Prior General Visits Australia

Published: 9 March 2017

Fr Alejandro Moral OSA, the Prior General (world leader) of the Order of St Augustine visited Australia for two and a half weeks in March 2017.

This visit was part of his goal of meeting each Augustinian community throughout the world at least once during his six-year term of office. His Australian itinerary had him travelling the length of Australia from the Augustinian communities as far apart as Mareeba, Far North Queensland and Melbourne. While present in each community he meet and addressed the people locally who are served by the Augustinians. For example, in the two Augustinian primary/secondary schools in Australia, Villanova College (Brisbane) and St Augustine’s College (Sydney), he addressed an assembly of 1,200 pupils on each campus.

The Prior General addresses an Assembly at St Augustine’s College, Sydney.

Based in Rome, Fr Moral became an Augustinian in 1973. His native country is Spain. Prior to his election to his current position in 2014, he had been an Assistant General in Rome for twelve years. Earlier in the year he conducted a similar visit to the Augustinians in Japan and South Korea, and attended planning meetings in the Philippines.

The Order had its formal early-medieval beginning in the year 1256. Since the 1950s the predecessors of Fr Moral as Prior General have come from Germany, Spain (two), Italy, Ireland, the two from the United States; many of these friars had two consecutive six-year terms of office.

The Order of St Augustine is present on all continents, working in over forty nations. It is little wonder that it takes a Prior General six years to visit all Augustinian communities, especially when visitation is additional to his executive leadership role that is conducted from his office in Rome.