Former OSA Prior General Now a Bishop in Peru
Published: 13 December 2014
Fr Rob Prevost
On Monday, 3 November 2014 it was announced that Fr Robert Francis Prevost OSA of Chicago has been named by Pope Francis as the Apostolic Administrator with episcopal character for the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. And then three days later the Pope announced that a local Augustinian was appointed as the bishop of a Nigerian diocese.
Bishop-elect Prevost is well-known internationally particularly because he was Prior General of the Order of St Augustine for two terms between 2001 and 2013. He was born on 14 September 1955 in Chicago Illinois, USA. entered the Order as a novice on 1 September 1977 in the Province of Chicago at the province’s novitiate in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, and professed his first vows on 2 September 1978. He professed solemn vows on 29 August 1981. He completed his philosophical studies at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, (1973-1977), and his theological studies at the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois (1977-1981). He then came to Rome for doctoral studies and was ordained to the priesthood on 19 June 1982 at Collegio Santa Monica, Rome, Italy. In 1985, he completed doctoral studies in Canon Law at the Pontificia Universitas Studiorum a Sancto Thoma Aquinate in Urbe, “Angelicum” (Rome).
Bishop-Elect Robert Prevost OSA, seen earlier at Manly Vale and in western Sydney
Between 1985 and 1998 he obtained first-hand experience of the Catholic Church in Peru. This happened thus: during the years 1985-1986 he was sent to the Vicariate of Chulucanas, Peru, and was appointed Chancellor of the Prelature. He returned to the United States in 1987, where he was in charge of vocational promotion and worked as the Procurator for the missions of his Province. In 1988, he returned to Trujillo, Peru, to initiate the first common formation house between the Vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurimac. In this community, in service to the pre-novices, and the professed, he occupied the post of Prior (1988-1992), Formation Director (1988-1999), Master of Professed (1993-1998), and as parish priest of the Parish of Saint Mary of Monserrat. In the Archdiocese of Trujillo, Fr. Robert worked as Judicial Vicar (1991-1998) and as Director of Studies at the Seminary “San Carlo y San Marcelo”.
Bishop-Elect Robert Prevost visits Pacasmayo in Peru on 7 November 2014
He was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of Chicago in 1998 and returned to the USA and began that mandate on 8 March 1999. At the Ordinary General Chapter of the Order in 2001 in Rome he was elected Prior General of the Order, a post he held for two terms ( 2001-2007 and 2007- 2013). In 2013 he returned to his Province where he has been serving as Director of Professed at Saint Augustine Friary, Chicago, Illinois and as Vicar Provincial of the Chicago Province.
Location of Chiclayo and its Cathedral of St Mary
On behalf of the entire Augustinian Order, Fr. Alejandro Moral Antón OSA (the current Prior General), extended congratulations to his predecessor as he is called to serve the Church in the episcopate. Fr Moral wrote, “Let us all together offer him our fraternal support and remembrance in our prayers for him as he undertakes this new ministry.”
Bishop-Elect Prevost’s Diocese of Chiclayo is near to the Diocese of Chulucanas, where another Chicago Province friar, Bishop Dan Turley, OSA is in charge, and where the Augustinians of the United States first established a mission in the 1960s. Within the diocese and city of Chiclayo the Augustinians administer the Colegio San Agustin high school.
In Australia Fr Prevost became known during his visits to Augustinian schools and parishes at various times between 2001 and 2012 in his capacity as the Order’s international leader. His episcopal ordination will take place at Chiclayo in the Cathedral of St Mary on 12 December 2014.
For details about the new bishop’s coat of arms, click here.
Video footage: 7 November 2014 (1.21 minutes): www.rpp.com.pe/2014-11-07-en-emotiva-ceremonia-asume-funciones-nuevo-obispo-de-chiclayo-noticia_740262.html
Bp. Donatus Ogun OSA
A new bishop Donatus Aihmiosion Ogun OSA (photo above) of the Augustinian Province of Nigeria has been named by Pope Francis as Bishop of the Diocese of Uromi, Edo State, Nigeria. He was born on 12 October 1966 at Sapele in Nigeria. As a pre-novice he pursued his philosophical studies at Saint Augustine Seminary at Jos in Nigeria (1986-1988), and undertook novitiate there in 1988 -1989. He was ordained to the priesthood on 31 July 1993, and assigned to Our Lady of Good Counsel Priory, Iwaro Oka – Akoko, (1993-1996). He then came to Rome to Collegio Santa Monica, (1996-1998) and then to Saint Patrick’s Friary in Rome (1998-2000), and completed studies in Canon Law, first the Licentiate and then the Doctorate, at the Gregorian University. He then returned to Nigeria to the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Surulere, (2001). From 2002 to 2005, he was Master of Professed at Augustinian Monastery, Jos.
From 2006 to 2009, he ministered at Our Lady of Good Counsel Priory, Iwaro Oka – Akoko, and he worked as the university chaplain at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akugba, Akoko, within the parish territory of Iwaro Oka. He then ministered at Saint Nicholas Priory, Warri, where he worked as the Episcopal Vicar for Religious in the Diocese of Warri, (2009-2013). From 2013 until the present, he was Master of the students in formation and director of the Saint Augustine Institute in Makurdi.
The Diocese of Uromi is located in the south of the country, near Benin City and quite distant from the area in north-eastern Nigeria where missionary Augustinian began ministering over eight years ago. Fr Donatus Aihmiosion Ogun OSA is to be ordained bishop at Uromi on 31 January 2015. He will be the seventh Augustinian bishop appointed in Nigeria in the recent half century, four of whom were Irish and three Nigerian).
