A while ago, when I was researching my great-grandfather, Emanuel Cachia, I started coming across some documents pertaining to a Theophilus Cachia who was a priest. Of particular interest to me was a passport application that said his father’s name was Angelo Cachia, which I believed was the name of my great-great-grandfather. I asked my father if his mother Jessie had an uncle who was a priest, since that sounded vaguely familiar to me. My dad said yes, and that he was baptized by him.
According to my father’s previous research though, that uncle was named Carmen. I demanded my mother pull my father’s baptismal record out of storage, and lo and behold, it was signed Theophilus!
Well, that passport application got me a lot of information.
Theophilus Cachia’s passport application
First, it confirmed that Angelo Cachia was my great-great-grandfather. Second, it showed his birthplace as Sliema, Malta, which was a place I’d never heard of. We had always believed the family was from Valetta, but could never find any church records from there. Now we have the opportunity to check church records in Sliema to see what we can find!
Following Theophilus also helped me find another brother, John. And it found me the first photo of one of my ancestors.
Theophilus Cachia
Pretty cool!
Tagged: Angelo Cachia, Cachia, Emanuel Cachia, Jessie Cachia
Tracking Them Down 
I am so happy to come across this post! I attend St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church in San Francisco and Father Cachia was Pastor from 1919-1953. I am in the process of finalizing a photo exhibit of our pastors and have been perplexed for months on how find a picture of him. Well, here it is! Are you familiar with our church? God bless!
Hi Debra, thanks for your comment! I’m glad you can use the photo. I hadn’t heard of the church until I started doing some research on Father Cachia. I know very little about him. If you have any information on him, I would be very appreciative.
I am a priest (Monsignor) and 83 years old. I live in Malta. My mother was first cousin to Fr Theophilus Cachia. Her name Mary Cachia nee Cachia. Her father Gaetano was brother to Angelo, Theophilus’ father.
lkakia@melita.com