RECOLETTS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE. - A stricter reform of life within the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine, which arose in the province of Toledo in 1588. Its legislator was Fr. Luigi de León (1537–91), and the first Recollects gathered in the convent of Talavera de Reina (1589).
Due to the growing number of convents, Pope Gregory XV (1621) established, within the Augustinian Order, a congregation of Recollects with four provinces, to which a fifth was later added (1629), arising in the new Kingdom of Granada (Colombia). In 1605, the Recollects began the evangelization of the Philippines; in 1623, four of them went to Japan, where Fr. Francesco di Gesù and Fr. Vincenzo di S. Antonio won the palm of martyrdom and were beatified by Pius IX, while the other two, Fr. Melchiorre di S. Agostino and Fr. Martino di S. Nicolò—also martyrs—have a cause of beatification underway. They also had missions in Arabia. Meanwhile, in Spain, the desire for a life of retreat and piety grew ever stronger, leading to the foundation of the “Deserto della Vicaria” for contemplative life, while in Colombia the “Deserto della Candelaria” remains a center of devotion.
In 1835, all the Recollect convents in Spain were suppressed and the religious dispersed, except for the convent of Monteagudo, which served as a seminary for vocations to the Philippines. The same occurred in the province of Colombia, so that by the end of the 19th century it was necessary to undertake almost a new foundation. The Colombians venerated in the person of the Servant of God Fr. Ezequiel Moreno their great apostle (b. at Alfaro [Spain] on 9 Apr. 1848; d. at Monteagudo on 19 Aug. 1906; a preparatory congregation for his beatification was already held in 1948).
Until 1911, the Recollects formed a single family with the Augustinian Order, when Bl. Pius X granted them complete autonomy with their own Prior General. Today, the Order has five provinces with over 1,000 religious spread across 14 nations and six missionary districts. It runs major educational colleges in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Philippines, one of which, in Cebu, accommodates 3,000 students.