History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects.

We have journeyed through the 400-year history of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, guided by its most distinguished friars, and we have immersed ourselves in the various periods and environments in which the life of our provincial community has unfolded.

Evidence of the brothers’ lives can be found in their evangelizing mission, in socio-charitable and cultural works, in the buildings, in the founding of towns, and in the promotion of culture in all its forms.

It is not difficult to sense the presence of the Spirit in the heart of these events, instilling passion and dedication to the mission.

Regarding the history of the Province, we can echo what Pope Francis says about the history of the Church:

It is glorious precisely because it is a history of sacrifice, of hopes and daily struggles, of lives spent in service and fidelity to work, tiring as it may be, for all work is ‘the sweat of our brow’ (Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 96).

“The arrival of the Recoletos to the Philippines”, matte oil painting by Juan Barba (1959). Crypt of the temple of Santa Rita in Madrid, Spain.

It is a history that we want to remember and recount. A history that we want to continue building, according to the well-known exhortation of St. John Paul II:

“You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things” (John Paul II, Vita Consecrata 110).

The Passion of the Present

Let us lift our gaze, contemplate the heavens and the earth; let us open our hearts to discover the presence and love of the Lord that brings forth in us enthusiasm, hope, and passion for Christ and humanity (cf. Report on the State of the Order by the Prior General 2021, 21).

Postulants with the provincial prior at the time and their then formator at the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

We are the current expression of a portion of the Recollection, the actors of today in the Province. The Spirit that inspired, accompanied, and sustained generations of Recollects continues to breathe its renewing wind in us to live with passion in the present moment.

We cannot say that we are old:

There is a youthfulness of spirit which lasts through time; it arises from the fact that at every stage of life a person seeks and finds a new task to fulfil, a particular way of being, of serving and of loving” (John Paul II, Vita Consecrata 70).

The Lord, the Creator of all good works, continues to call us as a community of brothers and sends us as missionary disciples in shared mission with a multitude of laypeople, intrepid and generous, who help us maintain the passion for proclaiming the Gospel.

Embracing the Future with Hope

The star of Saint Nicholas, high in the heavens and on the horizon, is for us a sign of pilgrimage towards the future with hope. It is the star that illuminates our lives and guides our steps in the experience of the dark night; it is the star that points to the definitive home that our hearts long for with hope.

For the early Christians, hope was an anchor, an anchor fixed on the shore of the beyond (Francis, Mass at Santa Marta, October 29, 2013).

The celebration of the Province’s 400 years is the guarantee that we are pilgrims towards the goal that lies in the future,

“… might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches right through beyond the veil, where Jesus has entered before us and on our behalf…” (Hebrews 6:19).

Let us revive our hope with the words of Saint Augustine:

“As long as we are in this world, if we take care to have our hearts lifted up above, the fact that we are walking here below won’t be to our disadvantage. We are walking here below, after all, in this flesh. So, by fixing our hope up above, we have set it like an anchor on firm ground, able to hold against any of the stormy waves of this world, not by our own strength but by that of the one in whom this anchor of our hope has been fixed. Having caused us to hope, after all, he will not disappoint us, but will in due course give us the reality in exchange for the hope” (St. Augustine, Sermon 359A,1).

Those who await vigilantly the fulfilment of Christ’s promises are also capable of instilling hope among their brothers and sisters, often distrustful and pessimistic about the future. We know well in whom we have trusted, and we will not be disappointed (cf. 2 Timothy 1:12).

TABLE OF CONTENT
History of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine:
‘Always in mission’

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