He was born Georges Francis Garmo on December 8, 1921 in Tel Keppe near Mosul, Iraq. George Garmo entered the Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary in 1934; in 1939 he left to Rome to further his studies. While in Rome, George Garmo was ordained a priest on December 8, 1945. He received a Ph.D in Divinity and a Masters Degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.