On 17 January 1799, Dun Mikiel Xerri was executed by French firing squad in Valletta’s Palace Square for his role in leading a Maltese plot against the French occupying forces. His death has been remembered in Maltese history as the ultimate sacrifice of a patriotic priest resisting foreign rule. French Occupation of Malta in 1798 In June 1798, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt, French forces took control of Malta. Napoleon’s army displaced the Knights of St. Jo