In 2010, the Delegation in Chile opened its third friary. Consulting the chronicles of the Delegation we read: “In the acts of the Ordinary Provincial Chapter (of the Province of Padua) in 2005 it states: The Provincial Chapter gives the mandate to the Minister Provincial and his Definitory to open their third friary in Chile over the course of the four-year term, if the conditions are met.”

In the years following the Chapter of 2005, the friars of the Delegation dedicated themselves to gentle and careful discernment in order to find a suitable place to open their third friary. It was a commitment that involved reflection and dialogue with bishops from the dioceses around Santiago who were interested in our future presence.
In early February of 2010, the first three friars arrived in Curicó, Chile. They were Friars Pedro BELTRAME, Tullio PASTORELLI and Giuseppe BELLINI. They focused first on setting up a house-friary, located on Doctor Osorio Avenue two kilometers [1.25 mi] from the parish, where the fraternity would reside for two years.
On February 15, 2010, the Jesús de Nazaret friary was canonically erected in Curicó , in the Diocese of Talca, about 200 kilometers [125 mi] south of Santiago. The parish entrusted to the friars was on the outskirts of the city, in the “Vatican sector,”, and was dedicated to Jesús de Nazaret. The new friary was owned at the time by the Province of Padua, and was built on land bought in 2011. It was inaugurated in March of 2012 and was blessed on July 10, 2012, by the then Minister Provincial, Friar Gianni CAPPELLETTO.
The Delegation then decided to have the friary in Curicó function as a formation house and a postulancy program was canonically established there on January 10, 2012. In 2020, the friary adopted the name of our martyred confrere, Friar Carlos de Dios MURIAS. A number of young men have resided at the formation house. Today, the Delegation has two young men in formation, a postulant and a post-novice.
The fraternity has always been concerned with parish ministry as well as with youth and vocation ministry. The friary accommodates a small group of young men who are discerning a vocation and offers them experiences in pastoral ministry and missionary service in order to help their vocational discernment.
This latest video is the final presentation of the friars of the Delegation about their presence in Chile. The video deals with the life of the friars in Curicó. It has been twenty-five years since the Delegation was founded. The friars have spent hours, days, weeks and months being passionate for the Lord and serving the people of God. Of course, they have had their ups and downs, joys and sorrows and dreams and hopes. In a nutshell: it has been years of being dedicated to the Lord, and accompanying many people in the Conventual Franciscan lifestyle.
We wish to give, simply and humbly, thanks to God and to the many confreres who have been our companions on the journey.

Friar Tullio PASTORELLI and the friars of the Delegation