Where I was born

A historic room where I saw light for the first time

A nostalgic trip today to the very first day of my life, the day and place I was born. At that time, my family lived at 16 St Angelo Street in St. Julian's, and my mother gave birth to all her first four children at home. My younger brother Marcel was born in our new house at 100 Birkirkara Hill. A few years ago, in fact just before the house was sold to someone else after an uncle and aunt lived in it from 1956 till the early 1990s, I took a picture in the room where I was born on August 27, 1952. The other photo shows the front door of the same house. Incidentally, one hour after I was born, another boy was born two houses down the road from us, and me and Tony Xerri grew up together. I also celebrated his wedding in 1980, and I presume that by now he is a grandfather. 

Front door of 16 St Angelo Street, St Julian's

At that time a popular mid-wife made the rounds in the neighborhood delivering babies. Her name was Giuseppa Xiberras, the sister of a beloved priest Fr Anton who served in my parish for many years. One of my duties as a seminarian was to record the baptismal information in Latin in large registers and which are kept in the parish archives. I remember clearly that the last verse was always "Obstetrix fuit Giuseppa Xiberras," meaning "Nurse/midwife was Giuseppa Xiberras." In the 1970s and later, nurses from the MMDNA were also making the rounds delivering babies at home. I believe that MMDNA stood for Malta Midwives District Nurses Association. A little nostalgic trip down memory lane today, 61 years ago.