Michael L. Barré, P.S.S.
September 25, 2023
August 14, 1943
“O Lord, I have heard of your renown, and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.” (Habakkuk: 3: 2) This is the opening line of the Prayer of Habakkuk, the subject of Fr. Barré’s unfinished final work. He was most renowned for his book, The Lord Has Saved Me: A Study of the Psalm of Hezekiah, Isaiah 38:9-10. Many have been awed by Fr. Barré’s work as a Scripture scholar.
Born August 14, 1943, in Memphis, Tennessee, Fr. Barré was one of two children of Lee and Mary (Lonergan) Barré.
Fr. Barré was educated in Memphis parochial schools and then entered St. Mary’s College, St. Mary, Kentucky where he earned the B.A. in 1966. He earned his S.T.B., in 1968, S.T.M. in 1970, and S.T.L. in 1981 from St. Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore, Maryland. He was ordained for the Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee, on May 23, 1970, and admitted to the Society of St. Sulpice in 1974.
After ordination, he received his first Sulpician teaching assignment at St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California, from 1970 to 1973. He then went to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, from 1973 to 1978 to pursue a doctorate in near eastern studies. After completing his doctorate, he returned to St. Patrick’s Seminary (1978-1992). He had his first sabbatical from 1988-1989 at the Vaugirard community in Berkeley, California. From St. Patrick’s Seminary, he returned to Baltimore to join the faculty of St. Mary’s Seminary & University from 1992 to 2013. During another sabbatical from 2011 to 2012, he worked on his translation and interpretation of the Prayer of Habakkuk. He retired in 2013, remaining in residence at St. Mary’s Seminary & University until renovations at Villa Olier, the Sulpician retirement community, were complete. He moved to Villa Olier in Catonsville, Maryland, in 2016.
As an Old Testament scholar, he was in a class of his own. His contributions to Old Testament studies will be a lasting tribute to his linguistic skills. He served one term as President of the Catholic Biblical Association and as editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. As a teacher, he was known to be demanding. One of his former students commented: “You had to earn any grade that he assigned.”
Fr. Barré will be well remembered as one of the “characters” of the Society in a time when some claimed that all the “characters” had died. Consistently, his confreres, his students, and his friends fondly remarked: “He was a character.” As a colleague, he was delightfully witty and could be quite entertaining with his marvelous sense of humor and his creativity. Friends say there are so many humorous stories about him that it would take hours to recount them all. Combining his profession and his humor, one Halloween he came to a party dressed as a six-foot tall Dead Sea Scroll with Hebrew letter cut outs so he could see where he was going. His impatience was another well-known characteristic. Tardiness for an appointment or for a deadline did not sit well with him. The antics of other drivers on the road could also be the object of his ire.
During his final years he experienced cognitive decline. Little by little, he became more confused and forgetful. Sometimes his good humor enabled him to laugh at his lapses of memory or when he could not find his cane, his phone, or his hat, which were often nearby and in plain sight. At other times, the frustration got to him. He realized that once he was able to do so many things and now, he could not. It was hard to let go of so much. Fr. Thomas Ulshafer, P.S.S., his long-time friend who preached the funeral homily, said that the people who interacted with him regularly were amazed that somehow, he was able to keep his steady decline from turning him sour. He said that Fr. Barré’s “ability to accept his tough situation could be explained by his customary good humor but even more so by his faith. Like the speaker in the first reading from Lamentations, he genuinely believed: ‘My portion is the Lord … therefore I will hope in him.’ ”
The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on October 2, 2023, at Our Lady of the Angels Parish, Catonsville. Since the provincial, Fr. Daniel Moore, P.S.S., was on an official visitation to Africa, Fr. Daniel Doherty, P.S.S., the superior of the Villa, presided. Fr. Thomas Ulshafer, P.S.S., gave the homily for his long-time friend. Fr. Bud Stevens, P.S.S., the first consulter, gave the Final Commendation. Burial was in the Sulpician Cemetery. Fr. Leo Larivee, P.S.S., the pastor of Our Lady of the Angels, led the Committal Service.