Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico 
Mother Province: Province of St. Agatha and St. Lucy in Italy (Sicily) 

The first Franciscan missionaries in Mexico were twelve “apostles” sent from Spain in 1523. This legacy inspires today’s Conventual Franciscans to continue the same missionary style, a style founded on one’s love for Christ and for those in need of salvation. The Province of “Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” in Mexico began as a presence of the friars of Sicily. Three friars arrived on November 20, 1977. They were Friars Corrado INSERRA, Antonio BANNÒ and Calogero DRAGO. In May of 1998, the presence was erected as a Provincial Custody. At the General Chapter of 2013, it was erected as a Province. From the beginning, the friars have worked in parishes and dedicated themselves to the “Plantatio Ordinis” through vocation ministry and building seminaries. The friars then began to work in the area of the indigenous Amuzgos, Mixtecos and Náhuatl peoples, in the Guerrero Mountains of southern Mexico. They accepted parishes in Xochistlahuaca and Tlacoachistlahuaca, where they opened “albergues” (boarding schools) for boys and girls, to foster their studies. Even in the poor suburbs of the capital, Mexico City, three “comedores de la caridad” [soup kitchens] have opened, serving daily meals to three hundred needy children. Today in Mexico, several women’s congregations from Sicily collaborate with the friars, including the sisters of a Poor Clare Monastery. Currently, the Jurisdiction has fifty-two solemnly professed friars, four simply professed friars, ten friaries and one filial house.

Xochistlahuaca: San Miguel Arcángel Friary and Parish
This community was opened in 1979, by friars from the United States. It passed to the friars of Mexico in 1998. The friars take care of the parish and minister to thirty villages and two schools where twenty young people study and eat for free.

Acapulco: San Felipe de Jesús Filial House
This presence was opened in 1993, as a filial house of the San Miguel Arcángel Friary in Xochistlahuaca. The friars provide spiritual assistance at a civil hospital there.

Nezahualcóyotl: Cristo del Valle y San Francisco de Asís Friary (1977)
This friary is the seat of the Provincial Curia and serves as a postulancy house.

Cuautitlán Izcalli: Maria Inmaculada Friary and San Francisco de Asís Parish (1986)
This friary serves as a house of theology studies. The friars take care of the parish and run a soup kitchen for the poor, where three hundred people, including children and the elderly, are served every day.

Totolapan: San Antonio de Padua Friary (1993)
It is the seat of the novitiate. The friars provide spiritual assistance to six villages and the wider parish territory.

León: San José da Cupertino Friary and Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Rectory (2003)
The friars tend to the formation of post-novices in philosophy studies and provide spiritual assistance to various groups.

Tlacoachistlahuaca: La Purísima Concepción Friary and Parish
This friary was founded by friars from the United States in 1979, and passed to the friars of Mexico in 1998. The friars take care of the parish and minister to twenty-five villages and two schools where one hundred young people study and eat for free.

Mexico City: Virgen de San Juan de los Lagos Friary and Parish (2006)

Ixtapaluca: San Francisco de Asís Friary and Santa Bárbara Parish (2008)

Nicolás Romero: San Buenaventura Friary and San Isidoro Labrador Parish (2009)
The friars take care of the parish and conduct various charitable activities in the area.

Austin, Texas, USA: Cristo Rey Friary and Parish (2007)
The friars take care of the parish and work with immigrants from South America.

Franciscan Missionary Center
General Secretariat for Mission Animation