BARRON, EDWARD. - First Apostolic Vicar of the Two Guineas. Born in Ireland, in Waterford, in 1801; died in Savannah on 12 September 1854. He studied at the Urban College, then exercised his ministry in Philadelphia, in the United States. Following the efforts of the American bishops to provide for the evangelization of the west coast of Africa, where Protestant propaganda was already intense, Barron, then vicar general of Philadelphia, made a reconnaissance trip there in 1839 and informed Rome of the situation. When the Vicariate of the Two Guineas was erected in 1841, Barron was elected its first titular, and in September 1843 he set sail with several young missionary priests of the Sacred Heart of Fr. Libermann, all of whom perished from that deadly climate except Bessieux. He then resigned and, returning to America, dedicated himself to the apostolate among immigrant blacks and died as a simple missionary, struck down by yellow fever.
BARRON, EDWARD
Bibl.: J. B. Pitra, Vie du r. p. Fr. M. P. Libermann, 2nd ed., Paris 1872, pp. 479 ff.; M. Spitz, s.V. in DHG, VI, cols. 931-32. Giovanni B. Tragella