Born on December 21, 1959, in Caldes de Malavella (Girona, Catalonia, Spain).
Discalced Carmelite. Temporary profession in Reinosa, Cantabria, on September 15, 1978. Solemn profession in Barcelona in 1984. Priestly ordination in Barcelona on June 24, 1985.
He was Provincial Counsellor from 1990 to 2008. From 2008 to 2015, he was Provincial Superior of the Discalced Carmelites of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. In February 2015 he was elected Provincial Counsellor of the newly established Iberian province of Saint Teresa of Jesus.
He studied philosophy and theology in the School of Theology of Catalonia (Barcelona) and Sacred Scripture in the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He received his Bachelor in Theology from the School of Theology of Catalonia in 1985 and his Doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1998.
During the 1996-1997 academic year, he was a professor in the School of Theology of Catalonia, teaching Introduction to the New Testament and Apostolic Letters. He taught several courses of the Sacred Scripture licentiate program, mostly on Pauline theology. He was also a professor in the Institutes of Higher Education of Lleida and Barcelona. He taught courses in other academic centres as well.
He has been Secretary of the Biblical Association of Catalonia since December 1997. He participated in the translation and publication of the BCI (Bíblia Catalana Interconfessional – [Catalan Interdenominational Bible]) and the Nou Testament Grec-Llatí-Català [New Testament in Greek-Latin-Catalan]. He has published several books and articles, principally on biblical themes and Carmelite spirituality.
Among his publications is his doctoral thesis: “The Good News of Peter’s Denial – A Narrative and Rhetorical Reading of Mark 14:54.66-72” (International Studies in Formative Christianity and Judaism 7), Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press 1998. He also published a commentary on the Our Father.
He participated in the creation of the Concordancias de los escritos de san Juan de la Cruz [Concordance of the Works of Saint John of the Cross] (Rome: Teresianum 1990) and the Concordancias de los escritos de santa Teresa de Jesús [Concordance of the Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus] (Rome: Editoriales OCD 2000).
He was one of the translators into Catalan of Saint Teresa’s The Book of Her Life and Saint John of the Cross’s Spiritual Canticle. These were published as part of the series “Clàssics del Cristianisme.” He is the coordinator of the Congrés d’Espiritualitat, which has completed four editions dedicated to Saint John of the Cross (1991), Thérèse of Lisieux (1997), Edith Stein (2003), and Saint Paul (2009).
In the OCD General Chapter celebrated in Ávila in May 2015, he was elected Definitor General.
ACTIVITY
As First Definitor, the most important responsibility for Fr Agustí Borrell is to carry out the duty of Vicar General in those cases provided for in the Constitutions (cf. nº 177).
