The directory «Plots»
de Verdalle Hugues Loubenx
(1531—1595)
Fra Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle was a Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller at Malta from 1581 to 1595. He was elected Grand Master on the 12th January 1582. In order to show the high regard in which he held Verdalle for his personal merits Pope Gregory XIII created him Cardinal of St. Mary in Portico,
Many monuments still remain to attest the piety and munificence of this Grand Master. A convent for the Ursoline Nuns was erected in the Bourg, and in 1588 the Capuchin Fathers were presented with the beautiful convent in Floriana which Verdalle had erected for this purpose.
The continual dread of a Turkish invasion induced the Grand Master to strengthen the defenses of the island, and several fortifications were constructed in Gozo. A country residence which Verdalle built at Notabile, and which ever afterwards was used by his successors, still bears his name.
On the 10th February 1588 Cardinal Verdalle returned to Malta and resumed the active duties of his office until his death, which took place on the 4th May 1595, at the age of sixty-four years.
He is mainly remembered for the reconstruction of the hunting lodge at Boschetto which was renamed Verdala Palace in his honour. He is buried in a sarcophagus in the Crypt of the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta.
S. M. O. M., 1978, Hugues de Verdalle
S. M. O. M., 1991, Arms of Hugues de Verdalle
