Villanova Alumnus, St. Thomas of Villanova Friar Elected as Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine

VILLANOVA, Pa. (September 9, 2025)-The Rev. Joseph L. Farrell, OSA, STL, STD, '85 VSB, '19 MS has been elected Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine at the Order's 188th General Chapter on Sept. 9. Father Farrell, who will serve a six-year term, is the first Prior General elected from the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, and the second Villanova University graduate to be called to the position, after the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, who served from 2001 to 2013.

Father Farrell is the 98th Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine since the position was first assigned in 1256, shortly after the Order's founding.

Prior to his election, Father Farrell served two consecutive six-year terms as the Vicar General of the worldwide Order, and as assistant general for North America beginning in 2013.

A Drexel Hill, Pa., native and graduate of Monsignor Bonner High School, Father Farrell completed his undergraduate studies at Villanova School of Business in 1985, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration before joining the pre-novitiate program at the St. Augustine Friary in Villanova. Following the novitiate, he earned a Master of Arts in Theology from the Washington Theological Union.

Ordained in 1991 at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Father Farrell was first assigned to the St. Augustine Parish in Lawrence, Mass., before returning to Pennsylvania to serve as chaplain at Monsignor Bonner and as a member of their St. Ambrose Friary Community. From 1996 to 2003, he was assigned as campus minister of Merrimack College, an Augustinian institution in Massachusetts, before pursuing studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned both his Licentiate in Sacred Theology and Doctorate in Sacred Theology.

Upon his return to the United States, Father Farrell was assigned to the St. Thomas of Villanova Monastery and held the position of director of Programming and Outreach in Villanova University's Office for Mission Effectiveness, while also serving as an adjunct professor of Theology. During this time, he worked with undergraduate and graduate students to introduce them to St. Augustine and his teachings both inside and outside of the classroom.

From 2008 to 2010, Father Farrell was assigned as prior to Blessed Stephen Bellesini Friary, the house of formation for pre-novitiates to the Order in Ardmore, Pa. At the Provincial Chapter of 2010, he was elected a counselor of the Province.

In 2019, just prior to his re-election as Vicar General, he completed his Master of Church Management at Villanova.

Founded in 1842, Villanova University is one of only two Augustinian Catholic institutions of higher learning in the United States, sharing this common heritage with Merrimack College. As an Augustinian Catholic university, Villanova is rooted in the values of truth, unity, and love (Veritas, Unitas, Caritas), inspired by the teachings of St. Augustine. For more on Villanova's Augustinian mission and tradition, click here.