The feast of St. Magdalene of Nagasaki marks a new milestone for the Augustinian Recollect family: the Prior General signs the decree approving ad experimentum the new General Statutes of the Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity, giving way to a year of study, reflection and community renewal.
A celebration for the entire Augustinian Recollect family
Every October 20, the Augustinian Recollect family celebrates St. Magdalene of Nagasaki, Japanese martyr and patroness of the Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity. Her lay life, given to the extreme, is a model and guide for all those who wish to live the Augustinian charism in the midst of the world. This year, the celebration is accompanied by much awaited news: the official promulgation of the new Statutes of the Secular Fraternity, after a long process of synodal work.
The new General Statutes of the Secular Fraternity are promulgated.
On October 18, in Monachil (Spain), the Prior General, Friar Miguel Angel Hernandez, signed the Decree Prot. 122/2025by which the new General Statutes of the Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity the new General Statutes of the Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity are approved ad experimentum, for one year.. This decision was taken after the revision and approval of the General Council in ordinary session held on October 16, 2025.
According to the decree, the Statutes will come into force immediately, and during this year will be open to observations, suggestions and proposals from all the local fraternities, in a true exercise of synodality and shared discernment.
A circular to listen to the heartbeat of the charisma
The promulgation of the Statutes is accompanied by a circular letter signed by the Prior General. circular letter signed by the Prior General on the occasion of the feast of St. Magdalene. In it, Friar Miguel Ángel not only communicates the juridical news, but also offers a spiritual and vocational reflection. spiritual and vocational reflection deeply inspiring.
The text reflects the desire that each member of the fraternity rediscover his or her lay vocation as a path to holiness in the world.
The important thing is not to have a document,” he says, “but that the document be the occasion of a profound experience of God, of community, of shared mission.
Invites us to live this time as a path of communion and journey of communion and renewalaffirming that the Statutes “are not only a set of norms; they are, above all, a proposal of life”. In them is condensed an incarnated spirituality, centered on the search for God, fraternal life, ecclesial service and commitment to the poorest.
The Prior General concluded by recalling the witness of St. Magdalene of Nagasaki, whose firm faith and silent martyrdom continue to be a beacon for all lay men and women who feel part of the great Augustinian Recollect family.
An invitation to live in mission
The promulgation of these Statutes takes place in the context of the preparations for the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Year 2026whose motto will be: “Proclaim Christ wherever you can”, in the words of St. Augustine. For the Prior General, this time should be lived as a kairosAn opportunity to renew the evangelizing enthusiasm from daily life: “The mission is not reduced to distant territories. The first mission is in the heart of each one of us”.
Within this framework, the Prior General invites each fraternity to welcome the new Statutes as a seed:
“Take care of it, make it germinate. May the Statutes be an opportunity to deepen our identity, strengthen communion, renew enthusiasm and, above all, revive the missionary awareness that St. Magdalen lived to the extreme”.