Those who knew him, spoke of him as a person who knew how to empathise.

Those who did not know him, feared him as a person who could call fire from heaven.

Those who knew him, never tired of listening to him.

Those who did not know him, called him insane, and good for nothing.

Compared to the average Maltese, he could be considered tall, he was stocky but not fat, big-footed yet gentle, always cloaked in a black tunic that over time lost its beauty but not its cleanliness.

Unlike a lot of children, he never excelled in any sport and at times he was picked on and even bullied, to the extent that once an older companion hung him from the top of the inner frieze of San Gejtanu Church in Hamrun – an experience he never forgot.

His name was George, meaning farmer, and as the saying goes he lived up to his name, for he did cultivate the Lord’s vineyard. His family name was Preca, and he was born the seventh out of nine siblings. His parents were upper middle class and on his father’s side, his grandmothers were rich enough to have their portraits painted in oils by one of the leading artists on the Island.

George was born in Valletta in February 1880, but the family soon moved to Hamrun, where he passed practically his entire life. As a young boy of six, he started attending the local government primary school, and after

sitting for the Lyceum entrance exam the second time, he managed to enter the best secondary school at the time. He was known for his neat handwriting and his ability to master languages, especially Latin and French.

As an alter boy, George ventured to teach catechism to the young children who gathered in the sacristy. This he did not because he sought the opportunity but more because it was the custom in those days. Without any doubt, his teacher’s prediction, as he was walking along the Mall Gardens in Floriana – that many will find their good fortune through him – was far from being considered a reality by the young student, for at that time he was too shy, or let us say humble, to think of himself as anything close to a catalyst in the life of other people.

After completing his secondary education, George moved on to the major seminary at that time situated in Floriana, to start his studies for the priesthood. A deep seated desire to share his faith with others, and to speak of God’s love, spurred him to seek the sceptic and the agnostic. He would walk down towards Grand Harbour, knowing that there he would meet a number of foreigners, mainly sailors, and discuss matters concerning their faith and their relationship with Jesus. This exercise was also repeated with a group of young men whom he sought out to meet on a regular basis. This group of young men used to spend the evening hours playing football and talking in a field in front of Hamrun parish church.

They could easily sense that when he was with them, George was usually tense.

This made them behave rather childishly at times when, for instance, in order to see him panic, some of them used to throw the butt of an extinguished cigarette at him. The young seminarian used to stand up excitedly, brush off the cigarette butt and walk away. Yet he would return to the same place the next day, again trying to talk to these young men and share with them some passage from Scripture, something that was simply out of the ordinary in those days.

He was now 26 years old, and it was the year when he successfully concluded his studies at the seminary and in December he was expected to be ordained priest, yet this seemed to be suspended on a fine thread. The young man was sick, he contracted bronchitis and the doctor told his father that George would soon die.

Later George used to say that Divine Providence deemed different, for God’s ways are always shrouded in mystery. To some extent, when he himself became rather old, he used to joke that both the doctor and his father had passed away but he himself was still alive and moving around. Unexpectedly, George regained his health, contributing his healing to the intervention of St Joseph, whose holy picture hung on one of the walls in his bedroom.

It seemed that with his unquestionable faith, George turned to Joseph and told him to take care of him in the same way that he used to take care of Jesus, thus George was sure that eventually he would be fit enough to go to the Co-Cathedral on 22 December to be ordained.

On the day of his ordination, when Bishop Peter Pace came to anoint him with the blessed oil, the glass container ran out and the Bishop asked for the new oil, which had been blessed on Maundy Thursday of the preceding Easter. George used to say that he was anointed with the new oil, as if the Spirit wanted something new from him. What he actually gave birth to was rather new and unheard of in the church in to those days.

After his ordination to the priesthood, Fr George retreated into his small room that was situated very close to the roof. He wanted to minister to God’s people not according to his whim but to God’s will.

He could choose to look around him and see what needed to be done, yet he choose to ponder on the Word of God, from where he knew he could get the best idea of what to do. On one particular day between Christmas of 1906 and 2 February 1907 he came across Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in his Second Letter, second chapter, and second verse: “Pass on to reliable people what you have heard from me through many witnesses so that they in turn will be able to teach others.” This line summarised for Fr George what was, after all, his very first call, since he was relatively very young. He immediately sought the group of young people who used to meet just opposite the parish church in Hamrun and after meeting for about four weeks in a nearby chapel, decided to rent a house and change it into a permanent meeting centre.

This was the very humble beginning of what grew into a Society of Lay men and women whose sole purpose is to make Jesus known and loved by as many as possible. Fr Preca used to emphasise that those who did not love Jesus did this only because they did not know him.

Thus, he used to encourage his confrères to try to penetrate every place of work and leisure, befriend as many people as possible and always speak of God’s goodness to everybody.

The more he became known, and the more his group grew, the more opposition he faced. Some people in the church couldn’t understand how he could entrust the study of theology to lay semi-illiterate people! Others found it blasphemous to translate excerpts from Scripture and ask these youth to study them and meditate upon them. 1917 was a very difficult year. during which he was exposed to ridicule by a barrage of letters to the editors, published mainly in two of the leading newspapers of the time.

The classic insult, that was intended to hurt most, was when Fr George was called “Patriarch BUM”, thus associating him with someone who wants to look like a godfather, but will eventually disappear in no time at all in the same way as the sound and colour of a petard. How interesting it was, when the same letters – BUM – were interpreted as Buono (good), Umile (Humble) and Mansueto (Meek) by a Roman cleric during the process of the study for his sainthood.

Yet 25 years after Fr George’s first step towards empowering the laity and organising them into a fully-fledged society with complete autonomy from any clerical involvement, and despite the then Arch-

bishop of Malta, Mgr Mauro Caruana OSB, vowing that he would never approve of the new Society, the Society of Christian Doctrine was officially approved. By this time, Fr Preca was known, loved and sought after by many Maltese from all walks of life.

Fr George had his strange way of doing or reacting to things. Once, as he was on a boat crossing from Senglea to Valletta, a man stretched his feet across to such an extent that they nearly reached the face of Fr Preca. The priest could cope with the insult, and as he was about to stand up and disembark from the boat, he kissed the man’s boots. The man became so embarrassed that he asked the priest to forgive him.

It is also said that once he was visited by a young man who was known to be a very good dancer. This young man thought of joining the SDC group and was talking to Fr George about the idea. It happened that his sister told the priest that she needed some vegetables to cook for lunch. Off went Fr George with the young man, across High Street and up to a vegetable seller where he bought a cabbage and a cauliflower. He held the cabbage under his arm and asked the young man to hold the cauliflower under his.

Then, holding the young man by his hand, he made him walk back along the main street – looking rather ridiculous. Such exercises were carried out many times by Fr George to seek the true intention of an individual.

He could be crude too. Once a young lady approached him for advise.

On questioning her, she answered that she would like to be Jesus’ bride. Looking at her with an inquisitive expression, he said: “How come that the bridegroom is wearing thorns and his bride is all adorned with beads and perfume!” And when an old lady in the church was angry because someone had accidentally hit her, Fr George went up to her asked her to recite the Hail Mary. When she reached the prayer: Holy Mary mother of God, pray for us sinners, he asked her to stop. “Have you just prayed that you are a sinner?” he asked the old woman. “Yes sir” she replied, “we are all sinners”. Then Fr George said to her: “So why are you so cross that you were hit by a chair? A sinner like you does not deserve any better!”

There are countless reports of his wit and words of counsel that helped so many people come to know themselves much better and even cope with the day-to-day stresses of ordinary life.

Evidence of how much Fr George Preca was loved and treasured by one and all was the resounding acknowledgement he received on the day of his death. Tens of thousands of people passed by his coffin and attended his funeral.

This love has never ceased to increase and it seems that the more time that passes, the more we come to treasure this great man of our times.

Tonio Caruana is a member of the Society for Christian Doctrine