The Marquises of San Vincenzo Ferreri.
- (Recognised by the Committee of Privildges of Nobility in Malta and not in Italy) Titled: Agnese Gera de Petri, as the 9th Marchioness.
- (Her son) Heir: Daniele Gera de Petri, as the Marchesino di San Vincenzo Ferreri.
- (Limited to Males to male descendants only-acknowledged in Italy) Titled: Joseph Phillip Testaferrata Bonici as the 9th Marquis di San Vincenzo Ferreri and Testaferrata.
- Heir-next Male: (his cousin) A male descendant of Publio Testaferrata and Regina Galizia.
The Title of Marquisate di San Vincenzo Ferreri was created on the year of 1716 by King Philip V of Spain, Sicily and Naples, with reminder to his legitimate and natural male descendants in perpetuity.
Mario Testaferrata de Robertis, was later created Marquis Testaferrata in 1717 (see Testaferrata) .
Mario Testaferrata de Robertis was the father of the Marquisate Testaferrata-Olivier, Cassar-Desain, Testaferrata,and the Barony of Tabria and Qlejja.
Most of the nobility can claim Mario as an ancestor. Mario married three times, with a large family, and died in 1747.
Mario Testaferrata who became the Marquis di San Vincenzo Ferreri had three sons, two of whom too minor Orders. Both the Marquis and his brother, Canon Testaferrata, admitted on various occasions that it was always theri intention that the cadets of the family would accept an eccelesiastical life. Lorenzo, the 'secondogenito' of Mario, was the first to become a cleric, being encouraged to do so by a promise made by his father and uncle to present his family benefices which, they claimed, provided 500 scudi annually. On the Morning of the 11 April 1797, Mario and his son Lorenzo returned from Messina. Two days after the arrival, the Marquis wrote several letters to his eldest son Giuseppe, who had remained in Messina. The Marquis complained that Lorenzo does not want to wear black socks and, moreover, he parades the streets of Valletta wearing white socks, slippered shoes and long hair tied at the back like a layman. His uncle, the Canon, was also very disturbed and wrote that 'the whole city was gossiping, and referring to Lorenzo as Mad'. At the age of 27, Lorenzo decided that he could no longer comply with the wishes of his father and those of his 'stupid and foolish uncle'. He declared that he had never wished to become a cleric and he 'did not want to have anything to do with black clothes or ecclesiastical property'. This made the Marquis and the Canon furious and their subsequent letters are full of references to Lorenzo as 'PAZZO'. They quickly decided that Filippo, the 'terzogenito' must become a cleric, and they instructed him to approach Bishop Labini with a request that he may receive the first tonsure. They argued that 'Filippo' had said on various occasions, that he would gladly receive the benefices. Filippo subsequently became a cleric. The Testaferrata, like other noble families, were thus able to retain most of their benefices.
A despute, which appears to have shocked everyone, involved Marquis Mario, the first Marquis of the Testaferrata family. Mario was involved in an incident which was called 'un successo cosi scandaloso'. The Bishop, Cocco Palmeri, had expressly forbidden the Valletta Jurats to drape their church bench with green damask. On the morning of sunday, 26 June 1707, a mass was being celebrated in the church of St Paul Shipwrecked. Just after the Host had been consecrated, Mario Testaferrata, followed by three other Jurats, entered the Church. Immediately behind them was the 'Gran Visconte' accompanied by a number of 'sbirri' carrying a sack containing green damask. They marched up the central aisle intent on nailing the cloth to the Jurats bench. Among the surprised congregation there was the Bishop's Profiscale, who warned Testaferrata not to disturb the divine service, and instantly snatched the sack from the sbirri. Immediately, the Profiscale was violently manhandled and thrown to the ground by Mario's faithful sbirri.
As a sequal to this incident, Testaferrata and his associates were publicly excommunicated by the Bishop. Moreover, Mario was sentence to six months imprisonment in the castle by the Judges of Grand Master Perollos. He was removed from the Office of Jurat. He obtained his release in January 1708, but Mario was determined to apply to the Sicilian Monarchy for the revocation of his excommunication. The Grand Master did his utmost to dissuade Testaferrata from this course of action, but relising his determination the Grand Master signes the necessary permits for him to leave Malta. On 14 April 1708, Testaferrata boarded ship for Sicily, but was later put ashored since the crew refused to sail with a 'publico scomunicato' because they were afraid of 'il divino Castigo'. A week later Mario boarded a Sicilian schooner, and news of his arrival in Palermo reached Malta at the beginning of June that year. The Monarchia di Sicilia arbitrarily revoked the excommunication and granted Mario a Patent which placed him beyond Ecclesiastical jurisdiction. On the 18 July, Cardinal Paolucci, the Papal Secretary of State, ordered both the Inquisitor and the Bishop to imprison Mario Testaferrata should he ever return to Malta. Paulucci was assured that his instructions would be carried out to the letter.
Testaferrata continued to reside in Palermo and had no intention of returning to Malta. Since this frustrated the plan of Cardinal Paolucci, the Inquisitor of Malta then suggested that, if Mario's properties were to be sequestrated, he would obliged either to return to the island or go to Rome. Paolucci accepted this strategem, and Mario's properties were sequestrated. However, even this plan misfired. In september, the Sicilian Monarchy denounced the confiscation and decreed that Testaferrata must be compensated. To ensure that this would happen the Mensa Vescovile in Sicily was requisitioned and Testaferrata allowed to enjoy the revenue from the Bishop's properties which included the lands of Lentini.
When the Bishop found himself in financial difficulties he requested Perollos to pay him 3000 scudi out of the Order's coffers in compensation for loss of revenue from his Sicilian properties. Besides, Mario's estates in Malta did not prove to be so lucrative snce their previous owners had been in debt with various legatees. When the Bishop's request was not complied with, he commented 'that at all cost the Grand Master intended to impoverish him'. However the only compensation that he got from Perollos was ab invitation to dinner, but on entering the dining hall, the Bishop lost his appetite when he saw that his chair was draped in green velvet!
Testaferrata was more fortunate. His services were recognised by King Philip V of Spain and the two Sicilies who made him Marquis di San Vincenzo Ferreri in the Kingdom of Naples. The letter-patent recorded that Mario was ennobled 'in consideration of what he had to endure for the defense of the Royal prerogatives.
The Marquis Mario Testaferrata had three sons, two of whom, Lorenzo and Filippo, did nothing to enhance the family name. Lorenzo, a cleric, fathered 'several children' by Angela Attard, the daughter of the family coachman. Filippo, also a cleric, had 'bastard sons' by one of the family maids, Vincenza Falanca. Eventually both brothers married the mothers of their children, this nearly drive their father completely mad. Fortunately for these noble cadets, as Lorenzo and Filippo are described-the Marquis who was 'feeble-minded and scarcely capable of managing his own affiars, was on even worse terms with his eldest son, Giuseppe the Baron di Tabria. Resulting from all the bad feelings towards the eldest son, Lorenzo was granted the prerogative of the family benefices and also allowed, by his father, to buy the family palazzo in Valletta, together with all its contents. On the other hand, Filipo was their heir to the Castelletti entail. These actions appear rather strange in view of the Marquis's former attitude towards his younger sons, and would appear to bear out the above statement on his mental state. This is even more astonishing since Mario, in his will, had excluded all bastards, even though they may have been legitimsed at law. He appears, however to have, possible inadvertently, left a loophole by withdrawing the exclusion in the case of those bastards legitimised by subsequent marriage, provided that the marriage was not contracted with an ignoble female.
His eldest son Enrico succeeded as the 2nd Marquis, marrying Feliciata Cassar-Desain from the Wealthy Primogenture Cassar-Desain.
The 3rd Marquis, elder son of the 2rd Marquis, marrying a daughter of the 1st Count Sant .
The Barons Pisani and Galea-Feriol, Marquis Testaferrata and Count Sant were the first titled Jurats ever to serve together in 1776.
Under the French occupation, the parents had to pay 800 livres for their sons' board and lodging, and 600 livres for their passage on board French warships. The chosen studnets had to waer 'blue trousers and waistcoats, red cuffs, and facing and white pipings'. Those families who refused to send their sons to France were to be fined 1000 scudi. Among those who were intially chosen were the young Count Fontani, the three sons of Count Sant, and four other boys whose fathers were respectively Baron Galea, Marquis Mallia, Count Manduca, and Marquis Testaferrata.
The 4th Marquis, elder son of the 3rd Marquis, married in 1817, the daughter of the Barony of Tabria (Testaferrata-Viani)
The 5th Marquis, elder son of the 4th Marquis, married in 1840 to a co-heiress of the Barony of Qlejja
The 6th Marquis, elder son of the 5th Marquis, also succeeded as the 5th Baron di Qlejja and the Primogeniture Ghaxaq, married in 1874 to the daughter of the Marquisate de Piro family
The 7th Marquis and 6th Baron di Qlejja, succeeded on the year of 1903, later marrying a daughter of the Baroncino di San Marciano, with two sons, whom each succeeded a title on The 7th Marquis’s death, 1945.
Alfio Testaferrata-Bonici-Ghaxaq, the elder son succeeded as the 8th Marquis, and his brother Lino succeeded as the Baron di Qlejja. (see Qlejja)
Alfio, died unmarried in 1988, and for the first time in this titles history, was succeeded by his late Brother’s eldest Daughter, Agnes (also noted the Marquisate Testaferrata went to the next Male kin Testaferrata).
Agnes Testaferrata-Bonici-Ghaxaq, succeeded firstly after her father’s death in 1982 the Barony di Qlejja, and in 1988, the Marquisate di San Vincenzo Ferreri.
Agnes married to Alfred Gera de Petri, and has two sons and a daughter.
The heir to the Marquisate is her eldest son Daniele, as the Marchesino di San Vincenzo Ferreri.
References:
* 1) Said Vassallo, C.M., Unpublished research papers.
* 2) Said Vassallo, C.M.,[Charles Said-Vassallo's Research site] and[Maltese Nobility web site].
This Research was researched by Charles Said-Vassallo
(Text originally based on that of a website by Charles Said Vassallo, by permission.)
