Fr Leslie Gatt was re-elected as the Augustinian Prior Provincial of the Maltese Augustinian Province to serve for another four years on Boxing Day.
He has been in this position since April 2018.
“Fr Leslie will renew his mandate as Prior Provincial in the upcoming Ordinary Provincial Chapter of the Maltese Augustinian Province which will officially open on March 17, 2026,” the Augustinians in Malta said.
Fr Gatt was elected to remain in his role following an internal process, the Maltese Augustinians stated. In this process that they said occurs every four years, the Province evaluates its realities and challenges, and renews its commitment in the Church and in Maltese society for the coming years.
The Augustinians have been in Malta for over 600 years. Gatt’s extended term will be the 68th provincial mandate since the founding of the Maltese Augustinian Province in 1817.
The Head of the Augustinians was born in 1978 and was baptized in St Augustine’s Parish Church, Valletta. After various years of discernment, he began his Novitiate within the Order of St Augustine in Italy, in the year 2000; a year later, he made his first profession of religious vows.
In 2005, he was ordained a priest in St. John’s Co-Cathedral by the Archbishop of Malta, then Mons. Joseph Mercieca. He studied Maltese language, philosophy and theology at the University of Malta, and later continued his specialisation studies in youth ministry and catechesis at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.
He has served as the Rector of St Augustine College between 2014 and 2018, before he was then elected as the Augustinian Prior Provincial. During his first mandate, between 2018 and 2022, he formed part of the Tarxien Augustinian Community. He has been living in the Community of Valletta since the beginning of his second mandate.
The Augustinian Province concluded its statement for this announcement by asking the Lord to bless Fr. Gatt in his mission, and particularly over this upcoming third mandate where he is being entrusted to lead the Province.