The Convent of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the only one of contemplative life in the diocese of Tiangua and the first foundation of Augustinian Recollect nuns in South America. There are thirteen religious at present in the convent: six are Mexican from the Recollect Convent of Ahuacatlán (San Luis Potosí, México. Native vocations make up the rest of the community, three of whom have made their simple profession of vows.
The feast of the dedication of the Church draws a line under the ambitious Project embarked on by the Bishop of Tiangua, Fr. Francisco Javier Hernandez Arnedo, himself an Augustinian Recollect has spared no means and given his unconditional support to the ambitious foundation project. Many other priests from the diocese joined the Augustinian Recollects in celebration. They already see the Convent as their own. The whole ceremony was transmitted on the internet.
Enclosed Missionaries
In June of 2000 the Federation of Augustinian Recollect Sisters of Mexico were celebrating their III Federal Assembly in the Convent of Tecamachalco, in the Distrito Federal, Mexico.
One afternoon Juan Manuel Ramírez Sixtos from the Recollect community of Guaraciaba do Norte (Ceará, Brasil) himself Mexican, paid them a visit.
He explained to the nuns that the bishop of his diocese, Fr. Francisco Javier Hernández Arnedo, also an Augustinian Recollect, had a deep wish to found a Convent of enclosed nuns in his diocese. In this way he would have a “complete church with all the charisms and spiritual needs covered”.
Steps were taken from then on, not too fast and not too slow. In June 2002 Bishop Hernandez visited the Convent community of Ahuacatlán. By December he had a donation of the land. In May 2003 they started building the Convent. On the 5th May 2005 the new Convent was canonically established.
As we approach the 8th year of presence in the land of Ceara the community of Augustinian Recollect nuns has become a point of reference for the people who live nearby, for the whole diocese and all the Recollects in Brazil.