On Sunday, 10 July, at 10 in the evening, Fr. General Miguel Miró convoked the delegates chosen by the religious to participate in this provincial chapter. After welcoming them, he gave orientations to make the assembly more efficient. At this first session, the capitular friars received a dossier containing all the information on the state of the province, which is present in Peru, Spain and Venezuela.
On Monday, with the mass of the Holy Spirit, which was also presided over by the Prior General, the chapter officially started. After the singing of the “Veni Creator”, Fr. Miguel Miró invited the capitulars to seek “basic attitudes for the progress of the chapter: prayer and faith perspective, vision of the future, docility to the Spirit, sense of Order and communion with the Church”.
Venezuela and Peru
At the second session, Fr. Provincial, Ismael Ojeda, together with the vicars of Venezuela and Peru presented the report on the state of the province.
The Augustinian Recollects of the province in Venezuela number 38 religious, distributed in 8 communities. They have their own seminary, in Palmira (Táchira), and they administer three schools in Caracas, with 4,250 students. They run 8 parishes in 6 different cities and they minister at the shrine of Blessed Mary of Saint Joseph, in Maracay (Aragua).
In Peru, the Augustinian Recollects are 48 in number, spread in 7 communities. There are two seminaries, both in Lima. There are also 2 schools in the capital, with a total of 1,450 students. The friars run 5 parishes, three in Lima, one in Chota and another in Chiclayo. One distinctive mark of Peru is that there are 2 religious helping 2 of the 3 Augustinian Recollect bishops in that country: specifically, the bishop of Chachapoyas, Emiliano Cisneros, and that of Cajamarca, Carmelo Martínez