1. George Preca assumed the religious name of "Franco" after becoming a Third Order Carmelite.
21 Facts About George Preca
1. 2.
George Preca was a popular figure among some groups, and his pastoral care and religious teaching earned recognition.
3.
George Preca was ordered to close down his teaching centres for a time while they could be investigated; they were subsequently re-opened.
4.
George Preca's activism earned him praise and in 1952, Pope Pius XII nominated him as a papal privy chamberlain and awarded the rank of Monsignor.
5.
George Preca was born in Valletta on 12 February 1880 as the seventh of nine children of Vincent and Nathalie Ceravolo Preca.
6.
George Preca's father was both a merchant and a health inspector.
7.
George Preca received his baptism on 17 February 1880 in the Church of Our Lady of Porto Salvo.
8.
George Preca was a frail child due to a range of illnesses he had and in 1885 almost drowned in the harbour though boatmen rescued him.
9.
In 1897, while walking along with the Maglio Gardens in Floriana, Gorg George Preca met one of his professors, Father Ercole Mompalao, who encouraged his religious vocation.
10.
George Preca first studied at the state-owned school on the island before he commenced his studies for the priesthood; he had studied Latin and English but studied Italian and received a prize in handwriting.
11.
Shortly before his ordination, George Preca was diagnosed with acute pulmonary tuberculosis and given a poor prognosis.
12.
George Preca attributed his recovery to the intercession of Saint Joseph, patron of the dying the illness left him with a damaged left lung.
13.
George Preca was appointed assistant priest at St Gaetano, and immediately devoted himself to teaching the youth.
14.
George Preca began to teach the Catholic catechism along the waterfront to people, including labourers, and to gather male catechists including Ewgenju Borg around him.
15.
George Preca helped him and as he placed his hands on the cart he felt profound spiritual calmness and understood that he had experienced a revelation as the boy symbolized Christ and the wagon, the work of evangelizing.
16.
George Preca became a Third Order Carmelite after being admitted on 21 July 1918, and made his profession on 26 September 1919 with the new religious name of "Franco".
17.
George Preca never wore the vestments that the title entailed, nor did he ever claim the official document from the archbishop's office.
18.
In 1957 George Preca wrote five mysteries which he called the "Mysteries of Light" which he said had been inspired by John 8:12: "The light of the world".
19.
The cause towards canonization by the Catholic Church formally opened on 13 March 1975 under Pope Paul VI when George Preca was given the title "Servant of God" after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued its official "nihil obstat".
20.
However, for George Preca to be beatified a miracle had to be obtained as a result of his intercession - or at least a healing that conventional science could not easily explain.
21.
For George Preca to become a saint then another miracle was required.