Dominic Barberi

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Blessed Dominic Barberi
Confessor
Born	June 22, 1792, Viterbo
Died	August 27, 1849, Reading, Berkshire
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	1963, Rome, Italy by Pope Paul VI
Major shrine	Saint Helen's, Lancashire, England (his tomb)
Feast	August 27
Attributes	Passionist Habit and Sign
Patronage	England
Saints Portal

Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God, born Dominic Barberi, a member of the Passionist Congregation and theologian, born near Viterbo, Italy, 22 June, 1792; died near Reading, England, 27 August, 1849. Beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963. Also known as 'The Apostle of England'.

1 Birth
2 Passionist
3 Establishments in Belgium and England
4 Death and Legacy
5 Beatification
6 Works
7 References

[edit] Birth

His parents were peasants and died while Dominic was still a small boy. There were six children, and Dominic, the youngest child, was adopted by his maternal uncle, Bartolomeo Pacelli. As a boy he was employed to take care of sheep, and when he grew older he did farm work. He was taught his letters by a Capuchin priest, and learned to read from a country lad of his own age; although he read all the books he could obtain, he had no regular education until he entered the Passionists. He was deeply religious from childhood, felt himself distinctly called to join the institute he entered, and believed that God, by a special manifestation, had told him that he was destined to announce the Gospel truth and to bring back stray sheep to the way of salvation.

[edit] Passionist

He was received into the Congregation of the Passion in 1814, and ordained priest on 1 March, 1818. After completing the regular course of studies, he taught philosophy and theology to the students of the congregation as lector for a period of ten years. He then held in Italy the offices of rector, provincial consultor, and provincial, and fulfilled the duties of these positions with ability. At the same time he constantly gave missions and retreats.

[edit] Establishments in Belgium and England

He founded the first Passionist Retreat in Belgium at Ere near Tournai in 1840; in 1842, after twenty-eight years of effort, he established the Passionists in England, at Aston Hall, Staffordshire. During the seven years of his missionary life in England he established three houses of the congregation.

[edit] Death and Legacy

He died at a small railway station near Reading and was buried under the high altar of St. Anne's Retreat, Sutton, St. Helen's. Among the remarkable converts whom he received into the Church may be mentioned John Dobree Dalgairns, John Henry Newman, and Newman's two companions, E. S. Bowles and Richard Stanton, all of whom were afterwards distinguished Oratorians. The reception in 1845 of Newman and his friends must have been the greatest happiness of his life. In 1846 Father Dominic received the Hon. George Spencer, in religion Father Ignatius of St. Paul, into the Congregation of the Passion.

[edit] Beatification

Dominic was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963, during the Second Vatican Council. On his visit to England in 1982 Pope John Paul II described Blessed Dominic as "one example of the countless other priests who continue to serve as models of holiness for the clergy of today."^[1]

[edit] Works

Among Father Dominic's works are: courses of philosophy and moral theology; a volume on the Passion of Our Lord; a work for nuns on the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin, "Divina Paraninfa"; a refutation of de Lamennais; three series of sermons; various controversial and ascetical works. In 1841 he addressed a Latin letter to the professors of Oxford in which he answered the objections and explained the difficulties of Anglicans. An English translation of the letter is given in the appendix to the life of Father Dominic by Father Pius Devine.