In all of those documents, as well as in the courses, talks, days of recollection, retreats, etc., that have been given, there is insistence on the importance of example, and there is a need for the publication of materials that bring to light examples from the past.
Second Series: Shining Lights
In the recent history of the Augustinian Recollects, these publications bear the name Our Augustinian Saints, a biographical series that was published during the late years of the past century and has prompted many requests since then that the series be continued. The General Chapter of 2010 ordered this continuation and directed the Prior General with his council to ask “the Institute of Spirituality and History to continue these publications with a series Our Saints and Exemplary Religious.
In the organizational structure of the Order, the institutes are departments of study, research, and publication of the Augustinian Recollect charism. There are two institutes, as there are two components of the charism: The Institute of Augustinology, which studies Saint Augustine, and the Institute of Spirituality and History.
The latter, under the direction of Father Enrique Gómez and after a long period of planning and assigning tasks, has just launched its new series of biographies of exemplary Recollects. Inspired by Saint Augustine, who uses this name to refer to the saints, they have entitled the series Shining Lights. The purpose of the new series is the same as that of the former, but now with a broader range of subjects, including not only saints but also other illustrious figures.
The physical format remains the same, small pocket-size booklets, but the new series is more modern, as it includes photos and printing in color. It has been given a new design, with a simple and pleasant appearance. And it is hoped that it will reach a much larger audience as, thanks to the computer, it will be made available free of charge to the public on this official website of the Order.
Venancio Martínez
This year 2014 marks the 90th anniversay of the establishment of the Mission of Kweiteh, Shangqiu, China, as well as the 70th anniversary of the death, on July 24, 1944, and the 80th anniversary of the priestly ordination, on July 22, 1934, of Father Venancio Martínez, who died there, consumed by fever, when he was only 33 years old. Because all of these anniversaries come together this year, it was decided to begin the new series with Father Venancio’s biography. Following this first booklet, a new one will be published every three months, covering the lives of personages of recognized sanctity, such as Mariana of Saint Joseph, Alphonse Gallegos, and Mariano Gazpio; great intellectual personalities like Serafín Prado and Victorino Capánaga; and other outstanding figures in the history and spirituality of the Augustinian Reollection.
The author of Venancio Martínez: Corazón del Buen Pastor (Heart of the Good Shepherd) is Augustinian Recollect Father José Manuel Romero, a long-time missionary in Taiwan, who at present is writing his doctoral thesis on the Mission of Kweiteh. With well-founded knowledge and genuine passion, he presents Father Venancio as a model Augustinian Recollect religious and priest who deeply and graciously lived a life of contemplative, communitarian, and apostolic love.
Venancio was a good brother and companion to his felllow religious, friendly and affable, generous and helpful. He was a titan of charity who never passed by the necessities of others. He was for countless persons the arms of Christ, a Good Samaritan, and a doctor of souls; the heart of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who loves his sheep and gives his life for them. In short, he was and is an exccellent model of what an Augustinian Recollect should be today.