Caterina Vitale
Born1566 (1566)
Greece
Died1619 (aged 52–53)
Syracuse, Sicily
Resting placeCarmelite Church, Valletta
NationalityGreek
Known for1st Maltese woman pharmacist and chemist, Knights Hospitaller pharmacist
SpouseEttore Vitale
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsKnights Hospitaller

Caterina Vitale (1566–1619) was the first female pharmacist and chemist in Malta, and the first female pharmacist of the Knights Hospitaller.[1]

Caterina Vitale was originally from Greece.[2] She married Ettore Vitale, pharmacist of the Knights Hospitaller, when she was a teenager.[1][3] Upon his death in 1590, she inherited his pharmacy and the task of providing pharmacies to the Sacra Infermeria.[1] She was described as a successful businessperson, became very rich, and is known as a benefactor of the Carmelites.[1]

Being in an uncommon position for a woman, she was a controversial person and the subjects of legends, libelous slander and rumours, and was accused of being an enterprising prostitute, litigator and sadistic torturer of slaves.[3]

She died in 1619 at Syracuse and her body was brought to Valletta and buried at the Carmelite Church.[4] To the left and right as you enter the church are her tombstone, and the tombstone of Caterina Scappi, the founder of the first hospital for women in Malta.[5]

Upon her death she bequeathed part of her fortune and her property Selmun Palace to the Monte della Redenzione degli Schiavi which worked to free the Maltese who had fallen into slavery. She also left legacies to the Order of Malta, to her niece, to the Carmelites, to the Greek Church, but left nothing to her daughter.

See also

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "'Sex In the City' tour: The knights and their ladies of the night". The Malta Independent. 25 March 2007. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Hoe, Susanna (2016). "Valletta". Malta: Women, History, Books and Places (PDF). Oxford: Women's History Press (a division of Holo Books). pp. 368–369. ISBN 9780957215351. OCLC 931704918. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Meet the authors of the secret 'histories' toasting Giovanni Bonello in Merlin's festschrift". MaltaToday.com.mt. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  4. ↑ Cassar Pullicino, Joseph (October–December 1949). "The Order of St. John in Maltese folk-memory" (PDF). Scientia. 15 (4): 151. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Caterina Scappi and her revolutionary hospital for women who were incurable". Times of Malta. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
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