WYD was not only Madrid. The nearly two million youth from all over the world who responded to the invitation of the Holy Father lived the first week spread all over Spain, hosted by different dioceses and several thousands of families. Then they gathered in Madrid and there lived an unforgettable experience of communion, this time with the youth of all the world and, in the case of the Augustinian Recollects, with the members of the RAY coming from 11 countries, in their first ever world encounter.
For many there was even a third week, this time in Rome. The pilgrims who came from America and Asia saw to it that they capped their European sojourn with a visit to the Eternal City. And the house which the Order has in downtown Rome became, from 21 to 28 August, the venue for the encounter and interaction of the groups from Panama, Argentina and the Philippines.
Since 1619, the Order has a house in Rome. The house and church were built in what was then a peripheral zone but today is smack in the center of the city, on Sistina Street. Its formal name is a bit high-sounding: “International College of Saint Ildephonse and Saint Thomas of Villanova”. It is the residence of young priests who take postgraduate studies in Rome.
Witnesses
The first to arrive in Rome after WYD was a group of nine persons coming from the diocese of David, in Panama, whose bishop is the Augustinian Recollect José Luis Lacunza. They were amazed by the Madrid experience and, above all, by the pre-WYD week, which they spent in Palencia. Ada relived time and again the “welcome, the warmth of the people who received us”. And Nestor, Rodrigo and the rest highlighted the diversity of cultures which they found and how in all of them God was praised.
The Argentinians were a much bigger group, totalling some 70 persons. With them were three Augustinian Recollects from the country, headed by the superior, Carlos María Domínguez. On Thursday, 25 August, they filled the church, celebrating a vibrant Eucharist in Spanish, before proceeding in their pilgrimage through the marvels of Rome.
Saint Augustine
Nine Filipino religious who participated in the WYD also stayed at the house in Via Sistina. They arrived on August 25 and stayed till August 29. They were accompanied by a group of young men and women representing different places in the archipelago.
Their presence in Rome on the feast of Saint Augustine on 28 August made this year’s celebration of the Order’s holy founder wholly special. At the general curia, the religious of the three houses in Rome gathered around the altar, in a eucharist that was basically English, though with readings and texts in Spanish and Italian.