The confirmation of a miracle attributed to his intercession allowed for Pope John Paul II to canonize him as a saint of the Catholic Church on 21 November 1999.
In 1917 he entered the novitiate of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Irun where he was given the religious name of "Jaime Hilario" and the habit on 24 February.
[1] Until 1933 he was sent on various teaching assignments and was regarded as an exceptional teacher and catechist; he taught Latin and was a believer in universal education with an emphasis on the poor.
His hearing problems continued to persist and worsen and, at the beginning of the 1930s, he was forced to stop teaching and began work as a gardener at the college of Saint Joseph in Tarragona.
[1] In his trial, his defense advocate told him to cite his occupation as a gardener, but he refused to do so and said he would claim to be a religious brother, as was the case.
Barbal was taken to Monte de los Olivos – an olive grove – in Tarragona for execution during the afternoon of 18 January 1937.