Fifty formators and those in formation participated, together with the Federation Council, in a course held from July 5 to 10 in Salamanca, focused on spiritual life, proper treatment, and accompaniment
From July 5 to 10, 2026, the San Vicente de Paúl Spirituality Center in Salamanca hosted the Formation Course for Formators and Those in Formation of the Federation of Augustinian Recollect Nuns of Spain. Fifty formators and those in formation participated in the gathering, together with the Federation Council, coming from various Augustinian Recollect monasteries in Spain.
The initiative brought together sisters from different formative stages and various communities, including the Monastery of the Incarnation in Madrid, the convent of Santo Toribio in Vitigudino, the community of Oviedo, the community of Colmenar de Oreja, Santa Isabel in Madrid, and San Martín, among other monasteries of the Federation. The diversity of origins, ages, and experiences transformed these days into a privileged space for formation, coexistence, vocational discernment, and fraternal communion.
The course began on July 6 with a presentation by Friar Jesús Lanao on the prayerful dimension of contemplative life. Prayer emerged as one of the main pillars of the gathering and as the foundation of Augustinian Recollect identity. Sister Mercedes, from the Monastery of the Incarnation in Madrid, expressed this by noting that she was especially taking away “the theme of prayer and sharing with the community.” For her, the most valuable aspect of the vocation is precisely “community life.”
On July 7 and 8, Friar Antonio Carrón delivered several presentations on spiritual life centered on Jesus Christ, asceticism, proper treatment, and safe environments. These topics allowed for deeper exploration of the integral formation of the sisters, uniting the spiritual dimension with human maturity, fraternal life, and mutual care within contemplative communities.
Asceticism was presented as a path to interior freedom and configuration with Christ. Sister Fabiola, from the Incarnation community of Colmenar de Oreja, highlighted from these days “the exercise of asceticism,” understood as “a continuous exercise” and as “a means for us to reach that end which is holiness and God himself.” Sister Brenda, from Santa Isabel in Madrid, also emphasized one of the key points of the course: “I have learned that we must care for ourselves in order to care for others,” also adding the need to “deepen further” in prayer and grow in personal formation.
The reflection on proper treatment and safe environments offered tools to foster healthy, fraternal, and evangelical relationships within communities. In a life called to be a sign of communion, care for the person, listening, prevention of wounds, and appropriate accompaniment form an essential part of the formative mission. This aspect proved especially significant for formators, called to accompany personal and vocational processes with closeness, respect, and fidelity to the charism.
On July 9, Friar Jesús Lanao offered a new presentation, this time focused on lectio divina. The prayerful listening to the Word was presented as daily nourishment for contemplative life and as a school of interiority, discernment, and communion with God. In the testimonies of the participants, the importance of prayer, charity, fraternity, and contemplative life emerged strongly as elements that sustain the vocation.
The course concluded on July 10 with the intervention of Friar Bruno D’Andrea, who addressed the management of feelings. His reflection helped to recognize the importance of integrating affective life into the spiritual and community journey.
Contemplative formation is not reduced to acquiring knowledge, but rather involves learning to know oneself, allowing oneself to be accompanied, and growing in interior freedom to live one’s own consecration with greater authenticity.
One of the most notable fruits of the gathering was the experience of fraternity among sisters. Viviana, from the convent of Santo Toribio in Vitigudino, affirmed that these days helped her to “deepen further in community life” and to meet sisters she perhaps did not know, enriching herself “with what they bring, because each one contributes so much.” Sister Guadalupe, from the community of Oviedo, also described the gathering as an experience “of great richness” due to the coexistence, knowledge of different cultures, and common life, which she defined as something “characteristic of our charism.”
Interiority, a profoundly Augustinian trait, also emerged as a key element of formation. Sister Guadalupe emphasized that interiority allows her to know herself, recognize what she is and what she has, in order to share it with the sisters and understand them “from their different stages of formation.” In this regard, she also pointed out one of the great current challenges of contemplative communities: “knowing the other, knowing their culture, knowing their way of being, understanding where they come from,” in order to better accompany them.
The formation process of the Augustinian Recollect nuns begins with the aspirancy, an initial time to know the charism, the life of Saint Augustine, and the Rule; it continues with the postulancy, a stage of deepening and vocational discernment; and proceeds with the novitiate, focused especially on theology, the charism, interior life, and prayer according to Saint Augustine. This entire itinerary seeks to help the person who feels God’s call to ask themselves truthfully if this is their path and to grow in the identity proper to Augustinian Recollect contemplative life.
Coexistence was, for many participants, one of the great gifts of the course. Delmia, from the community of Colmenar de Oreja, affirmed that she was taking away “much teaching” for her spiritual and community life, and that these days would help her to “continue persevering” in her personal vocation and to live better in community. She also expressed the joy of discovering the breadth of the Augustinian Recollect family: “It has made me feel very happy because I see that it is a very large family.”
In the words of Sister Amparo, federal president, “the course has been an opportunity to strengthen communion among the monasteries of the Federation, renew vocational joy, and deepen some essential aspects of contemplative life: prayer, interiority, fraternal life, accompaniment, care, and the centrality of Jesus Christ.”
The Federation of Augustinian Recollect Nuns of Spain currently has 29 federated monasteries, of which 26 are in Spain. The other three are in the Philippines, Kenya, and Guatemala.
In an ecclesial context that invites us to care for formative processes and to create increasingly evangelical and safe communities, this gathering sought to offer formators and those in formation a time of listening, reflection, and coexistence. Salamanca became during these days a space of communion, learning, and hope to continue living, from the Augustinian Recollect charism, the beauty of a life consecrated to God in prayer and fraternity.
