At the end of the year 2010 the Province had 325 religious, in nine different countries. – Spain, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, United States of America, England, Italy, Mexico y Taiwan – all living in fifty three communities. Their work is varied; from administration and formation to jungle missions and attending to handicapped children. This year we handed over the mission of Taiwan to our Recollect brothers in the Province of St Ezequiel Moreno, who work in the Philippines and Sierra Leone. The leader of the Province is called the Prior Provincial and he is helped by four councillors and a secretary. This team is called the Provincial Curia and they all live in a residence in Madrid. The Provincial is responsible for the whole province but in reality he is only responsible to 13 communities in Spain, one in Rome and 3 communities in China. The other countries are served by Vicars and Delegations.
The province has two Vicariates (Mexico and England) and three delegations (Costa Rica, America and Brazil). The Vicariate of Mexico includes those living in Mexico and Costa Rica, while the English Vicariate is made up of five communities. The delegations of Brazil and the United States depend directly on the Provincial.
Parish priest, teacher and missionary.
The newly elected Provincial was born on 11 of April 1958 in the town of Los Arcos, Navarra. He lived there until he enter the junior seminary which the Recollects had in Lodosa, Navarra, Spain. He continued there until he had completed his secondary studies. From there he entered the Noviciate house of Monteagudo and once professed he did his final studies of Philosophy and theology in the the monastery of Marcilla. He made his solemn vows on the 18th of October 1980 in Marcilla where he was ordained one year later on 18th July 1981.
His first appointment was to the Parish of St. Rita in Madrid where he was parish curet and at the same time studied catechetics in the collage of St Pius the tenth. Next year he finished his studies and went to live in the Recollect student University Residence, Augustinus. Having lived in many different houses within the Order he obtained a unique insight of the many and varied fields of work in the Province of St. Nicholas. He has worked in many houses in Spain: the collage of St Augustine (Valladolid), the parish of St. Sebastian of Chiclana (Cadiz) and the parish of St. Monica (Zaragoza). In 1997 he was sent to the curial house in Madrid as the secretary to the Provincial which he performed for seven years. In 2003 the was sent to Brazil where he worked in the Amazon parish of Tapaua, in the mission of Labria. He also became the Delegate for Brazil.
Finally, in the year 2006 he was named the master of students in formation house of Las Rozas (Madrid). During the last three years before being elected Provincial in 2009, he was the President of the Commission of missions and of social development for the Province.