Mgr. Emmanuel Gerada was born on May 18, 1920, the same very day with His Holiness the late Pope John Paul II. The fourth of six children, he was born in Zejtun and was educated at the Lyceum and the Royal University of Malta from where he graduated B.A., in 1939 and B.S.Th., in 1941. He was awarded a licentiate in theology in 1946.
Gerada was ordained priest by the Servant of God, Mgr. Emanuele Galea, Auxiliary Bishop of Malta on August 1, 1943 when still not even twenty -- four years of age.
He obtained a scholarship soon afterwards from the British Council in English Classics and pursued further studies at the Nottingham University in 1944.
He later obtained a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1952 and undertook a course leading to the diplomatic service within Holy See at the Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica in Rome.
After one year training at the Papal Secretariat of State he was appointed attache to the Apostolic Nunciature in Egypt in 1952 and named Private Chamberlain to Pope Pius XII in 1953 with the title of Monsignor. He was transferred as Secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in India and later appointed Secretary to the Nunciature in Dublin in 1956, where he also performed the duties of charge d' affaires due to the unexpected Apostolic Nuncio's death.
His next appointment was that of auditor to the Nunciature and charge d' affaires in Tokyo between 1960 and 1964. He was then posted to the Apostolic Delegation in Mexico.
In 1965, Mgr. Gerada was appointed counselor of the Nunciature and Domestic Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Paul VI. His next diplomatic assignment was that of charge d' affaires in Rwanda in 1966.
On June 18, 1967, Gerada was consecrated as Auxiliary Bishop to Mgr. Michael Gonzi with the Titular See of Nomentum, by Gonzi himself assisted by the Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General Mgr. Emanuele Galea and the Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, Mgr. Patrick Dunne. The ceremony was presided over by Mgr. Martin John O' Connor, being at the time Apostolic Nuncio in Malta.
In 1973, Bishop Gerada resumed his career in the Holy See's Diplomatic Service and upon his appointment as Apostolic Nuncio to Guatemala and El Salvador with the personal title of Archbishop.
He became there a close friend to Archbishop Oscar Romero y Galdames of San Salvador, who was brutally assassinated as he was saying Mass on March 25, 1980.
Gerada's next postings were those of Apostolic Nuncio in Pakistan in 1980 and in Ireland from 1989 till 1995, when he resigned according to the Canon Law at the age of 75.
Meanwhile. Archbishop Gerada will be lying in state from 1630h to 1930h on Monday at the Oratory, next to the Zejtun parish church and from 1100h to 1400h on Tuesday, at St John's CoCathedral in Valletta.
The funeral mass is today, Tuesday at 1500h.
He will be buried in the family grave at San Girgor's Cemetery in Zejtun.
SIC: DI-VE/INT'L