Louis Farrugia (1857–1933) was a Maltese
theologian and minor
philosopher. In philosophy he was mostly interested in
Scholasticism and
literature.[1] No portrait of him has been identified up till now.
Life
Farrugia was born at
Valletta,
Malta, in 1857. After becoming a diocesan priest, he occupied various high offices both in the local
Catholic Church and at the
University of Malta. His ecclesiastical services were recognised by more than one
Pope. He was also private secretary to the
Bishop of
Malta, Peter Pace, and President of the Ecclesiastical Tribunals in
Malta.
Academically, Farrugia taught
Latin at the local Lyceum for many years, and taught also philosophy and theology at the
bishop’s minor seminary and at the
University of Malta. At the university, Farrugia was also appointed Member of the General Council for six consecutive times.
Farrugia died in 1933 at 76 years of age.
Works
Farrugia published more than fifty works. Most of them are of a religious or devotional nature with no interest to philosophy. Two publications, however, are of some philosophical value, namely the following:
1884 – Della Necessità della Lingua al Progresso dell’Uomo (On the Need of Language for the Progress of Man).[2] A 20-page pamphlet in Italian published in
Malta (Zefirino Micallef Tipografia) in which Farrugia elaborates on various literary themes around the concept of human progress. The work reproduces a talk given by Farrugia on September 6, 1884, at Flores College,
Valletta. Throughout the talk he cites various authors, such as
Dante, Manicino, Soave, Blames and others.
1895 – De Scholastica et Præsertim Thomistica Philosophia (On Scholasticism and Particularly on Thomistic Philosophy).[3] A 16-page pamphlet in Latin published in
Malta (Emm. Laferla) dedicated to adolescentibus clericus (young clerics). In this short work Farrugia systematically presents a brief exposition of the Aristotelico-Thomist
Scholastic system of philosophy.
References
^Mark Montebello, Il-Ktieb tal-Filosofija f’Malta (A Source Book of Philosophy in Malta), PIN Publications, Malta, 2001, Vol. I, p. 161.