The Provincial Chapter of the Province of Portugal, which has been meeting since Sunday, 9 January 2022, in the convent of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima, elected Brother José Manuel Correia Fernandes as the new Prior Provincial on the afternoon of 12 January. The Master of the Order confirmed the election and Br. José Manuel accepted and took possession on 13 January.
José Manuel was born in 1970, made his profession in the Order of Preachers in 1997 and was ordained in 2002. Since 2011 he has been the parish priest of the parish of São Domingos de Benfica (Lisbon). A Licentiate in Theology and Master in Systematic Theology, he has been Regent of Studies of the Province for the last twelve years. He is also Director of the Instituto Santo Tomás de Aquino (ISTA).
The Province of Portugal has three convents in Portugal (Porto, Fatima and Lisbon) and a vicariate in Angola, which consists of two houses (in Waku Kungo and Viana – Luanda) and a convent (Luanda).
