Dom Mintoff’s Sister On Interdett: Our Nun Sibling Was Made To Sleep On Convent Floor
One of Dom Mintoff’s sisters has revealed some of the personal experiences her family and her underwent during the Interdett of the 1960s, the infamous period when the Church interdicted members of the Labour Party.
In an interview with Talk.mt, marking the 62nd anniversary of the Interdett, Mary Grech Mintoff said she heard that her sister – who was a nun – was seriously isolated by fellow members of the clergy during that painful period.
“My husband and I had just returned from Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe) and the Senglea parish priest’s sister came to me in a very panicked state,” she recounted.
“She asked me whether I heard that my sister was being made to sleep on a mattress on the floor at the convent. I couldn’t believe my ears, but according to the parish priest’s sister, this was happening to her because of the Interdett and because they knew she was my sister.”
“The parish priest’s sister went on to tell me that my sister was being isolated, and that no one was even sitting next to her during mealtimes.”
“This is what I was told. My sister never spoke about it and she is no longer with us. We were were very worried though. This is what we were told, so it is their word against the words of others.”
Grech Mintoff recounted other personal stories, including a confrontation that arose between her and the parish priest after he refused to bless her home and told her to keep the front door closed so that her neighbours wouldn’t know that he had skipped her.
“I told the parish priest that I always keep my door closed anyway, but that now he spoke I was going to leave it open and it was up to him whether to enter or not,” she recounted. “As he was in our street, a commotion arose after he entered a prostitute’s home, and people were angry that he was going to bless her home but not ours.”
“I told them not to blame the prostitute, but I also told the parish priest’s sister that since he skipped our house that day, he would no longer be allowed inside.”
A practicing Catholic, Grech Mintoff still felt that she was under the spell of the Interdett when her family moved to Rhodesia for work.
“A priest noticed that I was going to mass but not taking the Eucharist and I informed him that everyone who reads the PL’s newspapers was interdicted. He was stunned that such things were happening in Malta and said these rules didn’t apply in Rhodesia.”
Other tales include a confrontation with the nuns over suspicions that they had delayed before informing her that her sister had come down with a fever, and the Church’s refusal to baptise her own son.
Her son Ivan Grech Mintoff, who went on to become the leader of the small pro-Christian political party ABBA, ended up getting baptised by a Greek Orthodox priest.
Ivan Grech Mintoff
“I was very hurt by what happened, and I remember my mother telling me that the parish priest didn’t want to baptise me because I was the devil’s nephew,” he said.
Interdiction lasted for the greater chunk of the 1960s and was only lifted in 1969. It remains a dark stain on Maltese history and its after-effects are still being felt, particularly when clashes arise between the PL and the Church.
In 2019, Archbishop Charles Scicluna blessed Il-Miżbla (The Dump), the unconsecrated area of the Addolorata Cemetery where interdicted people were buried, and asked for forgiveness for the Church’s actions.
Cover photo: Left: Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff with his sister Mary Grech Mintoff, Right: A protest sign during the Interdett period (Photos: Talk.mt)
How can Malta fully heal from this period of its history?
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