The Saint Monica Parish and the Romareda High School, with their half-century of life, are the last witnesses of a long and varied presence of the Augustinian Recollects in Aragon, which dates back practically to the foundation of this religious Order.
In 1907 the Augustinian Recollects returned to the city of Saragossa, a refoundation that, by the way, was a cause of discord between the Province that had decided to open the house and paid for its purchase, that of Saint Nicholas of Toletine, and the newly born Province of Saint Thomas of Vilanova, in whose jurisdiction the Saragossa community was included in a first draft together with communities in Andalusia and Brazil.
The Province of Saint Nicholas claimed that in order to refound in Saragossa it had to overcome enormous obstacles due to the resistance of the bishop; and fought to maintain it due to the strategic nature of Saragossa as a point of access to complex medical treatments and for administrative management of the large training communities of the Province in Navarre (Marcilla and Monteagudo).
Saragossa was also a natural place to stay for missionaries heading to Barcelona to embark for Manila, the seat of the provincialate, and for those destined for higher education, which were available in the Aragonese capital and not in the other communities of the Province of Saint Nicholas in Spain, all of which were rural in nature.
In February 1909 it was finally agreed to modify the name, territory and members of the new Province of Saint Thomas of Vilanova (and not of Pilar, as had been suggested, in an attempt to revive the Recollect Province prior to the Confiscation Law). It would have the houses of Berlanga de Duero (Soria), Andalusia and Brazil.
In the absence of a parish ministry, the community of Saragossa attended to chaplaincies, including and at times the novitiate of the Sisters of Saint Anne, the School of La Salle, the School of the Mercedarians, the Vives Publishing House of the Marists, the Emergency House, the School for the Deaf and Dumb of the Franciscans and the Clinic of Saint Anthony.
They also collaborated in the ministries of confession, preaching and direction of exercises. In 1915 they tried unsuccessfully to obtain the commission for the church of San Cayetano, property of a Confraternity.
The first accommodation of the refoundation of Saragossa was at 66 Main Street, a building purchased from the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne. In 1940 they found a larger and more appropriate space at 290 Valencia Avenue, the Finca Torre Estremera, of 30,000 m2, purchased from the Bishopric, where a semi-public chapel dedicated to Saint Rita was opened.
In 1945 the headquarters of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Toletine in Manila was destroyed during World War II. The “Filipino” Province of the Augustinian Recollects established its new headquarters and residence of the prior provincial in Spain, for the first time after 324 years, in the house in Saragossa. In 1954, this headquarters was moved to Madrid.
In 1950, the land was expanded by another 13,000 m2, but the Recollect presence was still quite restricted and on the fringes of the large projects initiated by other Orders and Congregations in the city. This would be the key to the change of direction in the 1970s.
The Recollects have also been present in the rural area of Saragossa. The seminary of Sos del Rey Católico, of the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria, based in Colombia, needed to be expanded. In 1923, they tried this in the Sanctuary of Sancho Abarca, located on a hillock 14 kilometres from Tauste. They arrived on 14 April with 18 theologians willing to complete their studies. The people welcomed them enthusiastically and they felt comfortable, but there were serious drawbacks, such as the lack of water and the isolation. In February 1925, they finally left this place.
Later are the other rural foundations. On August 4, 1973, the Province of Saint Nicholas of Toletine took over the administration of five parishes in Lower Aragon, all in the Province of Saragossa: Sástago, Alborge, La Zaida, Cinco Olivas and Alforque. On October 10, 1987, Escatrón was added, changed the following year to Quinto de Ebro. The religious community had been based in Sástago for just over twenty years.
At the end of 1994, they withdrew from Sástago and Alborge and on September 18, 1995, to promote community life, La Zaida, Cinco Olivas, Alforque and Quinto were left and Montañana was taken over, 18 kilometers from Saragossa, from where the friars served.
In November 1999, when the Province took over the neighbouring parish of Santa Isabel, it formed a new community in this town from which Montañana was also served. It was closed and both ministries were returned to the Diocese in 2008.
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