 dun karm psaila (Ä¦aÅ¼-Å»ebbuÄ¡, 18 october 1871 &ndash; 13 october 1961) was a maltese writer and poet, sometimes called 'the bard of malta' dun karm - britannica online encyclopedia he was educated at the seminary between the years 1885 and 1894 and then proceeded to study philosophy in 1888 and theology in 1890 the university of malta. he was ordained priest in 1894. from 1895 to 1921 he taught various subjects at the seminary: italian, latin, english, arithmetic, geography, cosmography, ecclesiastical history and christian archaeology. in 1921 he was appointed assistant librarian at the national library of malta and in 1923 directory of circulating libraries, a post he held till his retirement in 1936. in 1921, albert laferla, the director of education, asked dun karm to compose some verses to a music score by robert samut. the innu malti was sung for the first time in 1923. in 1941 it was officially designated the national anthem, a status confirmed by the constitution at independence in 1964. in 1921 dun karm was one of the founding members of the gÄ§aqda tal-kittieba tal-malti and on the death of Ä uÅ¼Ã¨ muscat azzopardi in 1927, he was elected president of the gÄ§aqda and later editor of the official organ, il-malti. he carried out these functions till 1942 when he was nominated honorary president of the ghaqda for life. in recognition of his contribution to maltese literature, he was granted a d. litt (honoris causa) by the royal university of malta in 1945 - the first tim
1871_births 1961_deaths Maltese_Roman_Catholic_priests Maltese_Roman_Catholics Maltese_poets National_anthem_writers