Salvino Azzopardi

Early childhood

Salvino, the fifth child of the Legal Procurator Philip Azzopardi and Giuseppina née Borg, and nephew of the servant of God, Eugenio Borg, his mother’s brother, was born on 20 June 1931 at Hamrun, Malta. He had his secondary schooling at the Lyceum and at an early age joined the “Lega”, the Hamrun Catholic Action “Milites Christi Regis”, where he became a catechist of the young aspirants.

Early Jesuit life

In 1947, at the age of sixteen, Salvino joined the Society of Jesus at Naxxar, Malta, following in the footsteps of his elder brother Anton who had joined the Society two years ahead of him. He emitted his first vows in 1949 at Naxxar, and then followed the normal course of studies in the Society: two years literature at Naxxar, three years philosophy at Vals in France, a year’s prefecting the boys at St Aloysius’ College, Malta, and another year at Clongows College, Ireland. Then four years of theology at Heythrop College, Oxon, England, where he was ordained priest on 31 July 1959. Fr Salvino did his Third Year of Novitiate in Florence, Italy, after which, i.e. in 1961, he was sent to the Gregorian University in Rome where in 1963 he took his Doctorate in Philosophy “cum laude”.

Academic life

Back in Malta in 1963, he was appointed House Minister at St Aloysius’ College, and a year later, in 1964, he succeeded in fulfilling his ardent desire to go to the Missions. In his first three years in India he filled the post of Secretary of the Bishop of Dumka and of the Regional Superior. He took his final vows on 2 February 1965 at Sahibganj in India.

But the Superiors realized that Salvino’s real bent lay in teaching philosophy. So in 1967 Fr Salvino was sent to Benares Hindu University to study Hindi, Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy. Yet again, his teaching pursuit was not yet to be, for in 1969 after Benares, Salvino was called to be the Rector of St Xavier’s College, Sahibganj, India. But God had other plans for him, for in 1971 Fr Salvino, to his great joy, was appointed professor of Modern and Indian Philosophy and Comparative Religions at De Nobili College, Pune, India, and from 1977 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1986 filled there also the post of dean of the faculty. He left Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth in 1990.

During his twenty years at Pune he lectured to hundreds of Jesuit students, diocesan seminarians and members of other religious orders, males and females, Indian and non-Indian. He possessed a particular charism of rendering his students fascinated by his vivid and lucid lectures. The hand-out notes he gave his students went round to other faculties and universities in India. Fr Salvino was several times invited to read papers on philo-theological subjects at International Congresses. He was a good speaker with solid intellectual material and practical ideas to transmit and ever stressing the bright and joyful side of our belief. It sometime happened that after a lecture or a homily the congregation rose up to applaud.

Back to Malta and more

After all those years of intensive intellectual activity in India, Fr Salvino began to feel his health wane. So in 1990 his Superiors advised him to return to Malta to regain his health. The doctors in Malta sent him to London for a heart by-pass surgery, after which he had to spend over a year convalescing in Malta. Fr Salvino aspired to go back to India, but could not. This was, however, providential, for in 1990 the Bishop of Gozo asked him to be the Rector of the Diocesan Seminary. Fr Salvino accepted with joy. He loved working for the formation of the future priests. At the Seminary he also lectured on Oriental Religions and gave spiritual talks and counselling to priests and to the people at large. Under the tutelage of the Bishop, Fr Salvino was mainly instrumental in bringing about the affiliation of the Gozo Seminary to the Dominican Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum in Rome. This was no easy task for he had to see to it that the conditions laid down by the “Angelicum” regarding professors, library, admissions, assignments, examinations and so on were properly adhered to. Fr Salvino had the onerous task of travelling several times to Rome to settle matters with the “Angelicum” authorities. After five years of rectorship in Gozo, Fr Salvino was in 1995 called by the Provincial to be his “Socius” (secretary). Furthermore, on a request by the University of Malta he was appointed visiting lecturer on Comparative Religions with special emphasis on Oriental Theology. His lectures and tutorials were so vivid and dialogical that he was once asked by one of his students whether he was really a Catholic priest or a Hindu sanyasi (Hindu monk) in disguise.

However, though Fr Salvino was happy to serve as Socius and a visiting lecturer, he thought that those offices did not fill his time and that he was underworked. So when in 1997 he received an invitation to the Professorship of Philosophy at the newly founded Atheneum in Sri Lanka, he grabbed this opportunity, even though he was well aware that now at the age of 66, one would normally go into retirement. He rejoiced that he would be entering another new world, the world of Buddhism, totally different from that of Hinduism with which he had been very familiar. His optimism and his apostolic zeal never failed him. He was ready for anything so long as he knew it was the will of God for him manifested through his Superiors. Fr Salvino left for Sri Lanka on 24 August 1997 Four years lecturing at the Philosophical Faculty at Sri Lanka gave him renewed vigour. With his characteristic smile and hearty laugh he became an inspiration to all around him. But the visa problem hit him again, and he was forced to return to his native country. In Malta he again accepted to lecture at the University of Malta, but he never abandoned his pastoral ministry. However, after two years his heart began again to show signs of failure, and this time it gave him serious trouble. He had consequently to give up his lecturing, even though he continued to help students privately with their theses.

Death

From 2001 onwards, Fr Salvino at Loyola House, Naxxar, carried on with his studies in Sanskrit, Greek and Hebrew. He was also the House historian and put in charge of various small offices. When his health did not permit him to move about freely he stayed in bed and spent time in prayer, listened to classical music and watched DVD films on his computer. His health grew worse. In 2006 the periodic but frequent severe bouts of stomach and pulmonary attacks made his life miserable. But he never lost his optimism, his cheerful smile and his hearty laugh, nor did he ever refuse to help anyone who asked for his assistance.

On 6 August 2006, the feast of Our Lord the Saviour, his namesake, Fr Salvino, feeling relatively well, accepted an invitation by his niece to lunch at her house. At about 3:00 p.m. he started feeling queer in his chest and hard to breathe. He was rushed back home, and the doctor ordered him straight to hospital. Fr Salvino in bitter pain and hardly able to breathe, received the last rites and just after 9:00 p.m. he died.

Biography

Azzopardi left Malta for Pune, India as a missionary in 1964. He belonged to the Maltese Province of the Society of Jesus and was lent to Dumka-Raiganj Province (formerly Santal Region) of the Society of Jesus, Jharkhand, India.

In India, he was primarily involved in teaching philosophy at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. Then in 1988, due to ill health, he returned to Malta. Later for a brief period of time, he went to Sri Lanka to start the Jesuit philosophate there. He was recalled to be made the rector of Gozzo Seminary. He died in 2006, at Naxxar, Malta.

Writings