The Peruvian Episcopal Conference Appoints New President

Originally published in Spanish in Perú Católico on March 29,2019.

On March 27, 2019, Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A. was elected as the President of the Commission on Education, Culture and Cultural Property. This article is a short biography of the life of Archbishop Prevost and how he came to lead the faithful in Peru.

He was born on September 14, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois to Louis M. Prevost and Mildred Martinez. He has two brothers, Louis and John. He studied at Villanova University and in 1977, he earned his bachelor’s in Mathematics with a concentration in Philosophy. On September 1 of that same year, he entered the Augustinian notiviate at the Povince of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Saint Louis, Missouri. On August 29, 1981 he professed solemn vows. On June 19, 1982 he was ordained to the priesthood.

In 1988, he was sent to the missions in Trujillo to be the formation director in the Augustinian Vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos, and Apurimac. Between 1988 and 1998, Monsignor Prevost served as Prior of his community, formation director, mentor for those who professed vows, Judicial Vicar, and Canon Law professor. He was also the founding priest of Our Lady Mother of the Church parish (that is now known as Saint Rita Parish) and the Parochial Administrator of Our Lady of Monserrat. In 1999, he returned to the United States and was elected as Prior Provincial of the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago and in 2001 he was elected to be Prior General of the Augustinian Order and re-elected in 2007.

In October 2013, he returned to the Midwest Province in Chicago to serve as the mentor for the professed and Provincial Vicar until Pope Francis appointed to him as the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru on November 3, 2014. He ordained Bishop on December 12, 2014 (The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) and was later elevated to serve as Bishop of the Diocese of Sufar. Since 26, 2015, he has been the Bishop of Chiclayo.

(A correction was made to this article. It had previously stated that Monsignor Prevost was Archbishop.)