First Metropolitan Archbishop of Malta. Born in 'Triq ta' Biswit il-Kwartier', Vittoriosa, on May 13, 1885 to Ġużè Gonzi and Margerita Tonna, Monsignor Count Sir Michael Gonzi KBE., D.D., was baptized at the local collegiate church of St. Lawrence. When he was five years of age, his family moved to Kalkara. Receiving his early education at Vittoriosa's primary school and later at the diocesan seminary of Floriana, he was ordained priest on December 19, 1908. Pursuing further studies at the University of Malta, he earned a bachelorship in literature and a doctorate in theology. Moving to Rome in 1909, he frequented the Pontifical Gregorian University, earning a doctorate in canon law and also attended the Biblical Institute. Back to his native island by 1912, he started lecturing Scripture and canon law at the diocesan seminary until 1922, when he began lecturing Scripture and Hebrew at the University of Malta. Rector of St. Paul's School in Valletta, Gonzi also served as spiritual director in government schools. During the Great War, he served as military chaplain at the Mtarfa Hospital and in 1919 was appointed 'defensor vinculi' for marriage cases. Elected as a Labour senator within the Malta Legislative Assembly in 1921, he resigned half-way into his term following his appointment as the fifth bishop of the diocese of Gozo by Pope Pius XI on June 13, 1924, an appointment which he received while serving as private secretary to Dom Mauro Caruana OSB. Monsignor Gonzi received his episcopal consecration on the following July 20. Holding this office for nineteen years until October 14, 1943, when he was named coadjutor of the diocese of Malta and bishop of the titular see of Lyrbe, three months later, following the demise of the named Dom Mauro Caruana, Gonzi succeeded as bishop of Malta. At the height of the Second World War, he helped greatly to alleviate the problem of hunger due to lack of grain in Malta, which could lead to the island's surrender. During a critical phase of the war, when supplies were running low, it was he who encouraged Gozitan farmers to put their hoarded grain on the market to bring down the price of bread. Such assistance from Monsignor Gonzi's end was given recognition when Governor Lord Gort arranged for Gonzi to meet King George VI in short visit of his to Malta in June 1943. When the diocese of Malta was elevated to a metropolitan see on January 1, 1944 by Pope Pius XII, Msgr. Gonzi became the first metropolitan archbishop of Malta. Instrumental in helping families without decent dwellings to find good houses, he commissioned the construction of apartments for families and was also the motor behind the construction of many new churches, erecting among others, fourteen new parishes. During his episcopate, the Marian congress was held in Malta in 1949, as was the Pauline Centenary in 1960. His tenure as archbishop of Malta was also marred with strained relations with the Labour Party particularly its leader Dom Mintoff. On March 17, 1961, Gonzi interdicted supporters of the Labour Party, specifically, the Party's executive committee, readers, distributors and advertisers in the party papers and voters and candidates of the party. Interdiction would be lifted in 1964 and peace with the Labour Party was only made in 1969, through the intervention of Monsignor Emmanuel Gerada. Retiring from the pastoral government of his see on November 30, 1976 at the age of 91, Gonzi was succeeded by Msgr. Joseph Mercieca. Created a KBE., entitling him to the title of Sir in the 1946 new year's celebrations, Gonzi was named assistant at the Papal Throne on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his episcopal consecration by Pope Pius XII in 1949. Later that year, he was conferred the degree of LL.D., (Honoris Causa), by the University of Malta and created Bailiff Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. That same year, he was created a Papal count for his works on behalf of the Papacy, a title created by Pope Pius XII. In 1963, Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain named Archbishop Gonzi a member of the Order of the Cross of Saint Raimond de Peñafort and two years later was appointed Commander of the Holy Sepulchre. Monsignor Gonzi passed away at St. Luke's Hospital, Guardamangia, on January 22, 1984. A tiny little man, who held however enormous dignity and was treated with huge reverence and respect especially in Rome, in spite of being a born leader, a zealous shepherd, a patriot and a reformer, who in spite of his age, oversaw the introduction of the first pastoral plan and initiated the administrative reform of the Maltese curia, his figure remains shattered to this day in the eyes of many following his strong stand in the politics of the island.