CHICAGO (OSV News) — The Augustinian order has been in the spotlight since May 8, the day one of its own was elected pope. Interest in Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, has been steady, and so have the inquiries into joining the U.S. provinces of the men’s Order of St. Augustine.

Augustinian Father Jeremy Hiers of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova on the East Coast said in the weeks since then-Cardinal Robert F. Prevost became pope, the office of vocations for the Midwest and East Coast counted 200-plus inquiries that have passed the first level of screening.

“Just yesterday, I had three new ones,” exclaimed the East Coast vocations director. “I’m used to getting maybe three in three months.”

The vocations director for the Midwest province, Augustinian Father To

See Full Page