Honouring the memory of Oliver Friggieri

(27 March 1947 – 21 November 2020)

On Saturday afternoon (22.11.2020), the late Oliver Friggieri’s daughter Sara posted on her Facebook page to say that her father had passed away peacefully.  The news reached every corner of the Maltese islands and in a couple of hours, hundreds of messages expressing sympathy and condolences invaded Facebook and the social media.

Poet, literary critic, philosopher, novelist and ‘soul of the nation’; these are only but a few of the titles that have been given to the late Oliver Friggieri.  Born in Floriana in 1947, after his secondary education he entered the archdiocesan seminary to prepare for the priesthood.  However, after some time, he felt a different calling and left seminary: his vocation was a different one altogether.  He became Malta’s foremost thinker, his voice becoming synonymous with all that was truly Maltese within a European and Christian context.  It has to be said that he never failed to remain faithful to his Catholic upbringing and the Christian ethos in which he was born and bred.  He wrote poetry, novels, philosophical articles, essays in literary criticism and last but not least a dictionary of literary terms.  His autobiography Fjuri li Ma Jinxfux (Flowers that never wither) will remain one of the most read in Maltese literature for many years to come.  Married to Eileen, he is survived by her and his only daughter Sara since his two sons died quite young as his renowned poems testify.  

Humble to the point of being meek, Oliver Friggieri will be remembered in the collective memory as a literary giant whose main aim was simply that of giving Maltese literature to the people and helping us to understand better the Maltese soul.  We would like to suggest to our readers to take the opportunity to read his trilogy Ġiżimin li Qatt Ma Jiftaħ, It-Tfal jiġu bil-Vapuri and La Jibnazza Niġi Lura, some of which also made it to the local television screens.

From this website, we would like to express our sympathies to his dear wife and daughter and to his extended family, relatives and friends.  Embracing the prolific literary output that he has left us, he could now easily repeat with national poet Dun Karm – the poet he loved most and to whom he dedicated a good number of researched studies –  Non omnis moriar (I do not entirely die) – Ma mmutx għal kollox.  Dear Oliver, may God grant you eternal peace!

 Article by Fr. Geoffrey G. Attard