María de la Luz, Prioress of the Monastery of Santa Monica, in Puebla, prepared the celebration with sufficient time in advance so that each of the communities could join in the preparation of Thanksgiving for the 325 years of its foundation. For months the communities have offered Masses, Holy Hours and Rosaries in thanksgiving to God for all the benefits received during the three long centuries of the contemplative life in Mexico.
The solemn Thanksgiving Mass was held in the Church of San Agustín and was presided over by Víctor Sánchez Espinosa, Archbishop of Puebla. Of 276 nuns distributed among the 17 monasteries of the Mexican Federation, 181 attended, including some coming from Brazil and Spain. Joining them were some members of the families and benefactors of the 14 communities of Mexico.
Together with the Archbishop, 40 priests concelebrated, among them are nine Augustinian Recollects. A group of young people from our St. Pius X, minor seminary in Quretaro served at the celebration, under the supervision of the Augustinian Recollect deacon, Antonio Antón, in charge of the liturgy. The singing was done by the choir of the community of Puebla; and each community offered items that are produced by the respective communities. During the celebration, the picture frame of Monseñor Manuel Fernández de Santacruz, the initiator and patron of the foundation, was placed in a very visible location in the presbytery.
At the request of Mother María de la Luz, all the communities sent a bouquet which has been captured in a golden embroidery by the community of Jalapa and placed in a very special frame.
The majority of the nuns arrived at Puebla the day before because the host community wanted to surprise them with something that is typically Mexican: a group of mariachis sang them “las mañanitas” before the solemn Mass.
The History
The founder of the monastery of Puebla was the 11th Bishop of Puebla, Monseñor Manuel Fernández de Santacruz (1637-1699), who knew the spirit and the virtues of Mother Mariana de San José (1587-1637), foundress of the Augustinian Recollects nuns in Spain, and the exemplary regular observance of the Spanish Recollect monasteries, particularly that of Palencia, the city where he came from.
Upon arriving at Puebla, he admired the ardent desire that the female students of the Colegio de Virtuosas Doncellas that existed there, of consecrating themselves to God, that he decided to establish a monastery for them – his biographer says- “according to the institute and form of life that the Apostolic See already approved in Europe”. In 1684 he requested for the needed permits.
The Rule, Constitutions and Rituals of the Augustinian Recollection were sent to him from the Monastery of Corpus Christi of Granada, Spain. And with the authority of Pope Innocent XI and the consent of King Carlos II of Spain, on the 24th of May of the year 1688 the Monastery of Santa Mónica was built in the city of Puebla de los Ángeles, on that very day the first 20 Augustinian Recollect nuns made their profession.
This is the original monastery, very near the actual site. The Augustinian Recollect nuns stayed in their old monastery until 1934, when they were expelled due to the Laws of Reformation. The following year, the former monastery of Santa Mónica was converted to a Museum of Religious Arts, it is at present one of the greatest exponents of female monastic life in the country and the only one in the State of Puebla.