The Carmelite friars of the General Commissariat of Portugal gathered in Fátima from 21–23 April 2026 for their Elective Chapter.

The Carmelite presence in Portugal dates back to 1251, when friars arrived from the Holy Land with the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. A convent in Moura was entrusted to them, and from there the Carmelite life spread across Portugal and later to Brazil.

That presence was interrupted in 1834 when religious orders were suppressed in Portugal. What exists today has been rebuilt from that point — smaller in number, but continuing the same Carmelite way of life.

In the lead-up to the Chapter, the friars gathered input from across their communities. The theme they worked from was a line from the Rule: “You must do some work.” The Prior General, Fr Desiderio García Martínez, O.Carm., encouraged them to remain grounded in the interior life that sustains everything else in Carmel.

During the Chapter Fr Altamiro Tenório da Paz was elected Commissary General and Frs Agostinho Marques de Castro, Fernando Manuel Afonso Araújo, João Manuel Oliveira da Costa and Pedro José Martins Monteiro were elected Councillors.

Fr Altamiro was born in Pernambuco, Brazil. He entered the Carmelite postulancy in 1988, made his profession in 1990, and was ordained a priest in 1997 after studies in Recife and Olinda.

He was sent to Mozambique in 2002, where he worked as a missionary, taught at the Interdiocesan Seminary of Matola, and completed a Master’s degree in Philosophy with a focus on ethics. He later served as Provincial of Pernambuco from 2014 to 2017, and returned to Mozambique in 2018, working in formation as a provincial delegate, formator, and professor.

He has been in Portugal since June 2025, living in the Carmelite community of Mata in Lordelo, Felgueiras.

The Portuguese Commissariat has been a long time and very generous supporter of the young Carmelites in Timor-Leste. We congratulate the friars elected and wish the new Council well in its ministry.

Story & photo: Courtesy of Carmelite Communications, Rome and Agencia Ecclesia, Portugal.

Photo: Front row L-R: Richard Byrne (General Councillor for Europe), Desiderio Martínez (Prior General), Altimeiro Tenório da Paz (Commissary General)
Back row L-R: João Manuel Oliveria da Costa, Pedro José Martins Monteiro, Agostinho Marques de Castro, Fernando Manuel Afonso Araújo