My name is Ottmar Tovar-Almanza, and I was born on February of 1993 in Mexico City, where I was raised until the age of 12, until I moved to San Antonio in July of 2005. Following my departure from Mexico, I continued my education from middle school through college. In May of 2016, I graduated from the Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) and the University of the Incarnate Word, earning a BA in Pastoral Ministry with concentration in the area of Philosophy.

The call to the priesthood had been present since my childhood in Mexico City, where I was inspired by the example of my first parish priest. The call remained and became clearer throughout the years, being later confirmed in the shrine of Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, through the loving intercession of Our Lady. I
made the first pilgrimage to this place in March of 2016, seeking a better clarity from God if I was being called to the seminary. Through prayer, the answer was very clear, and I decided to begin the admission process. However, I was offered the opportunity by my family to go back to Medjugorje and stay there for 4 months,
from August to December of that year, to better prepare for seminary life.

The experience of physically living in the town, and become immersed in its profound spirituality centered in prayer, the sacraments, fasting, and Marian devotion, was a remarkable occasion to deepen my relationship with God. It was also an important step in setting the substructure and foundation of my spiritual life, which is an essential aspect of seminary formation. To this day, that experience remains the milestone in my life, spirituality, and vocational journey. Following an additional time of further vocational discernment and spiritual growth, I was accepted by the Archdiocese of San Antonio, in January of 2019, to begin formation to the
priesthood at Assumption Seminary.

This fourth year of Theology, the last one in seminary formation, is very special for many reasons. I will be ordained to the diaconate in September of 2023 and to the priesthood in the summer of 2024. Moreover, it will be the conclusion of my studies at the Oblate School of Theology. After almost five years of formation, I thank
the good Lord for all the growth I have experienced in my life, spirituality, academics, and pastoral ministry. I mostly thank him, though, for having called me to this particular vocation.

In union with Our Blessed Mother, “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” for he has looked, with loving kindness, on the poverty of his servant. I look forward to completing my formation at the seminary and begin ministering to the people of God, here in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. I wish to express my gratitudeto the people of God for their prayers and support to me and all the seminarians. May God bless you, and may Our Lady, Queen of Peace, lead you on the path of love that leads to peace.

Feast Day: June 13

Anthony's journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he chose to give up a future of wealth and power, instead joining the Augustinians. Later when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News. So Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks.

Recognized as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. After he led the friars in northern Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers. In the spring of 1231 Anthony withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero where he had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for death.

On June 13, he became very ill and asked to be taken back to Padua, where he died after receiving the last sacraments. Anthony was canonized less than a year later and named a Doctor of the Church in 1946.