Dominic Barberi, CP (22 June 1792 – 27 August 1849) was an Italian theologian and Passionist priest who was prominent in spreading Catholicism in England.

When Napoleon suppressed the religious communities in the Papal States, Barberi became acquainted with several Passionists living in exile near his town.

When Barberi was one of the few men in his locality not chosen for military conscription, he felt it was a sign from God that he should enter a religious community.

After completing the regular course of studies, Barberi taught philosophy and theology to the students of the congregation as lector for a period of ten years, first in Sant'Angelo and then in Rome.

In the summer of 1830 he was asked to aid an English convert to Catholicism, Sir Henry Trelawney, with regard to the rubrics of the Mass.

[3] On arrival in Belgium the local bishop was so unimpressed with Barberi's plebeian appearance that he was subjected to intense examination in moral theology before being allowed to hear confessions.

Life in Belgium posed plenty of problems for the Passionists; one of the Brothers had fallen ill, the community was in abject poverty, and Barberi had few words of French.

Barberi set out for England once more in October 1841, where he was greeted with stares and suspicion, not only as a Catholic priest, but for the strange garb of the Passionist habit.

It began on a bleak October day of 1841, when a little Italian priest in comical attire shuffled down a ship's gangway at Folkestone.

"[4] After many months of waiting at Oscott College, Barberi finally secured possession of Aston Hall in Staffordshire in February 1842, after 28 years of effort, thereby establishing the Passionists in England.

It was at Aston, however, that on 10 June 1844 the first Corpus Christi procession was held in the British Isles, an event which attracted thousands of Catholics and Protestants alike.

In 1841 a letter by John Dobree Dalgairns appeared in L'Univers explaining the position of the Anglican High Church party.

Barberi decided to respond to this letter in the mistaken belief that it represented the views of the entire faculty of Oxford University.

The letter, through the help of Ignatius Spencer, eventually ended up in the hands of Dalgairns, who was residing with John Henry Newman at Littlemore.

In the last years of his life, Barberi engaged in negotiations for the foundation of St Anne's Retreat, Sutton, where today he lies buried.

While he was visiting a convent of nuns who were instructing many converts, some of them male, Barberi was informed that some of the sisters were worried about teaching men.

[14][15] Barberi is buried in St. Anne and Blessed Dominic Church, Sutton, Merseyside, which is also the shrine of Elizabeth Prout and Ignatius Spencer.

[18] Barberi is best remembered for his part in Newman's conversion, but is also commemorated for his work in the efforts to return England to the 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, not only Newman, but others such as Spencer and Dalgairns.

One of Barberi's most famed works was his 'Lamentation of England',[21] in which he used the words of the Prophet Jeremiah to express the lamentations of English Catholics.