Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández invites religious brothers, nuns, religious sisters, laypeople, JAR, Secular Fraternities and Monica Mothers to renew together the consecration to the Virgin Mary next December 8, 2026.
“I call on the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to prepare spiritually for the renewal of this consecration,”
states Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández in a letter addressed to religious brothers, nuns, religious sisters and laypeople of the Recollect charismatic family. The Prior General of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández Domínguez, has written a letter to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family on the occasion of the centenary of the Order’s consecration to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, carried out in 1926 by Blessed Vicente Soler. In it, he invites all members of the Recollect charismatic family to live a time of spiritual preparation that will culminate in the renewal of that consecration next December 8, 2026.
In his message, the Prior General recalls that one hundred years ago the Order placed its life under Mary’s protection and affirms that today it remains a timely call.
“Not to remember with nostalgia a beautiful page of our history, but to allow it to challenge us,” he writes, and invites “the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to prepare together to renew our consecration to the Virgin Mary”.
The letter underscores Mary’s constant presence in the history of the Order. As Friar Miguel Ángel notes, Recollect life “was born, grew and persevered under Mary’s protection”, whose care has accompanied convents, monasteries, communities, schools, parishes and missions throughout the centuries.
An opportunity to renew trust
More than a historical commemoration, the Prior General presents this centenary as an occasion to renew spiritual life.
“I would not want this centenary to be reduced to the grateful remembrance of an event from the past. I would like us to live it as an opportunity to renew our hearts” he states.
In a context marked by uncertainties and challenges, he recalls that Mary continues to lead believers to Christ and adds that “renewing the consecration will be, above all, renewing our trust in God and our willingness to follow Him wherever He calls us”.
The Prior General also highlights the meaning of the title Queen and Mother of Consolation, so deeply linked to Recollect spirituality. “How much we need Mary’s consolation today. We need it personally, and we need it as a family,” he writes, listing the different vocational and apostolic realities that make up the Augustinian-Recollect Family.
A call to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family
One of the central moments of the letter is the explicit call to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to take part in this path of preparation. “I call on the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to prepare spiritually for the renewal of this consecration”, announces the Prior General.
To this end, he proposes that from the feast of Our Lady of Consolation, on September 4, until December 8, 2026, initiatives of prayer, formation and reflection be carried out in communities, monasteries, fraternities, youth groups and apostolic works to help live this centenary as “a real experience of grace”.
He also reports that the General Curia will prepare materials to accompany this spiritual journey and that the renewal of the consecration will be carried out using an updated formula inspired by the one used in 1926 by Blessed Vicente Soler.
A new evangelizing impetus
In the final part of the letter, Friar Miguel Ángel invites superiors, delegates, community leaders, educational centers, parishes, missions, Secular Fraternities, JAR and Monica Mothers to become actively involved so that no one is left out of this celebration.
The Prior General expresses his confidence that this renewal will be for the entire Augustinian Recollect Family “a time of reconciliation with what is essential, of inner renewal, of strengthening communion, and of a new evangelizing impetus”.
The letter concludes with an invitation to entrust the life of the Order to Mary once again and to strengthen the bonds of communion among all its members. “Mary gathers us, reminds us that we belong to one another, and teaches us to live communion as a gift and a task”, writes the Prior General as he concludes his message to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family.
