Recoleto centenary

Today the Augustinian Recollects will mark the centenary of the publication of the document “Religiosa Familias” which Pope St. Pius X issued on September 16, 1912.

The centennial anniversary is on the 16th but the Recollects in Negros are commemorating it this day with a series of activities in the parish of San Nicholas de Tolentino in Talisay, starting with the 8 a.m. celebration of the Holy Eucharist by Bácolod Bishop Vicente Navarra.

This parish is the only one ceded to the ministry by the Diocese of Bácolod after the 1898 Philippine revolution in recognition of their long service in the island of Negros which was in three phases, 1627-1638; 1848-1898 and then 1902 to this day.

Although the third phase came only four years after they left in 1898, the fact is that while the order was sent out of the island for their safety (the revolutionary government was rather cruel), several of them remained so that in fact, their stay since 1848 has been unbroken. What was interrupted was their active ministry of the parishes.

As one notices, the Recollects are also Augustinians but theirs is a separate religious order but remained Augustinian. What is being commemorated today is the separation of the Augustinian Recollects from their mother order, the Augustinians.

The separation took place on December 5, 1588 when a group of Augustinians in the Province of Castille in Spain wanted to live a more austere and perfect way of life from their view considering the tumultuous Middle Ages where religious revolutions erupted in Europe. They wanted a different way of living the Gospel and the Augustinian charism.

After a series of reflections, the Augustinian Provincial Chapter of the Order in Toledo approved this group to live the kind of life they wanted. A Chapter is an assembly of the representatives of the Order which is convened periodically to approve the guidelines of their life and ministry until the next Chapter.

In 1589 their new way of life was finalized in a document, “Forma de vivir de los frailes de agustinos descalzos” (Way of life of the Augustinian friars without shoes). From this document’s title alone, we can see that the members of this group were unshod. They wore no shoes, a sign of a life of suffering.

Of course today they wear shoes. Life has changed as well through the centuries but their life of sacrifice for the faith and personal religious devotion remains.

Like all religious orders, they take a vow of chastity, obedience and poverty. They thus live in a community unlike the seculars who lived, oftentimes alone in a parish.

The early years of the unshod Augustinians were difficult but they braved their new way of life that in 1606, the Vatican approved the Recollects to be an independent Province. In 1625 they were recognized by the Holy See and granted the status of a Religious Congregation.

It was this time that the first Recollect priests came to Negros but did not stay long because they were transferred to Romblon where they stayed and founded the Church there.

The Augustinian Recollects expanded fast and well, despite so many trials. When in 1847 the Bishop of Cebu, Romualdo Gimeno asked the Governor General for a religious congregation to be sent to Negros where the Church was developing quite slowly due to lack of priests, the only congregation to accept was the Recollect Order. Negros was too poor for others.

The Governor General Narciso Claveria asked all the religious orders but only the Recollects responded positively as they had available in Spain newly ordained priests. On June 20, 1848, the Governor General issued a Royal Decree appointing the Augustinian Recollects to Negros.

The achievements of the Recollects here are too many for this column, but I have, from time to time written about them.

They left Negros due to the Revolution of 1898 but despite the expulsion of all Spanish priests, three were left behind, unmolested by the revolutionary government, mainly due to their great contribution to the social, economic, religious and social growth of the island in just 50 years of their stay.

I wrote before that except for Candoni, Hinobaan, Magallon and Salvador Benedicto, all the towns and cities of this province were administered by the Recollects and developed by them. These four towns were created after World War II and none was created since then.

The Papal document of September 16, 1912 granted the Augustinian Recollects full juridical autonomy and thus gained for it a place in the roster of Religious Orders. The dreams of 1588 took a long time to come true and lots of missionary work and lives sacrificed due to political conflicts and bigotry of fanatics, both Christian and pagan.*

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