Missionary
Born in Senglea, son of Joseph and Josephine née Galea, Henry entered the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in the Holy Land on 24 September 1892 and was given the name of Victor. He studied at the Franciscan seminary in Malta and in Jerusalem, and was ordained priest on 17 July 1900.
In the Holy Land he was a chorist and director of the choir in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and at St Salvatore. Since he was fluent in Arabic, in 1902 he was parish priest and chorist in Nazareth and Bethlehem.
De Barro worked with Maltese migrants. He was chaplain of the new Maltese parish church of Suez (1904-1905), San Francisco alla Marina in Alexandria (1905-1906), Cairo (1908-1910), and again in Suez (1911-1915).
In 1919 he came to Malta but left for Tripoli in 1922. In 1926 he was in Tunisia where he was very much respected by the Maltese and the authories.
Rev De Barro was Vicar General in the Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli.
The Maltese newspaper Malta of 27 August 1930 reported that:
Il P. Vittorio Debarro O.F.M. fu nel 1926 nominato dal Governo Franco-Tunesino Cav. Ufficiale del’Ordine del Nichan Iftikhar. Nel 1928 venne nominato Officier d’Academie del Governo Centrale di Parigi. In questi giorni ha avuto un altro attestato di stima dal Governo Franco-Marocchino, essendo stato nominato Ufficiale dell’Ordine del Ouissam Alaonite, con Firmano di Sua Maestà il Sultano Mohammed ben Youssef ben El-Hassan. I Maltesi possono andar fieri di questo loro concittadino ed umile frate di San Francesco d’Assisi, il quale col suo non commune talente, col suo zelo apostolico e col suo fine tatto politico, ha Saputo guadagnarsi la stima, la fiducia e l’affetto dei sudditi Governi.
He was decorated as chevalier of the Nichen Iftikhar Order, Officier d’Academie by the French government (1928), and officer of the Order of Ouissam Alaonite of Morocco (1930).
Possessing a good knowledge of Italian, Arabic, and French, he promoted the migrants’ integration in North African cities.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.