His secret to longevity? “Do what makes you happy and listen to what God tells you to do,” he said.
Fr Bonnici, a former rector of St Augustine College and lifelong educator, spent the day receiving birthday wishes from current students at the Pietà school, which he once led, and looked forward to a special celebratory Mass in the evening.
Born in Valletta in 1925 to Karmenu and Manwela Bonnici, he joined the Augustinian order as a novice at St. Augustine’s Convent in Victoria, Gozo, in 1941. He was ordained in 1950 at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, alongside his friend and future cardinal Fr Prospero Grech O.S.A.
His first parish posting was at the Community of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Paceville, serving there from 1950 to 1952. “Paceville and St Julian’s were very quiet and peaceful at the time,” he recalled, smiling cheekily. “It has changed a little bit over the years.”
A lifelong passion for mathematics saw him pursue further studies abroad. “I loved it since I was a child, and I have focused on it ever since,” he said.In 1961, he travelled to the United States, where he earned an MA in Mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, the only Augustinian university in the US and one which, as he proudly pointed out, Pope Leo had also attended.
“When I arrived, they thought that they didn’t have to take me seriously because I was a foreigner,” he said. “But I showed them what I was all about.” He smiled again. “They didn’t even know where Malta was!”
He later served as a priest and teacher in Richmond, New Jersey. On his return to Malta, he became rector of St Augustine College just as it relocated from Tarxien to Pietà.
In 1970, he returned home to Valletta, serving at the Church of St Augustine and acting as Procurator for the Augustinian Province’s immovable property during Church land transfers to the state
. One place close to his heart is the Upper Barrakka. Fr Leslie Gatt, a fellow Augustinian and friend, said Fr Bonnici would often lose track of time there, and they would need to send people to bring him back on time for mass.
“I used to be very happy going there,” Fr Bonnici said. “From the fresh air to watching the ships come into the harbour. It made me happy.”