CAGLIOLA, FILIPPO. – Theologian, historian, conventional writer, born in Malta at the beginning of the 17th century, died in Naples in 1653. Having entered the Franciscans of the province of Sicily, he was admitted to the Sistine College of St. Bonaventure in Rome (1634) where he obtained the mastership in theology (1637). Returning to Malta, he founded in Valletta a Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception (1637). He then moved on to serve as a lecturer in Syracuse, Catania, and Rome (1641). In 1643, he preached with great success in Messina, defending the Immaculate Conception.
His discourses were collected in the volume *La lettera di Messina in difesa di Maria, cioè l’Immacolata Concezione provata e difesa in 9 discorsi su detta Lettera* (Messina 1650). He served as theologian to the bishop of Cefalù and as consultant to the Holy Office in Malta and Sicily; he was superior in Palermo and Messina (1649), general commissioner of Malta (1653), and secretary and provincial commissioner of Sicily. As general historiographer of the Order (1653), he composed other works, such as *Sicilensis Provinciae O. F. M. Conv. manifestato* (Venice 1644), *Catholica pugna inquisitorum apostolicorum in haereticam prae-vitatem* (completed in 1649), and *Tractatus de Melitensibus rebus apologeticus*, which remained unpublished.