Two Augustinian Recollects, one born in Cullera (Valencia) and another who has worked for 24 years in the Valencian Community, bring us closer to the Valencian people and invite us to empathize with the victims of the recent tragedy, solidarity and a reaction to catastrophes from faith and commitment.
The Valencian Community, in Spain, has suffered this autumn 2024 a series of tragedies due to the fury of the climate. In a few hours the same amounts of water fell as during the whole year. The resulting images and the figures of victims and losses will take time to be removed from everyone’s minds.
Enrique Agüeros (Cullera, Valencia, Spain, 1952) has been an Augustinian Recollect since 1974. In addition to being a native of the Valencian Community, he spent the last ten years in the Parish of La Esperanza in the capital, when this ministry was attended by a Recollect community, until 2020. That last Recollect community in Valencia was made up of Enrique, Luis Martínez, José Antonio Galindo and Fermín Moriones. Enrique currently resides at the Augustinian College in Madrid.
Felipe Sada (Ablitas, Navarra, Spain, 1946) worked for almost 25 years in Valencian lands, including the Parish of San Miguel Arcángel in Benigánim, the Santo Tomas of Vilanova Seminary in Torrent and the Parish of La Esperanza in Valencia.
What would you highlight about the Valencian idiosyncrasy?
|Enrique| I was born in Cullera to a Valencian mother and a Castilian father, and my sister is still there. For me, they are very hard-working people, whether in the fields or at sea, farmers or fishermen. And they are very welcoming and very accessible people.
|Felipe| Valencia is evolving a lot. Before it was famous for its oranges and vegetables, it is now more of a tourist centre and agriculture has been left to migrant labour. There is also a lot of industry and services. People are looking for training, their future lies in studying. In Benigànim, we had a school where teaching and nursing qualifications were in high demand.
Do you keep in close contact with Valencia?
|Enrique| When I found out that Sedaví had also been affected by the tragedy, I called a friend with whom I had not been in contact for a long time. I spoke to him for a long time and we agreed to talk more in a few days. Thank God it did not affect him directly, but the whole town is having a very bad time. In Cullera they have not suffered this time, although as a precaution they evicted 26 families who lived in the orchards.
The feelings are very difficult to describe. The images reminded me of the Turia flood (1957). I did not experience the Tous dam break (1982). I feel totally surprised, I could not imagine it, in these times of so much technology the same thing has happened again. In the 1957 flood I went with my father to the beach and everything was full of reeds and rubbish.
|Felipe| I am in contact with my acquaintances and thank God it has not affected them directly, but its consequences have affected their friends or family (a broken leg, a loss of a vehicle…).
In general they are positive and live with hope. They will get out soon, because they are hard-working people and they will take on the changes, they move, they will look for someone to help them and open the doors for them. Their character facilitates contact and relationships with many people, something key in a situation like this.
Do you understand the feeling of indignation that has grown as the hours and days passed?
|Enrique| The indignation is perfectly understandable. How can you not detect what is coming in 2024! My sister lives alone; she knew that heavy rains were coming and was waiting for them to warn us: but they never warned us about anything.
|Felipe| Society does not agree with how politicians have acted and indignation is a way of expressing this. They are convinced that governments could have done a lot, before and after. The feeling is that they do not care about people or progress, but only about being in charge and giving orders. That is why people have reacted this way. It is possible that we will now see demanding and anti-political positions.
People will look for solutions individually without much hope in institutions, and it is a shame, because politicians are not owners but administrators, and they administer for the good of the people. Those who have been hit hard by tragedy can only ask for help.
What can faith and spiritual experience do in a situation like this?
|Enrique| Valencians are believers, but spiritually cold. It is difficult to do pastoral work there. They have a very developed devotion to the Virgin (the Forsaken, Health). I tried to speak to the basilica of Algesemí but I have not been able to contact them, they may be overwhelmed. A good way to cope with pain is to rely on these devotions to maintain hope.
|Felipe| The only advice is to accept reality and, then, ask yourself how to face this tragedy from a vision of faith. All aspects of human life can be projected in a spiritual way. Parish priests have to be the ones who care most about people, be very close to the people, visit the houses, ask how they are and what they need… There is a lot of work.
Valencians are very emotional, very sentimental, with a lot of devotion to the Virgin, with a festive religiosity. An inner experience is more difficult for them, but they have a religious base to rely on. Many will get through this, moved by faith.
We have to work on the emotional level through faith, giving them love and support, but there is also the material aspect: food, clothing, basic supplies. We have to trust those who are there, those who know who really needs help. It is not about giving for the sake of giving, it is about knowing who, when, how and what to give.
Has any experience of similar situations helped you understand all this better?
|Enrique| In the Dominican Republic I lived through Hurricane Georges (1999), a very hard experience. I had to hold on very tightly to faith and I learned that the first thing is to accept the circumstances. There has to be a lot of solidarity: there are many obstacles to overcome, present and future, to get out of the hole, and without mutual help it is impossible.
|Felipe| I have not known anything as spectacular and tragic as this. Our society has the economic and moral capacity to help. We will not be able to bring the deceased back to life, but emotional and spiritual help must be given. Here we have people and means, more resources than in other societies that have experienced similar or worse situations.
Would you have a message of hope for the victims?
|Enrique| We Augustinian Recollects are missionaries and we have experience of difficult paths and overcoming them. Let us not wait for things to come from heaven, let us act and trust in God. With his grace and mercy we can move forward, but without getting into the mud we will not succeed. I, with concern, call morning and night. I am convalescing and would like to do more, but it is not possible for me. Surely if I had been well, I would have been there.
|Felipe| The essential thing is to remember what should move us. The tragedy serves as a lesson: it has not happened to them, it has happened to all of us and we have the obligation to respond. Let us make the decision to help: financially, with affection, welcome and interest so that they notice that they are not alone… But always transmitting hope: they can get out because they will have a lot of support.
In these days, people have come who do not usually participate in the sacraments or do not have a frequent practical life of faith. They are looking for someone to help them come to terms with the event and the tragedy, to give it meaning and overcome the trauma. That is where the Church has to be.
The Augustinian-Recollect Family and the Valencian Community
The neighbourhoods of Patraix and Benicalap in Valencia capital, Benigànim and Torrent have been the settings of life for almost 60 years for the Augustinian Recollects, until 31 October 2020 when they finally said goodbye to that land.
It was their second stay in Valencia, because the historical presence of the Recollects in the region dates back to the convents of Saint Monica in the city of Valencia (founded in 1603) and Caudiel in Castellón (1616), both of which disappeared with the Confiscation of Church Property in 1836.
The buildings of both still exist. The one in Valencia ended up being the headquarters of the Little Sisters of the Helpless Poor and the one in Caudiel has served as a parish church and the convent as a town hall, school and even a hospital.
The first community founded in modern times in the Valencian Community was the Parish of Saint Michael Archangel in Benigánim, opened in 1965 and handed over to the Diocese on August 31, 2019. From there, the parishes of Bellús, Guadasequies and Sempere were also served at times.
Another community served the Parish of Our Lady of the Head in the Patraix neighborhood, in the capital, opened in 1970. It operated in the basement of a residential building that also contained the apartment where the religious community lived. The Recollects were pastorally caring for it until 2002.
The Torrent formation house opened in 1971 and was active until 2014. For several years, professed religious students of Theology from the Province of Our Lady of Consolation, now part of the Province of Candelaria, stayed there.
The last was the community that served the Parish of Our Lady of Hope in Benicalap, where the Augustinian Recollects arrived in 1981 and left in 2020. The Parish was in the temple attached to the monastery of the Discalced Augustinians, a contemplative community that closed in 1998.
The female contemplative presence has been represented in the Recollect Augustinians (Denia, a monastery founded in 1604, and Requena, 1630) and in the Discalced Augustinians of Saint John of Ribera (currently in Benigànim, a monastery founded in 1597).