Abela, Bishop of Sidonia, Placido and Alessandro Abela his
brothers, and upon his three nephews ex sorore
Pietro di
Ferro, Ascanio Surdo and Paolo Testaferrata on the 11 June 1590 by the Roman Senate.
In 1878, this dignity was
claimed by Pietro Paolo Testaferrata-Abela-Moroni, Augusto
Testaferrata Abela,
Monsignor Salvatore Grech-Delicata-Testaferrata
Cassia-De Piro, Lorenzo Antonio Cassar-Desain, ne”
Testaferrata, Saverio
De Piro and Felicissimo
Apap-Pace-Bologna.
However, in
this case, although it appears that the claimants presented various documents
in proof of their claim, the Royal Commissioners dismissed all the claims
because, the same Commissioners decided not only that the claimants did not
provide proof of the dignity ever being registered or recognized by the local
sovereign BUT ALSO because the same Commissioners held that this dignity was a
mere municipal honour and not one emanating from a
foreign sovereign, or fons
honorum. (“Correspondence and Report of the Commission
appointed to enquire into the claims and grievances of the Maltese Nobility”,
May 1878, presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty
(C.-2033.) (See Report Para. 239)).
Thus, as far as the
Commissioners were concerned, once they regarded this dignity as a municipal
honour, it did not fall within the remit of the Commission because the
Commissioners were of the opinion that once it is a municipal honour it does
not qualify to be registered in accordance with the rules of 1739 and 1795 as
enacted by Grand Masters Despuig
and Rohan.
The actual report says the
following:
“This
diploma was entered in the Civil Acts of the Inquisition in Malta on the 26th
August 1689, but was never registered in the Government offices according to
the enactments of Grand Masters Despuig
and De Rohan.
“The
foregoing remarks (the said instruments were never registered in the Court of
the Castellania, or in the Cancelleria of the Order; nor
have the claimants produced any proof of its having ever been recognized by the
local sovereigns) apply also to another Privilegium,
obtained on the 11th day of the calends of June of the year 1590, from the
Roman senate, by which the honour of Roman
citizenship and the dignity of Roman Patrician were conferred upon Monsignor
Don Leonardo Abela, Bishop of Sidonia,
Placido and Alessandro Abela
his brothers, and upon his three nephews ex sorore Pietro
di Ferro, Ascanio
Surdo and Paolo Testaferrata, and their children and grandchildren. “..This
distinction is claimed by the following gentlemen referred to in the committee
list, who contend that they are the lineal descendants of some of the original
grantees, viz. Dr. P.P. Testaferrata Abela, Augusto Testaferrata Abela, Monsignor Don
Salvatore Grech Delicata, Lorenzo Casar Desain,
and the Marchesi Saverio De Piro and Felicissimo Apap.
For the reasons already stated we refrain from making any inquiry in order to
ascertain whether the claimants descend or not from the said grantees.”
However, upon a more detailed
analysis about the nature of this dignity, it appears that contrary to what was
held by the Commissioners, that the 1590 dignity is in fact a conferral of
nobility because the city of Rome acted as a fons honorum (fountain of honour).
See also http://cilialacorte.com/Patriciates.htm.
From a reading of the Report,
it appears that of the six persons asserting a claim in 1878 to this dignity,
not all were descended in the agnatial
line of the (joint) grantee from whom they were claiming. Whilst it is clear
that the Testaferrata claimants were claiming by
virtue of their agnatial
descent from Paolo Testaferrata, it is unclear
whether the basis of the other claimants was also being made in virtue of a female
descent from Paolo Testaferrata or from another
(female) descent from one of the other original (joint) grantees.
Updated January 2007