The General Chapter of 1938 had charged the provincial council of St. Nicholas with the task of creating provinces in the United States and Venezuela. After having received the results of the Province of St. Nicholas, the Prior General received the required permission of the Congregation of Religious and that of his Council to establish the new province. It was the 1st of October of 1948. The province was placed under the patronage of St. Joseph and the solemn proclamation of the decree took place in San Millan on the 12th of October of 1948. At the birth of the province there were a sufficient number of religious and ministries and a sound economy. At the beginning, there were 24 houses, Venezuela (15), Peru (8) and Spain (1); 99 religious of whom 85 were priests, five professed, all Venezuelans, nine brothers, and more than 25 aspirants in Spain and 25 in Venezuela. The Province of St. Nicholas had, at the time, 187 religious among whom there were a large number of the elderly and others who had recently survived the ravages of war. The first years of the province were admirable. Under the leadership of great talent and conscious of the fact that the future depended upon their discretion, the religious did not spare their efforts to move ahead. Within a few years, the religious constructed a prosperous community with good houses of formation and good ministries. The first task of the province was the opening of houses of formation; San Millan alone could not fill the needs for vocations. Initially, they looked for vocations in the three nations in which the province was established, namely, Spain, Venezuela and Peru. Seminaries were maintained in San Millan and Palmira, both reopened in 1947. Aspirants were also admitted in the parish of San Pedro de Lluc. The experiment in Peru only lasted a few months and that of Venezuela was also of little duration. The decade of the 60’s was one of abundance; the seed sown with much sacrifice in the previous period matured and produced abundant results. Year after year, new religious were renewing local communities. Beginning in 1973, however, the province entered into a period of self-examination for which it is difficult to identify a common denominator. Optimism and pessimism alternated without interruption. In general, pessimism prevailed. The negative aspects of the previous period came to the surface and dominated the environment. For many, it was a period of suffering but, as always, these times of suffering also begot positive results. Self-questioning led to a consideration of more ample horizons and a search for solutions within the traditions of the Order. In spite of everything, these efforts fell short of the mark. Some solutions proposed were too theoretical. Recalling the past and speculation prevailed over praxis and application to daily life. By the end of 2003, the province counted with 120 religious distributed among 23 communities, 27 parishes, 7 schools and 4 seminaries, and a mission, the Prelacy of Chota. The religious also attend to the church of San Agustín in Caracas, the sancturary of Blessed María de San José in Maracay (Venezuela) and a retreat center in Pachacámac in Peru. There are 10 communities in Venezuela, 8 in Peru, and 5 in Spain. Year of foundation: 1948 Number of religious: 120 Number of communities: 23 Countries: Spain, Peru and Venezuela. Ministries: 27 parishes, 7 schoolsy 4 seminaires. Missions: Prelacy of Chota Seat of the provincial Calle Huesca, 33 28020 Madrid