Maltese brother who escaped Nazi capture during WW2 to be beatified

A Maltese member of the Lasallaian brothers who narrowly escaped capture by the Nazis while studying in France during World War II, will be proclaimed ‘servant of God’ in the first step towards beatification.

Bro. Louis Camilleri, who died aged 87 in 2011, was a De La Salle Brother who survived persecution in France while attending his novitiate during World War II. He was the second of 11 siblings born to a working-class family in Zurrieq.

On Sunday, 31 March, Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna will initiate the cause for the beatification at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

Brother Louis was one of several Maltese novitiates who in May 1939 left with 10 others to France.

Students who remember Camilleri as a long-serving headmaster at Stella Maris College will also remember Brother Norbert (Angelo) Farrugia, a teacher of French, who had also accompanied Camilleri.

They disembarked at Marseille and then travelled to the Avignon reception house Notre Dame de Sept Douleurs. War broke out in September 1939, with eight of the original 12 Maltese students dropping out to return home. By May 1940, the Germans’ campaign against Belgium, Holland and France intensified, leading to the Nazi occupation of the northern part of the country.

In 1942, Louis and Norbert, together with another student-brother, Anthony Farrugia and Antonio Galea (Brother Edward), moved to St Maurice l’Exil, just south of Lyon, to pursue a three-year course of higher studies. There they suffered food scarcity and malnutrition at the height of the war as both Germany and Italy occupied Vichy France.

But they also feared being arrested by Nazi officers who had their sights on the community house, which was situated next to a railway line – the brothers were ordered to remove all trees concealing the rails so that the French resistance could not hide behind them and disrupt the lines.

When the Nazis discovered that the Maltese brothers had Brit­ish passports, they called at St Maurice L’Exile to ask about the Maltese Brothers. The director of the community house, Brother Vital, told the officers that the Maltese were no longer there.

Sensing yet more danger, it was decided that the Maltese brothers leave the house. Louis and Norbert packed their bags for Lyon, and Edward and Anthony headed for a large boarding school at Bezier, 100 km from Lourdes.

With both British and Vichy French passports in hand, Edward and Anthony boarded a train packed with German soldiers. Louis and Norbert fled with a false identity card, to the south of Caluire, in Lyons. Fortunately, none of the passengers on their train trip was asked to submit any documentation, despite the presence of German soldiers.

On his return to Malta, Bro. Louis dedicated his teaching career to the dockyard apprentices, who attended De La Salle College in Cottonera, before taking on leadership roles at De La Salle College, Stella Maris College, Gżira, including St Benild’s School, Sliema.

Bro. Louis is known by generations of teachers, parents and students, who came in contact with him and were influenced by him on both the academic and spiritual levels.

The beatification is being led by Bro. Rodolfo Meoli, Postulator General of the Congregation of the Brothers of Christian Schools. This is the first step which is conducted at Diocesan level. Further steps will be taken up once that of the Malta Diocese is eventually concluded, by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.