Every year, the feasts of St. Monica and St. Augustine are especially celebrated at the Saint Monica’s Home of the Augustinian Recollects in Fortaleza; there are plenty of reasons for this: in addition to the fact that Augustine’s mother is the titular patron saint of the Center, it was on August 27th when it was officially inaugurated.
The entire human community around the Saint Monica’s Home, the social project of the Augustinian Recollects in Fortaleza (Brazil) that fights against the exploitation, abuse, abandonment or violation of the rights of minors in that region, has marked in red on the calendar the day of August 27th.
That day, in addition to celebrating the titular patron saint of the center, Saint Monica, is the “birthday” of the Home itself, officially founded on August 27th, 2009. That is why a great two-day feast is being carefully prepared, given that August 28th is the day of St. Augustine, the son of St. Monica, and is an important holiday for the two institutions that watch over the beneficiaries of the Santa Monica’s Home: the Augustinian Recollects and the Augustinian Recollects of the Heart of Jesus.
To celebrate the thirteenth birthday of Saint Monica, on August 27th, a meeting was held in the open space of the Cultural Center, outdoors, in which the beneficiaries, workers and volunteers, representatives of other projects located in the Uirapuru Spiritual Condominium, the members of the Augustinian-Recollect Secular Fraternity of Fortaleza and several friends of the project and the two religious communities participated; in total, fifty people.
The director of the Saint Monica’s Home, the Augustinian Recollect José García, presided over a Eucharist that included a representation of the virtues of Saint Monica interpreted by the beneficiaries and a very special procession of the offerings, which opened a photograph of the first generation of beneficiaries with which the project began 13 years ago. Later everyone could greet each other around the table and share typical meals to celebrate the day enhancing the value of fraternity, one of the core values of the project.
The next day the celebration of the feast of St. Augustine was more intimate, with a special Eucharist celebrated in the chapel of the residence of the nuns, adorned with stained glass windows of saints of the Augustinian Family, those who followed in the footsteps of the holy bishop of Hippo and great promoter of religious life in the West.
