History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects.
In 1898, the onslaught of the Philippine Revolution severely tested the resilience of the Recollection, which was mainly reduced to the Province of Saint Nicholas at that time. Within a few months, the Congregation, which still maintained 80% of its active membership in the Philippines, found itself with 300 jobless and desperate religious.
Only those of the sternest resolve were able to react and, through effort and sacrifice, open horizons that were wider, indeed immense: the entire American continent.
The Province of Saint Nicholas had sown the seed of the Gospel in the last frontier, the Philippines, and for three centuries had focused its energies there. Despite producing numerous fruits, it was still a bud about to blossom, just at this moment, opening itself to several countries and displaying a remarkable range of activities.
1. Resilient until achieving autonomy
By mid-1899, more than 40 religious were already ministering in Panama, Venezuela, and Brazil. As for Spain, the congregation, which in 1898 only had the Madrid residence of the vicar general, plus the three houses of formation (Monteagudo, Marcilla, and San Millán de la Cogolla), established itself the following year in the two principal cities of the province of Granada –the capital city and Motril–, as well as in Puente la Reina (Navarra); and, between 1902 and 1908, settled in Sos del Rey Católico (Zaragoza), Lucena (Córdoba), Falces (Navarra), Sigüenza (Guadalajara), Zaragoza, and Berlanga de Duero (Soria).
Thus, in ten years, the Augustinian Recollects more than tripled their presence in Spain, increasing from four to thirteen houses.
Little by little, hope was rekindled. In 1904, the novitiate reopened and the Province started looking to the future with renewed enthusiasm. Early in 1906, after the visit of the prior provincial, the commitment to stay in the Philippine Archipelago was ratified, though no longer in an exclusive manner. Experience had shown the need to diversify the Province’s areas of engagement.
The Order was also reorganizing its structures. In 1907, it created a new province comprising the houses in Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, and parts of Spain. And the following year, representatives of the Province in the Philippines, of the revived Colombian province, and the new one met in the historic monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla.
No General Chapter had been held since 1829. This one at San Millan, presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio in Spain, Antonio Vico, finally normalized the government of the Congregation; moreover, it declared that from that moment on, the Congregation’s purpose is the apostolate in all its forms, ordering that the Constitutions be adjusted accordingly. Fr. Enrique Perez was elected Vicar General.
Four years later, on 16 September 1912, Pope Saint Pius X would dissolve all juridical ties that still bound the Augustinian Recollects to the Order of Saint Augustine, declaring it an independent Order. Its superior, Enrique Perez, was henceforth to be called Prior General.
The Pontifical Brief “Religiosas familias”
”
With such noble origins, it is unsurprising that the Congregation of Augustinian Recollects grew in number in a short period, not only in Spain but also in South America, Japan, and the distant Philippine Islands. It left behind a magnificent testimony of its apostolic efforts through holy and learned men, many of whom had achieved martyrdom.
This commendation can be claimed by all the provinces of the Congregation, but the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino deserved it especially, for it had worked tirelessly to spread the name of Christ throughout the Philippines. With God’s help, this Province survived like a sacred flame that has worked for the revival of the Recollect Family in the old regions, where, due to the ravages of time, it had remained dormant and is now yielding the most abundant fruits of its religious zeal.
Consequently, as we look upon the Augustinian Recollects of the Congregation of Spain and the Indies with special favour and long for their development and progress, we, with our apostolic authority, hereby decree that their highest moderator, who until now has been known as vicar general, shall henceforth and forever be called the prior general of the Order of the Recollect Hermits of Saint Augustine”.
(Excerpted from the apostolic brief Religiosas familias)
“Like a Sacred Flame”
The flame of the Recollection, once reduced to almost an ember in the Province of Saint Nicholas, burst forth at the beginning of the 20th century into a great bonfire that spread across numerous countries. This is why the Roman Pontiff chose this metaphor from a lesser-known biblical passage (2 Maccabees 1:19-22):
[1:19] For when our ancestors were being deported to Persia, the devout priests of the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry well, where they concealed it so that the place was unknown to anyone. [1:20] After some years had passed, in God’s good time, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to retrieve it; however, they informed us that they had found not fire but a thick liquid. Nehemiah ordered them to draw some out and bring it to him.
[1:21] When the materials for the sacrifice had been prepared, Nehemiah commanded the priests to pour the liquid over the wood and what lay upon it. [1:22] After this was done, and when the sun, which had been obscured, shone forth, a great fire blazed up, to the astonishment of all.
2. Corolla of Countries and Ministries
Let us review each of the countries where the Province has spread. Each place is a petal, and together they form the splendid bloom that displays all its beauty throughout the 20th Century.
A) Philippines
In 1910, a promising development occurred in the country: the Holy See entrusted the Apostolic Prefecture of Palawan, the first in the Philippines, to the Province of Saint Nicholas.
At that time, about 80 Recollects resided in the Islands, administering 25 parishes located in the islands of Bohol, Mindoro, Negros, and Romblon, as well as in the provinces of Zambales (Luzon) and Misamis (Mindanao). They also administered three convents: two in Manila (Intramuros and San Sebastian) and one in Cebu.
Their mission area was vast by any measure, and they felt unable to adequately attend to it due to personnel constraints. Moreover, the impossibility of managing it according to the communal character of the Order was causing misgivings among an ever-increasing number of religious.
This, along with the slight increase in diocesan clergy and the arrival of new religious institutes, prompted the Province to relinquish some of its parishes.
By 1941, its pastoral activity had been reduced to the Apostolic Prefecture of Palawan and the islands of Negros and Siquijor, where it continued to administer 23 parishes.
Palawan was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate in 1955, under the leadership of the Recollect Gregorio Espiga. With him, the native clergy experienced significant growth, thus allowing the needs of the faithful to be met.
Meanwhile, in 1939, the Recollects in the Philippines made a significant shift by starting to engage in educational work in a formal and structured manner, after centuries of running parochial schools.
In doing so, they aimed primarily to respond to society’s growing educational needs as well as to their own desire for a deeper communal life, ending the practice of one-friar parishes.
At the same time, they also sought the social prestige that came with communities dedicated to teaching, as well as a substantial consolidation of their weak economic base that had been negatively affecting the formation of their members, the accomplishment of their missionary tasks, and the assumption of new pastoral initiatives.
In the Philippines, the educational apostolate underwent extraordinary development. San Sebastian College of Manila, since 1941, and San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu, since its inauguration in 1947, have risen to rank among the most prestigious educational centres in the country. The Cebu school reached an enrolment of 17,000 students; San Sebastian, Manila, of over 5,000.
Under the latter’s aegis, San Sebastian College in Cavite opened in 1966. Earlier, in 1962, the Province acquired the University of Negros Occidental in Bacolod, which would in subsequent years be followed by the educational centres in Talisay and Valencia, on the same island.
Gradually, the schools in the Philippines replaced the parishes and transformed the work and even the social image of the Recollect friars. In just over three decades, from 1950 onwards, the old image of the rural parish priest disappeared and was replaced by the educator with close ties to society’s vanguard.
B) China
In 1924, the Province’s long-desired dream of joining the mission work in China came to fruition.
The Province accepted the mission of Kweiteh (today, Shangqiu, in Henan Province) with genuine jubilation and committed itself to carefully attend to it, serving it with many missionaries of great human and spiritual value.
In October of 1924, the Province had nine religious assigned there and had started the construction of a spacious mission house. In a short time, new projects were realized: the missionary magazine “Todos Misioneros”, for dissemination and promotion of missionary spirituality (July 1928); the seminary (1929); the cathedral (1931); a medical clinic (1932); a convent for a new local congregation for women, the Catechists of Christ the King (1933).
The Holy See expressed its satisfaction by elevating the mission, successively, to the rank of Prefecture (1928), Vicariate (1937), and Diocese (1946). Contributing to such rapid institutional development was undoubtedly Rome’s interest in strengthening the Chinese hierarchy, but at the same time, it rightly noted the mission’s progress and the Vatican’s good impression of it.
In 1937, when the Vicariate was being created, after studying the dossier, a cardinal exclaimed in amazement:
— “How could they have done all this, with the miserable state that Spain is in?”
In 1949, on the eve of the proclamation of the People’s Republic, the mission painted a very optimistic picture, with more than 10,000 Christians, 1,000 catechumens, a dozen mission stations, some 25 native women religious Catechists of Christ the King, several schools, houses for the girls of Holy Childhood, a clinic, etc.
But the political events overturned everything: between 1949 and 1952, the buildings were confiscated by the new Government and the foreign missionaries were expelled from the country. Only the Chinese remained in the mission, nine friars and some nuns, who would continue to fertilize it with their blood and heroism.
Una gesta misional agustino-recoleta
Since 1650, there have been constant yearnings among the Augustinian Recollects to reach China, thwarted by a lack of resources and subjugation to empires that determined the feasibility of establishing a foundation.
In 1907, the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine established the Procuration Office in Shanghai to safeguard the Province’s properties following the severe losses incurred from the Philippine Revolution. It also played a pivotal role in the quest for a mission in China through its extensive correspondence. The Provincial Chapter of 1922 tasked it with requesting a mission territory from the Holy See. The following year, Noé Tacconi, apostolic vicar of Eastern Henan, offered a portion of his mission, which the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide sanctioned.
In 2018, the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine published the inaugural history of the mission in China. Its author, the Augustinian Recollect José Manuel Romero, titled it Gesta misional de los Agustinos Recoletos en China (1924-1955), The Missionary Feat of the Augustinian Recollects in China (1924-1955), with the cover illustrated by painter Santiago Bellido.
The religious figures form a frieze at the bottom, depicting specific situations from their past. On the right half are some of the Spanish missionaries, from left to right: Mariano Alegría, Mariano Gazpio, Francisco Javier Ochoa, Esperanza Ayerbe, Sabino Elizondo, Luis Arribas, Pedro Zunzarren, Lorenzo Peña, and Venancio Martínez, with the Cathedral of Shangqiu and their convent in the background.
On the left half are the spiritual fruits, embodied by the Chinese friars and nuns: Lucas Yuo, Nicolás Shi, Gregorio Li, José Wang, Pedro Kuo, Marcos She, José Shan, and two catechists of Cristo Rey.
Behind them unfolds the drama experienced by all: set against the backdrop of the map of China during the war, with representative figures from the Nanking Massacre, one of the century’s most tragic events.
The arrangement suggests that the figure on the right emanates like a spirit from those on the left, symbolizing that even amid the century’s greatest calamities, souls are saved through faith.
C) Venezuela
The Province of Saint Nicholas arrived in Venezuela in 1899, thanks to Patricio Adell, who had previously left the Philippines.
Its development in Venezuela mirrored its experience in the Philippines, with parish pastoral work prevailing for several years. Its foundations seemed temporary, located in marginal areas and lacking comprehensive action plans.
However, the friars’ work was generally commendable. They built numerous churches and chapels, revitalized preaching, which had been significantly neglected in the country, and restored the worship and Christian life by invigorating existing organizations or creating new ones.
Around 1925, the Recollect presence in the country began to evolve. The number of religious increased, as did their presence in the cities.
Their own projects became the focus, and the apostolate of the spoken and printed word flourished. Fr. Ángel Sáenz founded and maintained the magazine “La Madre Cristiana” for many years, which began publication in 1927. The first seminary for native vocations was established in 1935, and the Fray Luis de Leon School opened in Caracas in 1941, by the Church of Saint Augustine.
In Venezuela, cities began to replace towns, and educational activities started to challenge the traditional parochial monopoly.
D) Trinidad
Fr. Patricio Adell himself recognized the suitability of establishing a house on this island off the eastern coast of Venezuela. This became a reality in early 1889. Trinidad had 300,000 inhabitants, less than half of whom were Catholics, and a few thousand spoke Spanish.
The initial years were unstable. However, from 1915 onwards, the situation stabilized with the arrival of three religious who were recent graduates from the U.S., fluent in English.
The Archbishop of Puerto España entrusted them with the regular administration of the parishes of Couva, Moruga, Santa Cruz, Mayaro, and Maraval.
Ultimately, due to a shortage of personnel, especially those who spoke English, the Province reassessed its presence on the island and finally departed in September of 1949.
E) England
In early 1932, the social, political, and economic instability in Spain prompted the superiors to seek a convent overseas that could serve as a stable refuge for the formation of young religious.
They found it in Ivybridge, in southern England. The events would soon validate this decision. From 1932 to 1950, England welcomed various groups of theological students and, from 1934, provided numerous vocations to the Province.
On the other hand, the communities of Ivybridge (1932-2016) and Honiton (1934-) have ministered to the few Catholics in the Devon region, one of the most deeply-rooted Anglican areas in the country, extending their pastoral service to nearby localities such as Seaton, Ottery St. Mary, and others.
F) Peru
In 1939, sometime after Spain, political instability also reached Venezuela, and the Province sought a refuge in Peru for its religious, should the need arise.
In Peru, two groups of theological students found a welcome; the financial constraints caused by the Second World War prevented their support in Spain. (Below, the group of 1943).
In 1948, these houses, like those in Venezuela, would become part of the new Province of Saint Joseph.
G) Italy
A curious case was the short-lived seminary of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, opened in 1941 in Cività Castellana (Viterbo), 65 kilometres north of Rome.
It had to be closed on April 30 of the following year, after Italy entered the Second World War, because the Province could not afford the expenses it incurred. Only one of its twelve aspirants, Rizziero Panetti, refused to leave the Order when the seminary closed. He remained the only Italian religious in the Province until his death in 1995.
H) United States
The first Augustinian Recollect friars arrived in the United States in 1913. They were four students from the Province of St. Nicholas who went to study at Villanova University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), owned by the Augustinians, with whom they lived.
The first properly Recollect community was formed in 1917 with religious from Colombia, belonging to the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria.
The General Chapter of 1938 was surprised to receive a formal request from religious in the United States to become a separate Province, together with those of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
The proposal was approved, but it was not put into effect until the end of World War II. On December 13, 1943, the Vatican Congregation for Religious published the rescript authorizing the erection of the new Province, dedicated to St. Augustine and based in Omaha (Nebraska).
The Province of St. Augustine was born in a difficult time of war that was going to hinder its growth. It had only 60 members, and vocations were not going to flow in as they had imagined, even though enthusiasm was not lacking and vocational promotion was a constant concern.
The shortage of personnel was addressed by constantly requesting religious from the other Provinces, which responded generously. For example, in 1945, four religious from the Province of Saint Nicholas in Peru arrived. Thus, by December 1966, the Province of Saint Augustine already had a total of 129 members.
From the beginning, its priority was formation, with a novelty at that time: special attention to the person and teachings of Saint Augustine and the values of the Recollect tradition.
From 1957, the Province sent some professed friars to Spain to live the stage of initial formation with the young religious members of other countries and Provinces; and it greatly promoted further studies: from 1948 to 1962, four religious obtained doctorates from universities in different countries. By 1974, 85% of the Province’s religious had, in addition to proper studies, some university degree.
The first activity of the Province of Saint Augustine was focused on parish ministry. The friars were mainly located in three zones in the country: centre (which included the three parishes in Nebraska, plus the two in Kansas and its convent); west (California, 3 parishes); and south (Texas, 5 parishes).
They paid special attention to Hispanics, who were then of little consideration to the local church. They received public recognition from the Church, above all, in the person of two of their religious, elevated to the episcopacy: Alfonso Gallegos (1931-1991), auxiliary bishop of Sacramento (California); and David Arias (1929-2019), auxiliary bishop of Newark (New Jersey).
3. Conclusion
In summary, it could be said that, with the arrival of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine was participating in the climate of euphoria that the entire Order was experiencing, which in 1967 had more than 1,500 members, its historical peak.
Those were years of plenitude. The seminaries were teeming with youth. New religious strengthened the communities, which faced new pastoral challenges. Everywhere, there was an atmosphere of faith, enthusiasm, and even euphoria.
NEXT PAGE: 6. 20th Century after Vatican II: High Seas Swell
TABLE OF CONTENT
History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine:
‘Always in mission’
- History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine: ‘Always in Mission’
- 1. Introduction: “Navigare necesse est”
- 2. 17th Century: The Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine
- 3. 18th Century: The Philippines, Land of Heroic Deeds
- 4. 19th Century: The Philippines, Zenith, and Collapse
- 5. 20th Century until Vatican II: Breakthrough
- 6. 20th Century after Vatican II: High Seas Swell
- 7. 21st Century: Facing the Future
- 8. Epilogue: Living the present with passion and embracing the future with hope
