The Cistercian community of the Monastery of Santa María de Huerta has elected Father Francisco Rivera this Wednesday as the new abbot of the historic Soria monastery, ending the 31 years of abbatial governance of Father Isidoro, who has submitted his resignation.
The news was announced by the monastic community itself through a brief note stating that the new abbot was born in Granada on July 28, 1979, entered Huerta in 2007, made his solemn profession in 2013, and was ordained a priest in 2018. Until now, he had served as prior of the monastery.
One of the great Cistercian monasteries of Spain
The Monastery of Santa María de Huerta, located in the province of Soria, was founded in the 12th century and constitutes one of the great historic houses of the Cistercian Order in the Peninsula.
The community was initially founded in 1142 under the impetus of King Alfonso VII and was definitively established in Huerta in 1162, linked to the Cistercian expansion promoted from Clairvaux under the influence of Saint Bernard.
Over the centuries, the monastery became an important spiritual, cultural, and economic center of Castile, accumulating notable influence in the religious and social life of the region.
A monastery marked by the history of Spain
The history of Santa María de Huerta also reflects the great upheavals experienced by religious life in Spain during recent centuries.
Like so many other monasteries, it was severely affected by the 19th-century disentailment, which forced the expulsion of the monks and left the building virtually abandoned for decades.
Monastic life was not restored until the 20th century, when a new Cistercian community returned and progressively recovered the liturgical and spiritual life of the monastery.
Monastic continuity in times of secularization
The election of Father Francisco Rivera takes place in a complex context for contemplative life in Western Europe, marked by the aging of many communities and the decline of vocations.
Despite this, Santa María de Huerta continues to be one of the most stable monastic communities in the Spanish Cistercian landscape and maintains an intense liturgical life centered on the choral celebration of the Divine Office and the Benedictine spiritual tradition.