The Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, has appointed Br. Carlyle Fortune, OP, as the new Rector of the Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine, Rome, replacing Br. Philipp Johannes Wagner, OP, who had been serving in that office since 1 June 2018.
Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome has accepted the presentation of the Master of the Order, Bro Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, and has appointed Reverend Br. Carlyle Fortune, OP as RECTOR of the Basilica of Santa Sabina. This Decree of appointment is issued according to Canon Law No. 556-563, from the Vicar in the Lateran Apostolic Palace, on 22 November 2023.
The Decree grants him the faculties proper to the office of Rector and reminds him of the pastoral zeal in the cultivation of the faith: “the historic churches of the city of Rome, an incomparable patrimony of art and faith, represent above all a pastoral value that must be jealously guarded so that it may always be alive and active in the life of the Christian community of the Diocese of Rome”.
He also underlines the Importance of being Rector: “to take the best care of the worship in the Church of Santa Sabina on the Aventine and to protect its patrimony of art and history”.
Bro Carlyle Fortune, OP
Brother Carlyle was born in 1965 in Trinidad and Tobago, where he joined the Dominicans of the Irish Province in 1985.
In Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Ireland and Rome he studied Humanities, Theology, Clinical Pastoral Education and Canon Law. He worked as a parish priest in several parishes and was superior of the community for initial formation in Trinidad and Tobago, and then sub prior and finally bursar of St. Clement’s College and Basilica in Rome, where he lived for 11 years. On his return to Trinidad and Tobago, he served as chairman of the Board of Management of Holy Cross College, Arima, the Dominican Pastoral Centre and the Dominican Book Centre, while parish priest of the Dominican parish. He was also appointed to the Eastern Caribbean Ecclesiastical Tribunal as Promoter of Justice and much later as lecturer of Canon Law at the Dominican Study Centre in Dublin. In 2023 he was appointed Vicar of the Master of the Order for the Economic Administration of the Vice-Province of Southern Africa before also being appointed Rector of the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome.
