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Fra Diegu was born Giacchino Bonanno in Valletta on
21st March 1831. His deeply religious parents
provided him with a sound primary education and
later on apprenticed him with a Merchants Street
draper. At the age of twenty-two he became a member
of the Tertiary Order of St. Francis, and four years
later he joined the Order of Friars Minor as a
lay-brother, taking the name of Diegu.
Because of his special assignment of scouring the
streets of Malta for alms in aid of his convent, Fra
Diegu became aware of the needs around him. In 1860,
following an incident in St. Julians, the brother
began to search out for dissolute girls, offering
him the shelter of a special reformatory home which
he set up at Cospicua. At this stage he also started
work among the many girl orphans who begged their
living in the streets.
Fra Diegu, as he became known, also found time to
expand his pastoral work by paying regular visits to
the Central Civil Hospital, Floriana. In the
meantime, the number of girls had increased so
alarmingly that he had to call on the Good Shepherd
and Cini Institute for their help. This must have
also led to his decision of setting up his own
Institute in Birkirkara in 1885. He placed his
sister Giovanna Marmara in charge of it. The
Institute, which was later on transferred to Hamrun,
became popularly known as Fra Diegu's. Between 1898
and 1905, new premises were built through the
generosity of marquis Joseph Scicluna.
Fra Diegu Bonanno died on the 14th May 1902.
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