Rome – On the afternoon of September 9, the 73 capitular friars with voting rights, gathered for the 188th General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, elected the new Prior General.
The Order will now be led by the Reverend Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, until now Vicar General and Assistant for North America, who received the seal from his predecessor, Father Alejandro Moral Antón. With him, the Augustinians welcome the 98th Prior General in over seven and a half centuries of history.
The Profile of the New Prior General
Joseph Lawrence Farrell, OSA was born on July 11, 1963 in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania (USA), and is affiliated with the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. After earning a degree in Economics and Business Administration at Villanova University (1985), he embraced the religious path, professing his first vows in 1987 and solemn vows in 1990.
Ordained a priest on June 29, 1991, he began his ministry at St. Augustine Parish in Lawrence (Massachusetts), later serving as chaplain at Monsignor Bonner High School and Merrimack College. In 2003 he arrived in Rome, at the International College of St. Monica, pursuing studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he earned first a Licentiate (2005) and then a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (2007), specializing in Augustinian spirituality. His dissertation focused on: An Augustinian Spirituality of Responsibility in the Sermons of Saint Augustine. In the following years, he taught and formed young religious at Villanova University, taking on roles in initial formation and prenovitiate leadership.
Service in the Order
Since 2013, Father Farrell has served as Vicar General, working closely with the Prior General in canonical visitations, chapters, and governance. In 2019 he obtained a Master’s in Management of Ecclesial Institutions at Villanova University, while continuing his service in the Order’s international commissions and bodies: from the Institute of Augustinian Spirituality to commissions for formation, evangelization, and social communications.
His reelection as Vicar General in 2019 confirmed the trust placed in him by the Augustinian family. Now, with his election as Prior General, Father Farrell assumes the responsibility of guiding the Order in the next six years, inheriting an ancient tradition while facing the challenges of a rapidly changing world. In particular, Farrell will lead the Order of Saint Augustine during the pontificate of an Augustinian Pope.
f.M.A.
Silere non possum
