On 12 May 2023, Fr. Nuno Duarte da Silva Queirós, priest of the Diocese of Aveiro (Portugal), was admitted to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Dominic at Vespers in the Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine, in Rome. The celebration, during which he received the habit and the rule of the priestly fraternities, was presided by the Postulator General of the Order of Preachers, Br. Massimo Mancini, OP, in the presence of the Master of the Order and the community of the Convent of Santa Sabina.
Father Nuno Duarte was born on 22 April 1984 in Santo Tirso (Portugal) and was ordained priest on 17 November 2013 in Aveiro Cathedral. From 2002 to 2008 he was a Benedictine monk at Singeverga Abbey in Portugal, where he was organist, cantor and member of the monastery’s liturgy commission. Before his transfer to Rome in 2021, where he is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Fr. Nuno Duarte was a parish priest, teacher, member of the presbyteral council and the diocesan pastoral council, ceremonialist and director of the diocesan office of liturgy, member of the liturgical music service, diocesan promoter of the apostleship of prayer—the Pope’s worldwide prayer network—delegate to international eucharistic congresses and assistant to some lay movements. He was also a member of the direction of the national service of altar servers of the national office of liturgy of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference. Besides his studies, he is presently a member of the College of Consultors of his diocese and Vice-Postulator of the cause of canonization of Blessed Joana of Portugal, princess and virgin of the Dominican Order, who is the patroness of the city and diocese of Aveiro and is celebrated precisely on May 12.
The admission to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Dominic also coincides with the opening of the jubilee year of the 600th anniversary of the beginning of the construction of the church of the ancient Dominican convent of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia (Our Lady of Mercy), currently Aveiro Cathedral, where Fr. Nuno Duarte was ordained priest, and is also a reason for joy and hope for the Order of Preachers, especially for the Dominican family present in Portugal.
