Paul Cremona

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His Excellency
Patri Pawl Cremona O.P.
Archbishop of Malta
Church Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese Malta
See Malta
In office 26 January 2007-
Predecessor Joseph Mercieca
Orders
Ordination 22 March 1969
Consecration 26 January 2007
by Joseph Mercieca
Personal details
Born (1946-01-25) January 25, 1946
Valletta
Nationality  Maltese
Previous post Parish priest, Sliema
Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}

Archbishop Paul Cremona O.P. is the 11th Archbishop of Malta and a Dominican friar. In Maltese, his full name and style is Monsinjur Patri Pawl Cremona. He was ordained to the episcopate and installed as Archbishop of Malta on 26 January 2007, the day after his 61st birthday.

Family life

Mgr Cremona arriving in Valletta as new Archbishop of Malta

Paul Cremona was born in Valletta on 25 January 1946 to Joseph and Josephine (née Cauchi). He has two siblings: an elder brother and a younger sister, he also has two second cousins both from Zabbar, Malta. Cremona was educated at the Montesseori School in Valletta and at the Lyceum in Ħamrun.[1]

Religious life and priesthood

In September 1962 he joined the Dominican Order, and was professed on 29 September 1963. He studied philosophy and theology at the College of St Thomas Aquinas located at the Dominican priory at Rabat. Cremona was ordained as priest on March 22, 1969.

After his priestly ordination, then-Patri Pawl Cremona was sent to Rome for higher studies in Moral Theology. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum where in 1973 he obtained a doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) with a thesis entitled The Concept of Peace in Pope John XXIII.

Cremona was elected Prior of Our Lady of the Grotto, Rabat in 1974, a position he held twice from: 1974-1980 and 1997-2003. He was Dominican Prior Provincial of Malta from 1981 to 1989.

In 1989 Patri Pawl Cremona was appointed Parish Priest of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Gwardamanġa, Pietà where he served until 1993; he then became responsible for the formation of Dominican novices and students at Rabat, an office he again held between 2004 and 2005. In 2005, Patri Pawl Cremona become Parish Priest of Jesus of Nazareth in Sliema.

Patri Pawl Cremona held other offices in the Archdiocese of Malta, including Archbishop's Delegate for Consecrated Life, assistant spiritual director at the Seminary at Tal-Virtù, Rabat, member of the Presbyterial Council, and president of the Council of Maltese Religious Major Superiors (KSMR). In 2007 as Archbishop, Cremona was appointed Grand Prior (for Malta) of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem with the rank of Knight Grand Officer.

As Archbishop of Malta, he is a popular preacher for Lenten sermons, and is an author in theology and spirituality, including writings on the Creed and the Commandments. He also wrote some works with Patri George Frendo O.P., now Auxiliary Bishop of Tirana-Durrës, Albania.

Mgr Cremona in Bologna, at St Dominic's Convent, July 3, 2007

Episcopal ordination

Paul Cremona was announced as the eleventh Archbishop of Malta on 2 December 2006.

The ordination took place on 26 January at the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Valletta. The Mass with the rites of ordination was led by the outgoing Archbishop of Malta, Joseph Mercieca, who was the principal consecrator, assisted by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Felix del Blanco Prieto and Bishop Patri George Frendo OP.

When the nomination of Patri Pawl Cremona was made public on 2 December 2006, the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Felix del Blanco Priete announced to journalists and the Presbyterian council meeting at the Curia in Floriana: "Pope John Paul II was received in Malta with unforgettable enthusiasm as 'the second [Saint] Paul'. Today as per mandate of Pope Benedict XVI the diocese is being entrusted to another Paul."

The new Archbishop invoked Bishop Saint Augustine: "For you I am a Bishop but with you I am a Christian."

References

  1. ↑ Bonnici, Eman (January 25, 2007). "Archbishop Elect of Malta". di-ve. Retrieved 2007-01-30. 

External links

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