On August 14, 2023, the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Friar Antonio Moualeu professed his solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Friar Antonio entered the postulancy program in Chicago, Illinois, in 2017, and went to the novitiate in Arroyo Grande, California, in 2018. After professing simple vows on July 22, 2019, he was sent to San Antonio, Texas, for post-novitiate studies, focused on completing his doctoral studies that he had begun prior to joining the Order. He completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering during the summer of 2022 at Georgia Tech.
As my solemn profession of vows with the Conventual Franciscans is now at hand, I can only marvel at how the Lord’s faithfulness, evident throughout scripture, is also made evident in my own life at this moment. He promised He would do it, and He has. Like Mary, Francis of Assisi, and so many other saints, I can only continue to marvel at what the next steps on this earthly journey with my brothers and sisters will be. While continually learning that His ways are so far beyond my ways, I am confident that whatever these next steps are, His faithfulness endures forever.
Friar Antonio spent the last year of his Apostolic Year of Formation living in community at St. Francis of Assisi Friary in Hamburg, New York. He is called to Religious Brotherhood and remains on the faculty at St. Francis High School.
Friar Michael Heine, Minister Provincial of the Province of Our Lady of the Angels, said, “Wherever the friars are, there is Antonio in their midst. You will do anything to make the friars lives easier and our lives better. Yes, Dr. Antonio, you will be teaching science and math. Both are important. But continue to be a witness of God’s love by living out your vows.”
