In accordance with number 112 of the Constitutions the Prior General, Javier Guerra, and the General Council have accepted the petition. The paragraph reads: “Fraternal charity embraces also those institutes of Nuns and Sisters, as well as lay associations, who following the rule of St. Augustine and in the spirit of the Order, dedicate themselves to the contemplative life or devote themselves to diverse apostolic works or who work to achieve Christian perfection”.
In the same official text it is pointed out that “ all these institutes and associations, together with the Order of the Recollects of St. Augustine, form the Augustinian recollect family. Mutual collaboration is to be fostered with all of them and with the other families of an Augustinian character.
St. Ezequiel Moreno
It is not possible to talk of these sisters without mentioning their founder, the Augustinian Recollect priest Sebastián López de Murga. By his own confession. “divine providence brought him to work for three ideals in Columbia: the canonization of Ezequiel Moreno, the Foundation that bears the saints name and the Augustinian Sisters of the Sick”. Barely a year after the beatification of the bishop of Pasto, 1st November 1975, Fr. Sebastian set up a Foundation with the name “Ezequiel Moreno”. Later the Augustinian Recollect bishop would be canonized in Santo Domingo( Dominican Republic) on 11th October 1992. The figure of this saint has always been linked to the sick especially cancer patients. He himself suffered from it and through his intercession a devotee was miraculously cured.
In January 1985 work began to bring about the religious foundation of the Sisters. They would be entrusted with being close to the sick, not only bringing them spiritual consolation, but aiding them with all kinds of attention in their illness. The group had to face many difficulties at the start. Some Sisters left after a few years and the group is and remains a small one today. On 11th March 1996, the Archbishop of Bogota, Pedro Rubiano, accedes to the petition of their founder and approves their statutes as a “Public Association of pious women”. They were to be known as “Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Sick”, whose charism is to “assist the sick especially those with cancer, in the spiritual as well as the economic aspects.
Lack of vocations
That same year, 1996, they celebrated their first General Chapter and elected the co founder Irma Pinzón Vélez, as Superior on the 8th December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the first four Sisters make their first religious profession. Today these four, with two more who joined on the same date in 2007, made their profession of perpetual vows. Another two have renewed their simple vows for a number of years. In May 2007 they celebrated their second General Chapter, Irma Pinzon being re elected for another mandate.
They have made a deep discernment on the lack of vocations and the poor perseverance of candidates (there have been many), and have set out guidelines for a better accompaniment and formation of the young women who have a true vocation. To accomplish this they have requested on various occasions the advice and nearness of the Augustinian Recollects of the Province of the Candelaria and of the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Sisters.