Cristóbal Fones, SJ

Bio

Jesuit Fr. Cristóbal Fones was born in Santiago, Chile. Growing up in a large family and attending Jesuit school, he was actively involved in the Church from an early age. He welcomed the call to the priesthood while studying sociology at the Catholic University of Chile. Before entering the novitiate in 1994, he sang at popular music festivals and weddings.

In 1996, encouraged by his superiors, Fr. Cristóbal recorded a collection for pastoral use: Te Contemplo en el Mundo. Recognizing the need to make Catholic music more accessible in Chile, he recorded En Él Solo la Esperanza in 1997 and Padre, Te Canto in 1999. In 2001, after a time of missionary work with the Mapuche people, Fr. Cristóbal composed the first Mass in the indigenous language of Chile: Misa Ülkantun. He released the Spanish-language Mass, La Mesa de Todos, in 2002 and an anthology collection, Consagrados a Ti, in 2004.

Fr. Cristóbal was ordained in 2007 after completing graduate studies in sacramental and liturgical theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to study modern music at Berklee College of Music.

In 2008, he released the collection Tejido a Tierra with OCP before returning to Chile where he was very active collaborating on record productions, composing songs for schools and religious congregations and participating in prayer and music events.

He recorded a collection of Jesuit compositions from all over the world, Ite Inflammate Omnia, in 2014, as well as a collection of songs written by Esteban Gumucio, Tú, Mi Hermano, in 2016. In 2017, Fr. Cristóbal released an instrumental collection “for an integral ecology,” Küme Mongen, which won him the Recyclápolis National Environmental Award in the sustainable culture category. Solo en Dios, Fr. Cristóbal’s collection of songs from the Discalced Carmelite Sisters of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, was released in 2019, and his album celebrating the Ignatian Year 2021-2022, Nova Omnia, was released in 2022.

Along with his many collections, Fr. Cristóbal has directed massive youth choirs in Chile, including 100 Voces Chile, In Crescendo Concepción and Araucanta. He has been assigned to the Itinerant Mission of the Society of Jesus since 2015 and has been able to share his music in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Spain and Colombia, as well as Chile.