In 1823 Patrick Kelly (bishop of Waterford and Lismore) sent him to the Propaganda College in Rome to complete his studies, where he obtained a Doctorate in Theology.
[1] In 1822 the American Colonization Society began sending black volunteers to the Pepper Coast to establish a colony for free people of color from the United States.
In 1833, John England, Bishop of Charleston, had drawn attention to the West Coast of Africa, and had urged the sending of missioners to those regions.
This appeal was renewed at the second Provincial Council of Baltimore, and the assembled Fathers commissioned Barron to undertake the work at Cape Palmas.
[1] While in Rome he was consecrated, 22 January 1842, titular Bishop of Constantia and Vicar Apostolic of Upper Guinea—an area encompassing both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
[4] Barron and Kelly held out for two years, and then, wasted by fever, they determined to return to the United States, feeling that it was impossible to withstand the climate any longer.