Fr Emmanuel Magri, S.J.

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

(27 February 1851 in Valletta

Valletta

Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,098. The name "Valletta" is traditionally reserved for the historic walled citadel that serves as Malta's...

 - 29 March 1907 in Sfax

Sfax

Sfax is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD 849 on the ruins of Taparura and Thaenae, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate , and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has population of 340,000...

) was a Maltese

Maltese people

The Maltese are an ethnic group indigenous to the Southern European nation of Malta, and identified with the Maltese language. Malta is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea...

 ethnographer, archaeologist and writer.

Magri gave a significant contribution as a scholar through his collection of Maltese folk tales and lore. Working at the end of the 19th and the turn of the 20th centuries, Magri's important work saved for posterity ethnographic material which would have otherwise been lost through modernisation and more widespread education.

Fr Magri was also one of Malta's pioneers in archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

. He was a member of the first Committee of Management of the Museum of Malta alongside Antonio Annetto Caruana

Antonio Annetto Caruana

Antonio Annetto Caruana , also known as A.A. Caruana, was a Maltese archaeologist and author.Born in Valletta, Malta, Caruana showed an unusual proficiency in the knowledge of classical literature by his early adulthood. Graduating in Theology, he declined being ordained as a priest to marry Maria...

, N. Tagliaferro and Temi Zammit

Themistocles Zammit

Sir Themistocles Zammit was a Maltese archaeologist and historian, professor of chemistry, medical doctor, researcher and writer, serving as Rector of the Royal University of Malta and first Director of the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.-Career:After graduating in medicine from the...

. Fr Magri was entrusted with the excavation of the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni, a Megalithic Temple in Xewkija (Gozo), and a number of other sites in Malta and Gozo

Gozo

Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...

.

Born on 27 February 1851 in Valletta (Malta), Magri joined the Society of Jesus, in 1871. He was ordained priest in 1881 in Tortosa (Spain), and made the solemn profession of the last vows on 15 August 1890, in Istanbul (Turkey). As a Jesuit, Magri taught in a number of Jesuit College in Malta, and Turkey. He also served as Assistant of the Provincial of Sicily (1898–1902) and as Rector of the Seminary in Gozo (1902–1906).
Magri died unexpected on 29 March 1907 in Sfax, Tunisia, where he had gone to preach Lenten exercises and celebrate Easter for the Maltese community.