“Joseph found happiness not in mere self-sacrifice but in self-gift. (…) Every true vocation is born of the gift of oneself, which is the fruit of mature sacrifice. The priesthood and consecrated life likewise require this kind of maturity.” (Francis, “With a Father’s Heart,” 2020).
Luis Diego Ramírez, Augustinian Recollect and formator of religious.
The Solemnity of Saint Joseph is already associated in Spain and other parts of the world with the celebration of Seminary Day. Many seminaries for the priesthood or formation houses of religious institutions have Saint Joseph as their patron.
In the life of Saint Joseph, a just and God-fearing man, there is a testimony of total, bold, joyful, and exemplary dedication for those preparing for the priesthood or consecrated life, especially in two dimensions of his life: being a guardian and being an example.
Saint Joseph is the husband of the Virgin Mary and the adoptive father of Jesus. God asked him to be a sentinel of the Mystery and protector of the Truth. Thus, the humble carpenter, just as he cared for Jesus in his infancy, takes on the task of accompanying the mystical body of Christ, the Church and its members.
And he who is the protector of the entire Church must be venerated with special predilection by those who, like his son and acting in his name, have chosen to consecrate their lives to the service of others and to the preaching of the Gospel. Those who must have a “heart of shepherds” can see themselves in the mirror of a “father’s heart.”
During their formation, seminarians travel a path of configuring their personalities to the person of Christ. They can approach Saint Joseph as the Master did: with the docility of those who have in him a father to whom they can turn with confidence and ask for help, especially in difficult times.
The Constitutions of the Augustinian Recollects (no. 80 and Ad. Code 197) especially invite those in initial formation to pray and ask for the intercession of Saint Joseph. The Ratio fundamentalis, an ecclesial document that guides priestly formation, says: “This devotion [to Saint Joseph] is to be proposed and made known to the seminarians, so that they may always bear before their eyes his humble and mature way of serving, as well as of participating in the ‘economy of salvation’” (no. 112).
According to the custom and practice of the religious, the seminaries of the Augustinian Recollects are known as “houses of formation.” In the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, there are six:
- Ambrose Aspirancy (Guaraciaba do Norte, Ceará, Brazil)*
- Ezekiel Moreno Aspirancy and Postulancy (Pozos de Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica)
- Augustine Aspirancy and Postulancy (Mexico City, Mexico)
- Benedict Aspirancy and Postulancy (Montebello, California, United States)
- Our Lady of the Way Novitiate (Monteagudo, Navarra, Spain).
- Augustine Formation House for the final stage of initial formation (Las Rozas, Madrid, Spain).
(*) In the case of Brazil, the pre-novitiate stage takes place at Our Lady of Aparecida Postulancy in Franca (São Paulo, Brazil), which belongs to the sister Province of St. Thomas of Villanova.
For the young people who live in these houses of formation, Saint Joseph is a model who challenges them to live their own vocation with maturity and dedication. It is possible that the way we understand the parameters of the “call” may change according to the values of society at each time. It is also true that age and experience are no longer sufficient guarantees of maturity.
In a process that began more than three decades ago, those in formation are entering religious life at an older age and with previous qualifications or work experience. The “minor seminaries” that welcomed children and adolescents with vocational concerns no longer exist in the Augustinian Recollect Family.
As has almost always been the case in matters of vocation throughout history, the perseverance of candidates is fragile or their motivations are not always solid enough; many choose or are invited to choose a different path. Behind this lies the logic of complete self-giving, which is not so popular today.
For those of us who work with young people in initial formation, there is a great deal of fear about taking on a radical life project, about taking profound and vital risks for the Gospel, and the idea of “forever” is almost foreign to their culture and experience.
However, and distancing ourselves from a discouraging pessimism, the formative style we offer as Augustinian Recollects invites us to “return to the heart,” to respond to God based on those vital principles of Saint Joseph: dedication, humility, simplicity, availability, and faith in the One who proposed this consecrated vocation with his call.
The motto for Seminary Day this Jubilee Year is “Sowers of Hope“: may the Augustinian Recollects in formation be fertile ground for faith and a place of encounter with God; and may their vocational process be marked by hope and may they, at the same time, be sources of hope for all who wish to discover their vocation.
