How to find it
The plaque is at 57 Caversham Road, Reading. it is smaller than most plaques. which does make it difficult to read.
Erection of the plaque
The Duke of Edinburgh closed in 1996. After an arson attack in 2001 it was demolished and replaced by the present buildings.
The Civic Society was approached for advice in the mid 2000’s by a group wishing to erect this plaque.
More information
Dominic Barberi was an Italian theologian and Passionist priest who was prominent in spreading Catholicism in England. He contributed to the conversion of John Henry Newman in 1845. He died in the Railway Tavern, later the Duke of Edinburgh, which was formerly on the site of the building on which the plaque has been erected.
Born a peasant and raised without any formal education, Barberi entered the Passionist order as a lay brother and was ordained a priest in 1818. In 1821, he became lecturer in theology at a Passionist college near Vetralla. Assignments in Rome (from 1824), Lucca (1831), southern Italy (1833), and Belgium (1840) followed.
In 1841 he landed at Folkstone amidst much suspicion, not only for his religion but for his strange garb, a black tunic and mantle. In 1842 he secured Aston Hall in Staffordshire where he founded a Passionist house. In 1845 he received John Henry Newman (who became Cardinal Newman in 1879 and was canonised as a Saint in 2019) into the Roman Catholic church. He founded four Passionist houses in England and made plans for one in Ireland, which was established after his death.
His work took its toll upon his health, from 1847 he insisted that his life had nearly run its course. He had preached numerous retreats, both alone and with a longstanding friend George Spencer, both in England and Ireland.
On 27 August 1849, Barberi was travelling from Paddington to Woodchester when at Pangbourne he suffered a heart attack. Because in London “the cholera was then prevalent”, no hotels would take him in. It was decided to bring him back to Reading (to the Railway Tavern, later the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, now demolished). The train arrived more than hour later, while “he remained in great agony but in peace and with ‘Thy will be done’ ever on his lips”. He died awaiting a doctor. He is buried at the Passionist Shrine in Sutton, St Helens, Lancashire.
Whilst best remembered for his part in Newman’s conversion, he is also commemorated for his work in the efforts to return England to the Roman Catholic faith in the 19th century. In his years in England, Barberi established three churches and several chapels, preached innumerable missions and received hundreds of converts.
He was declared venerable in 1937 and beatified in 1963 during the Second Vatican Council.
Passionist, is a religious order of men in the Roman Catholic church, founded in Italy in 1720 to spread devotion to the sufferings and death on the Cross of Jesus Christ. They fulfil their mission by preaching about Jesus Christ throughout the world. Members of the order follow an austere rule of life. Their habit consists of a black tunic and mantle with a leather belt and rosary. There are communities in London, the West Country and Sutton, St Helens, Lancashire.
Credits Britannica, Blessed Domenico Barberi