This jubilee year invites us to live hope in a full and authentic way. It offers all of us friars in Chile an opportunity to thank the Lord for thirty years of Conventual Franciscan presence. Our presence began with the arrival of the first missionaries, Friars Pietro BELTRAME and Giorgio MOROSINOTTO in July of 1995. They laid the foundations for a path of faith, service, and fraternity. Their mission was an act of courage and trust in the Lord, in a distant land filled with challenges.
The mission in Chile is now the Provincial Delegation in Chile of the Italian Province of St. Anthony of Padua [Northern Italy]. Its history, however, has even deeper roots. Recent research by the Antonian Studies Center has shown that the first attempts to establish a Franciscan presence in Chile date back to 1948. This was revealed in a letter from Friar Giuseppe FIALA to the Most Reverend José María CARO RODRÍGUEZ, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile. Although these early steps did not lead to any immediate developments, they demonstrate the missionary zeal of the Order and the desire to bring Franciscan life to every corner of the world.
In the early 1990s, the then Province of Padua, today the Italian Province of St. Anthony of Padua [Northern Italy], together with the Rioplatense Province of St. Anthony of Padua in Argentina-Uruguay, decided to launch the “Chile Project,” a mission in a country about 12,000 kilometers [7,456 miles] from Italy. It seemed like an almost impossible challenge, but the friars, guided by faith and fraternity, worked with dedication and patience. In 1995, the first mission sites were identified in Copiapó. Friars Pietro BELTRAME and Giorgio MOROSINOTTO were the first pioneers, followed by Friars Maurizio BRIDIO and Ramón ZÁS GARCÍA. They began to build relationships with the people there, to learn the local culture, and understand the spiritual and material needs of the populace.
In 1996, a community was opened in Santiago, first in the Conchalí area and then, from 1998, at the Inmaculada Concepción Shrine in San Ramón, a suburb of Santiago. It is a place with a long Franciscan tradition where many activities still flourish today. The Delegation has grown thanks to collaboration with other Provinces, namely, the then Province of Bologna, the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Romania, the Province of Mary Immaculate in Indonesia, and the Province of St. Jerome in Croatia. They sent friars to support the communities in Chile, helping them strengthen fraternal life and sharing experiences of faith and service.
In the years that followed, the friars decided to open a third community in El Monte. However, the Holy Spirit guided them to Curicó instead, where the permanent community is located today. The friary also serves as a formation house for postulants. The friars got off to a rough start: a strong earthquake hit the region in February of 2010, creating logistical and pastoral difficulties. However, the friars did not give up and continued to carry out their mission alongside the people of God.
During this journey, individuals such as Friars Tullio PASTORELLI, Enrico BROCCHI, and Giuseppe BELLINI made valuable contributions. Today they are in Italy but remain an integral part of the history of the mission in Chile. After 2010, youth ministry also grew strongly, focusing on service to the poor during two annual missions, one in the summer and one in the winter. These experiences give young people the chance to live out their faith, develop fraternity, and discover the joy of generous service.
The friars’ presence in Chile has always left a profoundly positive mark, despite cultural differences between Italy and Chile. The missionaries are impressed by the lively faith of the people of Chile, their warm hospitality, and the spontaneous way they live their spirituality in daily life. Popular piety — expressed in songs, processions to the Virgin, activities, and symbols — is not just devotion but a concrete and embodied way of experiencing their relationship with the Lord. The richness and variety of Chile’s landscapes — from the Atacama Desert to Patagonia, with the Andes as the country’s backbone — make every mission a unique experience.
This year we joyfully celebrate thirty years of presence, thanking the Lord for all that He has accomplished in us and through us. During October, we will share historical material and testimony on our social media channels, culminating in November with a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated with our Minister Provincial, Friar Roberto BRANDINELLI, during his canonical visitation.
We invite you to send your greetings, and share your memories and testimony with us by writing to: franciscanoscl@gmail.com.
The social media channels of the Conventual Franciscan Delegation in Chile are:
-YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@franciscanosconventuales7386
-Web: https://franciscanosconventuales.cl
-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franciscanoschile
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/franciscanoscl
Friar Benjamín CASTRO HERRERA
