For some time now the priest José Benito, a native of Toboso and a lover of the town’s history, has been in contact with the Order to see the possibility of the latter’s participation in a simple act of thanksgiving on the occasion of the blessing of the new image of the Patroness. Toboso holds its fiesta on August 15th and on the occasion of the “arrival” of the new image in the town, the local church has declared a parish Marian Year wherein the Augustinian Recollects, invited by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities, returned to Dulcinea country two centuries after they left, convoked by the Mother of the “Tobosans”.
History
The Augustinian Recollects arrived in Toboso on 21 November 1600 and settled in the hermitage of Our Lady of Remedies. The friars’ work consisted of preaching, Lenten catechesis, hearing confessions and attending to the sick. Two years later two sons of the town already joined the congregation: Brother Alonso Guadalupe of the Mother of God, an austere and contemplative religious and friend of the poor, who died with fame of sanctity, and Father Andrés Aguilera of the Mother of God, who held important positions in the Order. Another illustrious Tobosan was Fr. Agustín de San Ildefonso, author of the work entitled “Teología mística”, which had a decisive influence on the Order’s spirituality. The friars of the Toboso community numbered up to 40, and seven of them ministered in the nearby parishes.
The Toboso convent had been the novitiate house of the Order, the house of formation of the professed, house of studies and matins. Three general chapters of the Order were held in it, as well as three provincial chapters.
In the opinion of some scholars, this convent of Our Lady of Remedies or, as it was known, of the Augustinian Recollects, became the “first university and cultural center of prime importance in La Mancha”. The chronicles confirm this in a sense when, in treating the convent of Campillo de Altobuey (Cuenca), the last foundation of the early stage of the Order, it is mentioned as founded because “the Augustinian Reform was already known there on account of the conventuals of Toboso who, through confessions and preaching, often gave luster to that district”.
Curses
The prior provincial of Saint Thomas of Villanueva Province, Miguel Ángel Hernández presided at the Eucharist of the second day of the triduum to Our Lady of Remedies, accompanied by provincial councilor Roan Cleber and provincial secretary Simón Puertas as well as by several priests from Toboso. In his homily, Fr. Hernández, aside from thanking God for the opportunity to be the tie that binds anew the Order’s history and that of the town, denied the canard that has been spread about the Augustinian Recollect friars who left Toboso and that has passed from parents to children, about the three curses that the friars allegedly cast over the town. The anticipation about the subject was not small.
I wish to ask the Lord through the intercession of Our Lady of Remedies to bless Toboso and to bless it abundantly.. Fr. Hernández resolved the matter in the following words: “that some followers of Christ and servants of the Gospel such as the Augustinian Recollect friars in Toboso were, I believe, would fulfill the obligation mentioned by Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans: ‘Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them’. At any rate, I, an Augustinian Recollect friar like them, wish to ask the Lord through the intercession of Our Lady of Remedies to bless Toboso and to bless it abundantly. May he bless all the Tobosans, all your families, your children and grandchildren; may he bless you with prosperity, with work for everyone, that no one may lack the daily bread. May he bless you with worthy, honest and just authorities and with holy priests who will wisely guide the flock entrusted to them. May the Lord bless you with the gift of peace, of harmony and of mutual understanding among all neighbors; may the Lord bless you with respect, solidarity and dialogue. May the Lord bless you with the gift of health. May you be able to see the children of your children and may you have a peaceful old age; and above all, may the Lord bless you by renewing the faith of the whole town and the filial devotion to the Mother of God, our Lady of Remedies. And lastly, may the Lord bless you with a holy life, which in the final analysis means a life spent doing good to others always, in the small things of everyday.
In the gospel of today, Peter asks the Lord: “How many times do I have to forgive? Up to seven times? And Jesus answers him: I don’t say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. I also wish to tell you that the Order of Augustinian Recollects asks the Lord to bless the Tobosans not only seven times, but seventy times seven, which means, always, in every occasion, constantly and to everyone”.
Promise
The town mayor vowed to put the name of the Augustinian Recollects in one of the streets near the old convent, of which only an arcade remains which actually serves as the portico of the cemetery, or in a park near the well of our Lady.
The town mayor gave to the prior provincial a painting with a dedication to the work and history of the Augustinian Recollects in the town and the prior provincial, after informing that the Province of Saint Thomas is celebrating the centenary of its restoration, gave the former a commemorative medal.