George Preca
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| Blessed George Preca | |
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 Blessed George Preca |
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| Born | 12 February 1880, Valletta |
| Died | 26 July 1962, Santa Venera |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 9 May 2001 by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 26 July |
 Saints Portal |
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Contents |
[edit] Birth & early years
George Preca was born in Valletta, Malta on February 12, 1880, George was the seventh child in a middle-class family of nine. His father, Vincent Preca, was first a merchant and then a sanitary inspector. His mother, Nathalie Ceravolo, was a teacher. George's boyhood was nothing spectacular, but he did not lack that adventuresomeness and courage which form the backbone of any leader. Feeling that he was called to be a priest, he moved from the Lyceum to the Seminary where as a young student he distinguished himself in his studies, especially in Latin.
He was a rather inconspicuous fellow, and yet, God's path for him had already been traced, so that the unexpected began to happen. Three saintly men, the Franciscan Br Diego Bonanno, Fr Ercole Mompalao and Fr Aloysius Galea, (his spiritual director), seemed to have been inspired by God and foresaw what would happen in the not so distant future. Fr Mompalao's words, especially, were to prove wonderfully exact: "Preca" he said to the youth, "You will grow up and will be befriended by people who respect God. You will be blessed because of them, and they because of you..."
Had George's father and doctor known about this prophecy they would surely have deemed it false for George was a sickly youth. There was a very serious doubt in Dr. E. Meli's mind whether the young cleric would live to celebrate his first Mass in December 1906 since he already suffered from a deceased lung.
Preca did not die. He outlived his father and doctor by many years, and had celebrated his 82nd birthday before he died.
As a seminarian, he used to go to the Grand Harbour, board the foreign ships there, and introduce himself to Greek, English and French sailors by offering them a cigarette. His lively intelligence and exquisite humour entertained the men who had been so long away from land and soon the young cleric would lead his audience to spiritual matters. Many a sailor must have been impressed by this gentle man who sought so willingly the good of his neighbour.
The cigarette ruse was to be used again and again. Knowing that a group of youngsters were in the habit of meeting together regularly, Blessed George Preca struck up a steady friendship with them. Sometimes he was rebuffed, more often than not he was gladly received so that gradually his advice about spiritual matters was as welcome and accepted as his chattering on other things. Soon the group of youths who met in the vicinity of the Hamrun Parish Church, chief among them being Eugenio Borg, grew and grew so that a premises had to be rented where their meetings could be held.
In the early years of the 20th century several erroneous ideas were being aired in Malta. The Church kept a wary eye open on all new activities and organisations, fearing lest some novel teaching would permeate and damage the traditional Christian skin. So, when the word came to the ears of the Vicar General, Mgr Salvatore Grech, that a group of youths was meeting regularly to talk about God, the scare was on. This fear was crowned by the fact that many people were flocking to hear this priest and his followers talking about God in a simple and clear way and had even the audacity to open the Bible, a book which priests and not the laity were then deemed qualified to read! What was going on? What was Blessed George Preca doing? Was he clandestinely forming some heretical sect?
Preca was aware, as any other intelligent person must have been at that time, that the religious situation on the islands of Malta and Gozo was, to say the least, precarious. With no solid grounding on Sacred Scripture, the religious feelings of the Maltese were founded on sand rather than on rocks - could easily, therefore, be washed away in times of storm and stress. Festivities, fireworks, a rather dubious devotionism and a fair amount of superstition was all that could be said of the piety of many a Maltese Christian.
No really well-organised catechetical instruction was carried out to stem this tide of religious ignorance. Much was left to the individual efforts of priests. The Church itself, although providing most of the best private educational establishments on the islands, could hardly be said to have prompted organised and regular religious education for the common people.
[edit] George Preca Response
Blessed George Preca opted for the other way: teach the people so that they could be convinced of their beliefs, no matter who and what challenged them. Using his charismatic force and personality, he wielded a silent army for Christ: men and women who, without radically distinguishing themselves from common people by dress or uniform, would nevertheless be so well instructed and formed in their spiritual life that they would quietly shine forth before others with their example in their everyday life, whether at home or at work. Moreover, at a time when the laity had not yet been officially recognised as important in the mission of spreading the Gospel, Blessed George Preca entrusted his followers with the responsibility of teaching catechism. His little group of men and women grew up to be the Society of Christian Doctrine (known locally as M.U.S.E.U.M.), and today it consists of about 110 Centres and 1100 members. They teach about 20,000 boys and girls in the Maltese islands, in Australia, Peru, the Sudan, United Kingdom, Kenya and Albania.
[edit] Opposition
Despite the now-acknowledged greatness and merit of Blessed George Preca, the early phase of his apostolic work was no bed of roses. rather the thorns that irritated his side were many and sharp. Cried down in the newspapers despite the fact that people continued to flock to him for advice, the climax came when the Vicar General Mgr Salvatore Grech ordered him to close down all the catechetical centres he had opened. These oppositions were no novelty in the Church. Most of the great founders met with the same treatment. Blessed George Preca, like Don Bosco, was accused of being mad, and, like St Philip Neri, was criticised for his acts of piety. The same Archbishop who ordered Blessed George Preca to close down and would never approve of his Society, was soon to give him and his society a free hand over all his diocese, trusting them and confiding in them unreservedly.
[edit] His Deep Spirituality
If most of the authorities were slow to appreciate this God-sent man, the majority of the common people made up for this lack by acclaiming him as a saint. On his part, Blessed George Preca's profound spirituality, which witnessed to a close union with God, filled him with a special charism to understand and lead God's people. His fine psychological acumen, drawing as much from his common sense as from his reading, helped him to get along with everybody - even with his enemies. His sterling sense of humour and sharp wit served him on a hundred and one occasions when facing people, whether it was on pulpit, bench or street. Once, while using the boat service provided at Valletta, an anti-clerical man showed his leanings by purposely shoving his foot in front of Blessed George Preca's face. If this gentle priest was irritated, he did not show it. Rather, to the surprise of the smirking man, he bent down and kissed that wayward foot, such as Jesus must have done to Judas at the Last Supper. Unlike Judas, however, this man,s heart rekindled after so many years and he asked pardon there and than from the priest and from God.
On 21st July 1918, Fr Preca joined the Carmelite Third Order, and made his profession in the same Third Order the following year, assuming the name Italic textFrancoItalic text after the Carmelite Blessed Franco of Siena.
[edit] A Prolific Writer
Blessed George Preca was a man capable of great energy and dynamism. As his home aide, Nellie Bartolo, testified, he would often burn the candle (literally, for he lived a life of absolute poverty) late into the night - preparing his sermons or writing some of his more than 140 books and pamphlets. His wish was to educate Malta in its love for God and neighbour, that the whole world accepts the Gospel ( Magister Utinam Sequator Evangelium Universus Mundus), and he was ready not to spare himself any pain in achieving that ideal. At a time when the language question was raging in Malta, and our mother tongue was forgotten in fight for supremacy between Italian and English, Blessed George Preca began writing for the public in Maltese. The earliest manuscripts date as far back as 1909, and his merits as a writer have already been recognised. The ingenious method of spreading "manual papers", as he called them - a printed sheet covering some point of Christian doctrine and passed on by hand.
[edit] The Preacher
As a preacher Blessed George Preca was much sought after, and when the news ran through village or town that the saintly priest was on his way there, village and town would arouse itself and flock to hear him speak. As he walked through the streets, standing tall and leaning a little forward, with his hand raised in blessing, children would gather around him and mothers would beg him to bless their babies and rosary beads. His power was a thing apart from words, like that of so many - perhaps most - great leaders. When he spoke , it was not only what he said, it was the suppressed heat of personal feeling, personal conviction which enkindled people. Virtue emanated from him, drawing both adults and children, and made his catechizing more potent than the pulpit eloquence of his day. He knew how to laugh and make people laugh at the failings of mankind, graciously drawing the moral at the end. He knew how to make people conscious of their grave calling as Christians, as well as making them aware not only of the rewards and kindness of God, but also of his justice and punishment.
Nobody was excluded from his love, so that all of Malta and Gozo were influenced by his ability to adapt the perfection of the spiritual life for the common housewife and workman. Rich and noble people, Drydock workers, refuse collectors - all and sundry were attracted by this priest's powerful message to reform themselves.
His Last Days Blessed George Preca spent the last days of his life in Santa Venera. Undoubtedly Blessed George Preca was a veritable light on these Maltese Islands, but as he himself loved to repeat time and time again to others, "we are not made to stay here forever". With the summer setting sun, Blessed George Preca passed way on the 26 July 1962, at about 7.45 p.m., assisted by the then Parish Priest Fr Kilian Azzopardi O.Carm. Praying and meditating the Gospel to the last, his death was a memento of his life. His funeral was a monument to his deeds, for some 20,000 people streamed to Hamrun to catch a last glimpse of a man so well-beloved.
Many recounted extraordinary stories about him, and were ready to proclaim his sanctity. Some spoke of cures he had affected at a word or glance, others of the mysterious power which passed from him to others at the touch of a hand, leaving them strangely calm and peaceful. Some said that he had foreseen the future, as when he prophesied the 1914 War a month in advance.
The cause for the sanctification of Bl George Preca was started in 1975, and when his merit will be universally recognised, he will surely be most honoured for his willingness to serve as an instrument in God's hands, an able and humble tool for the revitalisation of the faith of the Maltese Islands which had been first transmitted to us by that other great apostle, Paul of Tarsus.
He was beatified during a Mass held for the occasion in Malta on 9 May 2001 by Pope John Paul II. The beatification miracle involved the healing of an irreversibly detached retina of a member of the Society
http://www.sdcmuseum.org/ (the site of the organisation of which George Preca was the founder)
