Bishop of Alajuela
Bishop Bartolomé Buigues Oller, Bishop of Alajuela, was born on 7 March 1963 in Teulada, Alicante, Valencia, Spain. His parents are Bartolomé Buigues Vallés, q.d.D.g, and Mrs. María Oller Llobell. He was ordained presbyter on 22 April 1989 in Torrent, Valencia, Spain, by Bishop José Vilaplana, then auxiliary bishop of Valencia and today titular bishop of the Diocese of Huelva. His episcopal ordination took place on 26 May 2018 in the Cathedral of Alajuela. The ordaining bishop was Bishop Ángel San Casimiro Fernández. Bishop Bartolomé completed his baccalaureate in philosophy and theology at the Saint Vincent Ferrer Faculty of Theology in Valencia, Spain, with the source listing the year as 1.989; he obtained a licentiate in pastoral theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca in 1992. He obtained a postgraduate qualification in management of educational centers from the Salomé Ureña Higher Institute for Teacher Training, Félix Evaristo Mejía campus, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 2006, and obtained a licentiate in social and cultural anthropology from UNED Spain in 2012. As a presbyter he provided the following pastoral services: superior of the Father Luis Amigó Seminary in San José, Costa Rica, of the Santa Cruz children's home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and of the Hainamosa Children's Center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; formator of postulants and novices from 1992 to 1999 and from 2013 to 2017 in Costa Rica; educator; pastoral coordinator and director of centers for adolescents in conflict in Spain, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic; president of the provincial commissions for formation and pastoral ministry, lay, vocational, and educational, and of the general pastoral commission; provincial councilor of the Province of the Good Shepherd for twelve years; general councilor in Rome from 2007 to 2010; and provincial superior from 2010 to 2013, based in Costa Rica.