Recollects of Saint Augustine

RECOLLECTS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE. - A reform of stricter life within the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, which arose in the province of Toledo in 1588. Its legislator was Fr. Luis de León (1537-91), and the first Recollects gathered in the convent of Talavera de la Reina (1589).

Because of the increased number of convents, Pope Gregory XV (1621) formed, within the Augustinian Order, a congregation of Recollects with 4 provinces, to which a fifth was later added (1629), having arisen in the new Kingdom of Granada (Colombia). In 1605 the Recollects undertook the evangelization of the Philippines: in 1623 four of them went to Japan, where Father Francesco di Gesù and Father Vincenzo di S. Antonio obtained the palm of martyrdom and were beatified by Pius IX, while the other two, Father Melchiorre di S. Agostino and Father Martino di S. Nicola, also martyrs, have their cause of beatification in progress. They also had missions in Arabia. Meanwhile in Spain, as the desire for a life of retreat and piety kept growing, the "Desert of the Viciosa" was founded for the contemplative life, while the center of devotion was and still is in Colombia the "Desert of the Candelaria." In 1835 all the convents of the Recollects in Spain were suppressed and the religious dispersed, except for the convent of Monteagudo, because it was a seminary of vocations for the Philippines. The same happened in the province of Colombia, so that at 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 Father Ezequiel Moreno their great apostle (b. at Alfaro [Spain] on 9 April 1848 and d. at Monteagudo on 19 Aug. 1906; the antipreparatory Congregation for his beatification was already held in 1948). Until 1911 the Recollects formed a single family with the Augustinian Order, when Blessed Pius X gave them complete autonomy with their own prior general. Today the Order has 5 provinces with over 1000 religious spread across 14 nations and six missionary districts; it directs large teaching colleges in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and the Philippines, one of which, that of Cebu, welcomes 3000 pupils.