"Father Ed touched and enriched many lives in his brief and brilliant life, "said Barbara Bundy, executive director-Center for the Pacific Rim, of which the Ricci Institute was the research arm. "He had such a grand vision for the encounter between Christianity and culture in his beloved China--and he was always involved in literally dozens of projects at any one time, turning dreams into realities for many people. I treasure most his deep goodness and his indefatigable energy....I find an almost poetic justice in the fact that Father Malatesta died on Chinese soil. He would have wanted nothing more than to die as he had lived, building one last bridge between China and the West in the spirit of Matteo Ricci, the earlier Jesuit giant who inspired his life work."

Father Malatesta, a Jesuit for 50 years, gained renown first as a biblical scholar. From 1966 to 1977, he was a professor of biblical spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, specializing in the Letters of St. John.

In the late ‘70s, Father Malatesta made a mid-life career change, with permission from then Superior General Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J. He allowed Father Malatesta to pursue a life-long ambition -- to conduct research on the Jesuits and the Church in China -- on one condition. Father Malatesta had to learn Mandarin in two years. An aide to Father Arrupe is said to have remarked: "That’s a bet you will lose."

Father Ed came out the winner. After intensive language study in California, China and Taiwan, Father Malatesta returned to the United States, where he worked from 1982 to 1984 on the China Jesuit History Project in Los Gatos with Father Francis Rouleau, S.J.

In 1984, Father Malatesta co-founded The Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History at USF with the California Province of the Society of Jesus. The Institute became part of USF’s Center for the Pacific Rim in 1988 and was named after Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), pioneer Italian Jesuit missionary to China, a few years later. Over the years, the institute became known for its 70,000-volume Jesuit Chinese Library, named after senior research fellow Father Albert Chan, S.J. , who collected the library for the Society of Jesus. The library is now ranked as one of the top 10 best Chinese language collections in North America.

The institute also was known for the 5,000-volume San Francisco-Shanghai Friendship Library of the City of San Francisco, which it housed for the city until 1996, its on-line computer catalog with access to 18,000 libraries, its participation or sponsorship of international symposia and its recently created database -- the Ricci 21st Century Roundtable, an Internet web site on the study of the history of Christianity in China.

Father Malatesta was born May 31, 1932, in Patterson, N.J., He entered the Society of Jesus on Aug. 14, 1948, at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos after graduation from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. On Sept. 6, 1961, he was ordained a priest at St.-leu d’esserent-sur l’Oise in France. He took is final vows as a Jesuit on Aug. 8, 1965, at Alma College in Los Gatos.

He received his licentiate (1965) and a doctorate (1975) in Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome; a master’s in philosophy from Gonzaga University in 1955, and a bachelor’s in Latin and Greek from Santa Clara University in 1953. He also received his licentiate in theology from Les Fontaines, Chantilly, France, and diplomas in biblical languages from the Institut Catholique in Paris.

Father Malatesta taught at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, was director of international tertianship in Berkeley and a frequent guest lecturer at the USF Summer Theology Program.

Survivors include his father Edward J. Malatesta Sr., of Los Gatos, and his nephew Jonathan Hazlitt, of Half Moon Bay.

A vigil service was held at 7:30 p.m. on February 17 in St. Ignatius Church. A Funeral Mass was be held at 10 a.m. on February 18 in St. Ignatius Church. Father John A. Privett, S.J., California provincial, was principal celebrant. Burial followed at 1 p.m. at the Santa Clara Mission Cemetery in Santa Clara.

Contributions may be made to the Edward J. Malatesta, S.J. Memorial Fund at the Ricci Institute of Chinese-Western Cultural History at the University of San Francisco.

The University Community offers its sincere condolences to Father Malatesta’s family and his international community of friends. His stature as a scholar and his exemplary service to USF, the Ricci Institute, biblical scholars and historians of the Church and Jesuits in China will long be remembered.

USFnews, Vol. 7 * Number 122, February 13, 1998