Saint Magdalene of Nagasaki is a Japanese martyr, patron saint of the Augustinian Recollect Secular Fraternity. Her life story, her testimony in death and her faith are today a ray of light for many people, so many years later.
The Order of the Augustinian Recollects is only a branch of the Augustinian Recollect family, in which there also forms a part the nuns and religious of active life on one side, and on the other the Secular Fraternity. To this last branch belongs Magdalene of Nagasaki, the first Recollect woman saint. In the Recollection many tertiary martyrs from Japan had professed in the 17th Century, as have also professed and continue doing so hundreds of seculars. They are a sign and witness of the OAR apostolic vitality and the growth of the Augustinian ideal.
The canonization of Magdalene, in 1987, offered an unforgettable opportunity to rediscover and propose yet again an ancient way of some four centuries, and at the same time a new way which is modern and contemporary: that of the spirituality of OAR for everyone, including the seculars. In 1985 there started a process of revision and actualization of its main characteristics, so that we could say that if Saint Magdalene had lived today there would be a living reality of the ideals of the Rule of life of the Augustinian Recollects Seculars, from which the following offers some relevant points.
“The Order of the Augustinian Recollects promotes amongst the faithful, laity and clergy, the living-out of the Augustinian ideal, encouraging them to live in unity of heart and soul, and to make present today in the Church and in the world the spirit of Saint Augustine.
“Love, both human and divine, should be always the center and the heart of our lives. If you act always with love, you will always do what is good, as Saint Augustine taught: ‘Love and do what you will: if you keep silent, be silent for love; if you shout out, shout out for love; if you correct, correct for love; if you forgive, forgive for love. The root of love is inside you. From this root only good can come out.´”
“Like Saint Augustine, we try to illuminate our minds and strengthen our will with the frequent reading and the diligent study of Holy Scripture.”
“We aware that, like the words of Saint Augustine, we should consider our work not as a weight upon us or as a simple medium for subsistence, but rather as a cooperation with the Creator in the configuration of the World and as a service to the human race.”
“We should see Christ in all, but especially in the most needy.”
“It is necessary that we return always to ourselves, in order to study ourselves, in order that we might know ourselves.”
“Our most specific apostolate consists in working for unity and peace, both fruits of love, that they might be a reality in the family, the Church and in the World.”
“Our fraternity asks of us that we would cultivate the values of friendship. It is that which engenders and nurtures trust, faithfulness, sincerity and mutual understanding”.
NEXT PAGE: 10. What does Saint Magdalene tell us today?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- 1. 1584-1632: The First Augustinian martyrs: Francis of Jesus and Vincent of St. Anthony
- 2. 1632-1637: The fire continues: Martin of Saint Nicholas and Melchior of Saint Augustine
- 3. Magdalene
- 4. The last act
- 5. The world in which she lived
- 6. The martyr, for St. Augustine
- 7. A very large process
- 8. Recollect or Dominican? A disputed Saint
- 9. The Augustinian Recollect Secular Fraternity
- 10. What does Saint Magdalene tell us today?
- 11. A life of traveling around, to die singing
