Historical and biographical review of some of the main figures of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects from its foundation to the present day.
He cherished you with profound faith,
Dear Mother, O Recollection,
With his entire life, he loved you.
His whole life he offered you,
I don’t know if there’s another
Who would have loved you better.
He was your beautiful splendour,
The grandeur of your good fortune;
And in your most bitter moments,
He was your angel comforter.
Thus goes one of the poems Blessed Julián Moreno dedicated to Fray Patricio Adell. In other verses, the Blessed spoke of his sincerity, modesty, and mettle.
His life was a hymn of love for the Order of Augustinian Recollects, which he served with complete dedication in the parishes in the Philippines (1865-1876 and 1882-1897) and as prior of the convents of Cavite (1876-1879), Monteagudo (1879-1882), and San Sebastian, Manila (1897-1898). Austere, a man of few needs, and with a gaze fixed on the progress of the community, he was the paradigm of a hardworking religious.
His chief service to the Order was from 1898 to 1901. On 19 August 1898, when the Province was searching for a solution to its problems, a letter from Madrid reached Manila dealing with possible apostolates in Latin America. The prior provincial discussed it with Fray Patricio, who had already shown himself in favour of breaking the Philippine monopoly of apostolate. With self-confidence, he responded to the superior: “Here you have me; command me.”
With seven religious, he departed within five days, with the sole mandate to present themselves to the bishops of Venezuela without any further instruction. On 11 November, they reached Panama, and the bishop offered them the missions of the Darién, a malaria-infested region. Adell accepted it without vacillation: without paying heed to hardships and besides, he was in no condition to make demands. A half-abandoned temple that turned out to be the old Recollect church of Saint Joseph would serve as his base for missionary expeditions.
Adell could have contented himself there. But, restless and aware of the needs of the Province, he headed for Venezuela with Fr. Fermín Catalán and left behind his six confreres in Panama. On 17 December, he reached La Guaira and went up to Caracas. Between April and May of 1899, twelve religious had established the Order in Venezuela and Trinidad.
He likewise manifested his affection for the Order by fostering its history, enriching it with chronicles, biographies, two historical accounts of his travels in America, on top of hundreds of letters. Together with his apostolic restlessness and his providentialism [providentialism, the belief that God is the true main character in history and man is a tool in the hands of God], he faced the obstacles that appeared along the way and put him to the test: isolation, remote distances, dearth of resources, illnesses, suspicions of the native clergy, inconsistencies of bishops, the impossibility of organizing community life…
In 1901, when he was called to form part of the general council, seven years remained of his life. He continued to contribute passionately to the reconstruction of the Order. He died in Zaragoza on 2 August 1908 after a painful illness and with exemplary resignation.
