Saint George Preca

Who is Saint George Preca?

George Preca, known in Maltese as Ġorġ Preca, was a Roman Catholic priest born in Valletta in 1880, the seventh of nine children in his family. Raised in Ħamrun, he served as an altar boy from childhood and was ordained a priest in 1906. The following year, in 1907, he founded the Society of Christian Doctrine, popularly known by its Latin-derived acronym M.U.S.E.U.M. ("Magister, Utinam Sequatur Evangelium Universus Mundus" - "Master, may the whole world follow the Gospel"), a lay religious society dedicated to teaching Christian doctrine to children and adults across Malta's parishes. He also became a member of the Third Order of Carmelites. Preca's tireless catechetical work and personal humility earned him deep and lasting affection among the Maltese people, and Pope John Paul II described him as "Malta's second father in faith." He died in 1962, and on 3 June 2007 Pope Benedict XVI canonised him in St Peter's Square, making him the second Maltese saint after Saint Publius and the first Maltese saint of the modern era.

Sources: Wikipedia, 'George Preca' · Catholic Online, 'St. George Preca' · Vatican canonisation records, 3 June 2007