The Santa Marija Convoy: Faith and Endurance in Wartime Malta, 1940–1942 by Dennis A. Castillo (review)

Dennis A. Castillo’s The Santa Marija Convoy: Faith and Endurance in Wartime Malta. 1940–1942 is an excellent addition to the scholarship on World War II in Malta. The dominant narrative point of view of this account is that of the faith of the people and the manner in which the Church, mainly through parish priests, lived and suffered among the faithful through three years of the worst aerial bombardment in history.

Castillo’s study delves into the major political context as it appeared just before war broke out in Malta on June 11, 1940. The tension between the British government and the pro-Italian nationalists took a turn once Italy entered the war. Issues of language and allegiance, as well as of the successor to Archbishop Mauro Caruana—head of the Catholic Church in Malta—came to the fore. The ongoing machinations between the Stricklands of the Constitutional Party and the suspicion with which the Holy See and Bishop Mikiel Gonzi were viewed form an ongoing backdrop to the unfolding narrative that concludes with the confirmation of Gonzi as archbishop in the last months of the war.

Against the political and strategic background, the highly personal accounts of individuals are brought to the surface. The roles of faith and courage are manifested through the dedication of priests, soldiers, and other brave individuals in the many micro-accounts that Castillo brings together in the telling of these events. The losses that were endured as the years of bombings wore the island down to rubble and chased its people into shelters hewn from rock is narrated through many firsthand accounts drawn from the diaries, memoirs, and interviews with survivors. The amount of detail provided as Castillo describes one air attack after another brings home the immense loss of human life; the families torn apart; the loved ones destroyed and discovered beneath the stone of their houses. After each attack the reader is given an account of the number of dead and injured; in addition, Castillo provides the names and the ages of the dead, which personalizes the statistics.

Whereas many accounts focus on the soldiers’ experience, or on the people and their faith, The Santa Marija Convoy places the experience of priests—particularly parish priests—at the heroic center of the book. Of these, Monsignor Emmanuel Brincat, archpriest of Senglea, stands out in this work as he did in his life. He stayed with his diminishing flock as Senglea, a prime target on the shore of the Grand Harbour, was worn down to rubble and ruin. The lives and deaths of priests, some caught hearing confessions as the bombs fell and so risked their lives in the performance of their duties (as occurred at the Sacro Cuor [Sacred Heart] Parish in Sliema), and others who spurned the safety of the shelters so as to offer comfort to those dying above ground, are testament to the work of faith in action.

The final section of The Santa Marija Convoy builds up the tension in much the manner of a thriller. The desperation of an island on the brink of starvation with only weeks to go before surrender is an indisputably high-stakes situation. The drama increases as people begin a novena leading to the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15 and a large convoy leaves Britain with supplies to alleviate the crisis. These circumstances begin to come together on August 13, when the first merchant ships enter the Grand Harbour, and end with the August 15 arrival of the battered tanker Ohio, still carrying its crucial supply of oil in its hold. This turning point of the war in Malta brings together the courage and heroism of the service personnel, the people, and their prayers in a finale of truly dramatic proportions, written with a hand...