The Chapter of the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria of the Augustinian Recollects held in Bogotá (Colombia) at the end of 2022 decided the closure of the Recollect community of Sos del Rey Católico (Saragossa, Spain) and the handover to the Diocese of the parishes that this community of three religious still served.
The farewell ceremony, on Sunday, January 18, consisted of a Eucharist presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of Jaca, Pedro Aguado, with Cardinal José Luis Lacunza, Bishop Emeritus of David (Panama) and Augustinian Recollect son of the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria, at his side.
Concelebrating with them were some thirty priests, including the Prior General of the Augustinian Recollects, Miguel Ángel Hernández, and the Provincial Prior of Our Lady of Candelaria, José David Niño. The religious in the final stage of initial formation for the Province of Candelaria were in charge of the music and altar service, a curious nod to the times, since this house had been founded as the first formation house of the Province of Candelaria in Spain exactly 120 years earlier.
The nave of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Valentuñana, patron saint of Sos, was filled to overflowing with worshippers from Val d’Onsella, with the entire Sos City Council and numerous mayors from neighboring towns.
From the very first moment the atmosphere was festive, with a dominant note: thanksgiving, very emphasized in the speeches of the bishop, the prior general, the provincial of Candelaria and the mayor, María José Navarro, who also presented the Gold Medal of the town to the Augustinian Recollects, in recognition and gratitude for their presence and the care of the Sanctuary of their patron saint.
José David Niño recorded his message in the town’s guestbook, followed by the prior general and Miguel Ángel Yanguas, prior of the last Recollect community in Sos. The town band concluded the ceremony by playing the hymns of Sos and the patron saint.
The convent leaves as its legacy a glorious history of service to the Augustinian Recollects as a house of formation and to the Recollect missions in Colombia, Panama, Guatemala or the Dominican Republic, where the missionaries who were trained here were destined.
A meat processing company from Astigarraga (Guipúzcoa) will become the new owner of the building, which it will transform into an event space. The Sanctuary will continue to be managed by the Diocese of Jaca.
The Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentino opened its novitiate in Sos del Rey Católico in 1902, having been invited and welcomed by the Bishop of Jaca, who was an Augustinian. This novitiate had been one of the Province of St. Nicholas’s greatest concerns in order to normalize its situation after the difficult period of the Philippine Revolution and the opening of new missions in Brazil and other parts of the Americas.
On November 27, 1903, Fr. Antonio Muro was appointed the first novice master, and a few days later he arrived in Sos with two postulants. The novitiate was officially established on December 30, but it was still four months before the first two aspirants could receive the habit.
The Province of Our Lady of Candelaria had been searching for a house of formation in Spain since 1904, and after visiting numerous ancient monasteries and convents, had lost hope of finding a suitable place to open its own novitiate there. Having learned of the doubts that had arisen in the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine regarding Sos del Rey Católico, it requested a transfer from one Province to the other.
On November 17, the Provincial Council of Saint Nicholas agreed to hand over the house to the Province of Candelaria for the same amount of money they had given to the Bishopric of Jaca three years earlier, without regard to the expenses incurred for repairs and improvements. The Province of Candelaria would have eight years to make the payment, without interest.
The Province of Candelaria expressed its gratitude for the generosity of the Province of Saint Nicholas, and on December 1st, the transfer of the novices of Saint Nicholas to Monteagudo was authorized. A month later, on January 4th, 1906, 120 years ago, the religious of the Province of Saint Nicholas definitively vacated the convent of Sos del Rey Católico and handed it over to the Province of Candelaria, a residence that has lasted 120 years.
