Jacksonville, Fla. – Two men who will be ordained in June have lived all over the globe but feel God is calling them to serve the people of the Diocese of St. Augustine.

On Saturday, June 17, Bishop Felipe Estévez of the Diocese of St. Augustine will ordain Rev. Mr. Briggs Hurley and Rev. Mr. Wilson Colmenares to the priesthood at the Cathedral Basilica, 38 Cathedral Place, St. Augustine. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. and is open to all.

Rev. Mr. Briggs Hurley, 27, grew up in a military family. Both of his grandfathers, his parents and two uncles served in the Air Force.

He got his first taste of Italy while his father was stationed in Vicenza, Italy. The family made the most of the four years in Europe, Hurley said.

“It was there that I acquired both my fascination with and appreciation for the arts, sciences, literature, and all things classic,” Hurley said. And where he first started thinking about becoming a priest.

“I took the liberty of erecting a ‘mini-altar’ in my room, complete with crucifix, tea lights and handkerchief-corporal,” he said.

The family encouraged his budding vocation by visiting many holy sites. “We walked in the footsteps of many saints,” Hurley said.

After returning to the United States, the family settled in Melbourne, Fla. where Hurley attended high school and enrolled at Flagler College in St. Augustine. He majored in political science with plans for a career in the public sector. “I fell in love with St. Augustine and the Cathedral Basilica became my home away from home,” he said.

After his freshman year, he returned to Melbourne for the summer, giving kayak tours at the Brevard Zoo. He attended daily Mass, as was his custom, and recited a prayer that Pope St. John Paul II recommended praying five times daily: “Lord, what do you want me to do with my life?”

He waited expectantly. “No visions or trumpet blasts, but I felt the calling anew to the priesthood that I had felt since I was 7,” Hurley said.

When he returned to Flagler, he added religion and philosophy as a second major, and after graduation, he was accepted as a seminarian for the diocese.

He went on to earn a master’s of philosophical studies with honors at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md.

Then he returned to Italy to begin theological studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He received a baccalaureate of sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, a master’s in Augustinian studies and spirituality from the Pontifical Patristic Institute (the Augustinianum), and he is currently working on a licentiate of sacred theology in Biblical theology, also from the Pontifical Gregorian University, which should be completed next spring.

Rev. Mr. Wilson Colmenares, 46, started his life on foreign shores and felt called to the United States.

He grew up in western Venezuela, studying under Dominican priests.

“The example of the Dominicans had an impact on me, but I wasn’t sure about my vocation,” he said.

Instead, he studied law in Caracas and practiced for several years. He attended Mass regularly and got to know several Redemptorist priests. He also got involved in the Charismatic Renewal Movement at his parish.

After working for a decade as a lawyer, he finally decided to respond to the urging he felt to enter the priesthood. He entered the Missionary Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Colombia and later returned to Caracas to study theology at the Theological Seminary.

Then he was invited to the United States to serve a Hispanic parish in the Diocese of Tulsa. His experiences there provided him an opportunity to study English and continue his theological education, which brought him to St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla.

Last summer he participated in the pastoral training program at Baptist Health in Jacksonville and served his pastoral year at St. Augustine Church and Catholic Student Center in Gainesville.

“As a priest, I want to be able to preach the Word to help others uncover treasures the church has through the sacraments,” Colmenares said.

“The priesthood will be a happy life because living the will of God is the greatest thing a man can do,” he said. Bishop Estévez has appointed Colmenares to parochial vicar at Epiphany Parish in Lake City. His assignment will begin July 17. Hurley will continue his postgraduate studies in Rome, Italy beginning July 1.