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Meet The Student Brothers

Br Xavier Marie Wu O.P.

Br Giovanni Castellano O.P.

Br Giovanni Castellano was born in Italy in 2000. He joined the Order of Preachers in the Province of St Thomas Aquinas, in southern Italy. He has made solemn profession in 2024 in the Dominican community of Bari and is completing his initial theological formation at Blackfriars, Oxford. | giovannicastellano.00@gmail.com

Br Jerome Johnson O.P.

Br Jerome was born and grew up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. He moved to England to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath. He joined the Order of Preachers in 2020, having found the Order’s balance between the contemplative life and the active life to be especially attractive, and made solemn profession in 2024. He enjoys playing the guitar, listening to rock music, and cooking. His favourite books are The Imitation of Christ and Crime and Punishment. | jerome.johnson@english.op.org

Br Reginald Herbert O.P.

Br Reginald was born in London and grew up in Hounslow. He studied physics at UCL and then completed a PGCE at St. Mary’s, Twickenham. He met the Dominicans as a student in London and joined the novitiate in 2021 after spending some time teaching abroad. He made solemn profession in September 2025. He was particularly influenced by the writings of St. Augustine as a teenager which drew him towards the religious life. He is particularly inspired by the writings of St. Catherine of Siena and St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. His other interests include karate, rugby, weightlifting, comic books, playing the piano, and composing music. | reginald.herbert@english.op.org

Br Augustine Chen O.P.

Br Augustine was born and raised in Kuching, Malaysian Borneo. He came to England to study Law at the University of Oxford, where he was acquainted with and attracted to the Dominican way of life. A desire to proclaim the Gospel and to acquire a wider experience of religious life led him to work with the Salesians among young people in Glasgow before entering the Order. He finds nourishment in the works of St Augustine and the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and is seeking a deeper familiarity with Eastern Christian spirituality and the Metaphysical poets. Among his favourite books are St Augustine’s Confessions and Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory. He has an interest in the visual arts, and likes drawing and painting. | augustine.chen@english.op.org

Br Alin Octavian Maria Ardei O.P.

Br Alin was born in Bacau, Romania, in 1998. At the age of five, he moved to Turin, Italy, with his family. During secondary school, he felt a calling to the priesthood for the first time. It was in Bologna, whilst completing a degree in philosophy, that he first met the sons of St Dominic. The desire to live according to the words of the Doctor Angelicus, Contemplari et contemplata aliis tradere, led him to join the Order of Preachers in the Province of St Dominic, in northern Italy. He is now doing his degree in Theology in Oxford at Blackfriars Studium. | alinardei@yahoo.com

Br George Dominic Gillow O.P.

Br George Dominic was brought up in Staffordshire, where he first encountered the Order through the Dominican sisters in his hometown, Stone. Before going to university, he worked in the music department at Gloucester Cathedral and then studied in Toulouse, where he came upon sites associated with the early days of Order. Long attracted to the priesthood, it was during his time in France that he began to consider joining the Order of Preachers. His vocation was spurred when he met Dominicans at the University of Cambridge, where he studied Music and was organ scholar at Clare College, and he entered the noviciate after graduating in 2022. He is particularly inspired by St John Henry Newman and Pope Benedict XVI. | george.gillow@english.op.org

Br Dominik Micallef Eynaud O.P.

Br Dominik, a student brother in simple vows, was born and raised in Malta before moving to England to study History at the University of Reading. His journey to the priesthood began in secondary school where he first felt a calling. Having been familiar with the Order of Preachers since childhood, he embraced his vocation with them. He was particularly drawn to the Dominican balance of study, prayer, and preaching, along with living in community. | dominik.eynaud@english.op.org

Br Michael Donnelly O.P.

michael.donnelly@english.op.org

Br Joseph Maryam Emmanuel O.P.

Br Joseph-Maryam, a student brother in simple vows, was born and raised in Kerala, India. He moved to the south coast of England with his family when he was 12. Before joining the Dominicans, he read Pharmacy in Cardiff, spent some time in India and Sudan as a missionary, and worked as a Cancer Specialist Pharmacist at University Hospitals Dorset. His desire for religious life was kindled early on during his formative years through the Syro-Malabar rite, a love for the Scriptures, and devotion to Mary (the Holy Rosary), fostered by his grandmother Maryam. Whilst involved with Jesus Youth during his university years, he began pondering his purpose in life, which led him to the Compass vocational discernment programme, where he first encountered the Dominicans. He was particularly drawn to the Dominican community life, the balance of monastic and active life, as well as the pursuit of truth through the ascetic practice of study. Thus, he embraced the Dominican vocation by entering the novitiate in 2024, making his simple profession in 2025. | joseph.emmanuel@english.op.org

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