Angelo Portelli, O.P. was born Francis Saviour Portelli on 24 April 1852, to Francis and Mary Vella in Valletta. He entered the Dominican Order in the Dominican Church in Rabat on 3 February 1868, receiving the religious name Angelo. Fra Angelo lived in the Convent of Our Lady of the Grotto in Rabat. After he finished his novitiate year he professed on 3 February 1869. He finished all his studies in philosophy and theology at the Dominican College, Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rabat; in the year 1874 he was ordained priest and, two years following, he took the title of Lecturer of Theology.