Today, December 5, we join together to celebrate the birth of the Augustinian Recollection, this fruitful branch of the Augustinian Family, which began its history in 1588. This year, we do it in a special way: listening to the voices of its protagonists, who tell us in first person how this movement originated. The characters have been animated using artificial intelligence, which allows us to bring them to life and listen to their testimonies in a novel way.
Fray Luis de Leon, author of the “Forma de vivir” of the Augustinian Recollect friars, takes us to the Provincial Chapter of Castile in 1588, when spiritual fervor and the desire for renewal inspired the Augustinian friars to begin a new way of life, also followed from Colombia. Mother Mariana of St. Joseph tells us 
how women also joined this reform impulse, founding monasteries that soon flourished all over Spain. Finally, St. Augustine himself, with an eternal voice, reminds us how his Rule is still alive and in force in the communities of Augustinian Recollects that today are present in four continents.
On this special day, we want to heartily congratulate the entire Augustinian Recollect Family. May the flame of the Recollection continue to illuminate our lives and guide us always on the path of service to God and humanity. Happy Augustinian Recollection Day!
