The Maltese Augustinian Province with great sadness announces the death of Fr Ġulju Bonnici OSA who on Monday 6th April 2026 went to meet the Risen Lord whom he loved and served so much at the venerable age of 100 years, which he had celebrated last year on 10th November 2025. Fr Paul these last five years was living at the Dar tal-Kleru (Clergy House) after several years in our Augustinian community in Valletta.
The funeral of our brother Fr. Ġulju Bonnici will take place on Wednesday 8th April at 9:30am in the Parish Church of St Augustine, Valletta. Before the mass his body will be laid in state in Oratory of Our Lady of Good Counsel (next to the Convent) for the last respects of the public. A private burial will then take place in the tombs of the Augustinian Province in the cemetery of Santa Maria Addolorata.
As an Augustinian religious, Fr. Ġulju served in various Augustinian communities in Malta and abroad. After his priestly ordination, his first appointment was in the community of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Paceville, where he served from 1950 to 1952. He then lived and served in the community of the Santa Rita Convent in St Julian’s until 1955, when he was sent to the convent in Ħal Tarxien, where, among other roles, he was the first director of the Oratory.
Fr. Ġulju was already a teacher at St Augustine College, and while in Ħal Tarxien he continued to contribute to the same College. In 1961, he travelled to the United States, where he obtained an M.A. in Mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. During his time in the United States, he served as a priest and teacher in Richmond, New Jersey. Upon returning to Malta, he became Rector of St Augustine College, precisely during the years when the College was transferred from Ħal Tarxien to its new premises in Pietà.
In 1970, he was assigned to the convent in Valletta, where he remained for practically the rest of his life. There, his principal work was as Procurator of the immovable assets of the Maltese Augustinian Province. This was a very important responsibility, especially during the 1980s and early 1990s, when the agreement was reached by which Church lands were transferred to the State. At the same time, he continued to carry out his priestly ministry in the Parish Church of St Augustine in Valletta. In his later years, as his health began to decline, it was decided that he would reside at the Clergy Home, where he had been living for the past five years.
The Augustinian friars recommend him in prayer so that the Lord may receive him in his mercy and give him the payment of all that he has worked for during his life.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen