Fr. Ricafrente was born to Paulino Ricafrente and Genoveva Renomeron on August 20, 1940, in Oas, Albay.
He joined the Order of St. Augustine after his secondary studies in 1958 and took his philosophy studies at the Central Seminary of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and finished it in 1963. He made his first profession on July 4, 1965 in San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila. Then he was sent to Valladolid, Spain for his theological studies at the Seminario Mayor Agustiniano and completed it in 1968. He took hi solemn vows on July 4, 1968 in Valladolid and was also ordained there on September 21, 1968.
Returning to the Philippines in 1969, he handled several positions, while still a member of the Mother Province, the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines, among which was as Rector/President of the Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod in 1973.
He likewise pursued further studies earning a degree in Master in Education from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City in 1973 and Doctor in Educational Management from the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City in 1982. With the creation of the new Province, the Province of Santo Niño de Cebu-Philippines in 1983, he was elected one of the Provincial Counselors and at the same time President of the University of San Agustin.
In 1990 he was appointed Master of the Late Vocation candidates at the San Agustin Seminary in Guadalupe, Makati City. Finally in 1992, he was elected the second Prior Provincial of the new Province, succeeding Fr. Eusebio Berdon, OSA, the pioneering Prior Provincial who served for two terms.
After finishing his term as Provincial in 1996, he was appointed rector of the historic Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu in Cebu City.
And in 1997 when there was an urgent appeal from some parts of the Augustinian Order for assistance in foreign missions, he immediately volunteered. He chose the Augustinian mission in Indonesia under the care of the Dutch Province and started his missionary work in July 1998.
Based on his own accounts, he was very much satisfied with his life as missionary, especially since he knew that he was helping a promising group of Augustinians in Indonesia to grow in their lives as Augustinian religious and as evangelizers.
He was involved both in the formation of the young Augustinian candidates as director of pre-novices who were studying in the Regional or inter-diocesan Seminary of Jayapura, in Papua, Indonesia, and as professor of theology and languages in the same seminary. He died last June 10, 2004 of a heart attack in Jayapura.
Fr. Ricafrente can be briefly described as a man of great faith, a dedicated pastor and educator, a zealous missionary and most of all a committed Augustinian evangelizer.