New Leadership Elected for the General Commissariat of Paraná

The Fifth Chapter of the General Commissariat of Paraná is taking place from 21 to 25 September 2026 in Maringá, Brazil, under the theme "Carmel: Presence and Mission" and the biblical motto, "Lord, in your light we see light" (Ps 36:9).

During the Chapter, Frei Edmilson Borges de Carvalho, O. Carm., was elected Commissary General. The Chapter also elected Frei Flávio Barbosa dos Santos, O. Carm., First Councilor; Frei Cleidimar Vilela Roquim da Silva, O. Carm., Second Councilor; Frei Vagner Sanagiotto, O. Carm., Third Councilor; and Frei Romualdo Borges de Macedo, O. Carm., Fourth Councilor.

In 1951, the Upper German Province of the Order began missionary work in the city of Paranavai, in the Brazilian state of Paraná, and within a few years sent fifteen missionaries to the new foundation. The friars immediately fostered local vocations, and as early as 1953, they established a second foundation in the city of Graciosa, where a minor seminary was built.

In 1965, the Paraná mission was raised to the status of a Provincial Commissariat. In 1967, the friars assumed pastoral care of the parish of Saint Joseph in Cidade Gaúcha and the parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin in Fanny-Curitiba; at this latter parish, they also established a novitiate and a minor seminary. In 1968, following the division of the Cidade Gaúcha parish, the friars took charge of a new parish in the city of Tapira. The following year, the friars established the Saint John of the Cross Seminary and middle schools in the city of Paranavai. In 1984, the friars took over the Good Jesus parish in the city of Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. In 1994, the friars relinquished the parishes they had been serving in Cidade Gaúcha and Tapira in order to launch a new mission in the northern region. Consequently, they assumed pastoral care of the parish of Our Lady of Aparecida in the city of Rolim de Moura, in the state of Rondônia (Amazon region).

In 1996, a house of formation was founded in Barrio Novo, Curitiba; there, the Blessed Titus Brandsma friary for postulants and the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel friary for professed friars studying theology were also established. At the beginning of the third millennium, communities were established in Manaus and Navegantes [2009] and in Florianópolis [2011]. On October 20, 2012, the Prior General, with the approval of the Council of the Order, canonically erected the General Commissariat of Paraná.