Corrientes, Argentina, Jan 6, 2021 / 04:27 pm (CNA).- Fr. James Flores Álvarez, rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in the Archdiocese of Corrientes, died Tuesday of COVID-19.

The Peruvian priest had arrived in Corrientes in early 2018, several months after the seminary opened in the archdiocese in northern Argentina.

Fr. Flores was diagnosed with COVID in late December and was responding well to treatment in the local field hospital, but died suddenly Jan. 5.

“It is with deep sadness that we report the Easter of Father James Adam Flores Álvarez. He left today for the Father's house, after several days of hospitalization in the Field Hospital”, Archbishop Andres Stanovnik of Corrientes said during the funeral Mass Jan. 6.

“We thank God for having sent you among us, even for a short time. Now we say goodbye to you and we hope that you meet in Heaven with your father and mother and so many brothers who accompanied you in your priestly life.”

“May the blessed Mother of the Redeemer take you by the hand so that you confidently cross to the new life” the archbishop concluded.