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Emily Zammit Clapp

 Article submitted by Josef Ebejer

 

One of the foremost Maltese philanthropists, Zammit erected the Zammit Clap Memorial Hospital, attached to the Casa Leone XIII, entirely at her own expense as a memorial to her husband, Henry Lyman Clapp. In 1893 Archbishop Pietro Pace established a foundation to commemorate the Episcopal jubilee of Pope Leo XIII which consisted of the endowment of a home in Malta to be called Casa Leone XIII.

The Zammit Clapp Hospital was inaugurated by Governor, Sir H.M. Leslie Rundle in 1910. In 1911 Zammit Clapp made a deed of gift of both hospital and grounds to the nursing sisters of the Little Company of Mary know as the Blue Sisters. The establishment had extended its activities to provide service to patients without distinction of creed and nationality.

Zammit Clapp was prominently associated with public works of moral and social usefulness which greatly benefited from her encouragement and assistance. She was also a generous helper of the poor and needy.

The Blue Sisters Hospital closed down in 1981 after months of fruitless negotiations with the superior of the congregation. The Socialist government had issued new conditions governing the licensing of private hospitals which the Blue Sisters did not accept. In December 1980, six nuns were flown out of Malta after the Police had called at the hospital and informed them that they had two alternatives - to leave immediately and quietly or to face court proceeding. In 1990 the government re-established the building as a hospital for the elderly.

 

 

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