Avila (Spain), May 7: Fr Saverio Cannistra has been re-elected as the Superior General of the Carmelites for the second time, on Thursday May 7 at Avila, Spain. He was elected as General in April 2009 in Fatima and now has been re-elected to guide the Order for another six years.

The Carmelites gather once in six years to elect their supreme head and to plan out the direction of the Order. Presently the General Chapter is being held at Avila, Spain the birth place of St Teresa of Avila, whose fifth birth centenary is being celebrated this year.

Fr Saverio (Antonio Gennaro) Cannistrà of the Sacred Heart was born in the Calabrian city of Catanzaro on October 3, 1958. He studied philology at the Scuola Normale and later worked for Einaudi. He entered the novitiate of the Italian Province of Tuscany in the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1985 and made his simple profession on September 17, 1986. He made his solemn profession in 1990 and was ordained a priest on October 24, 1992.

Doctor in Dogmatic Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome, Saverio Cannistrà is a member of the Italian Theological Conference (northern area) and has participated in numerous conferences of the Order. Knowing several languages, he has taught at the faculty of Theology of the Teresianum of Rome and in the faculty of Theology of Central Italy in Florence.