The Order of Saint Augustine affiliates the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo
Yesterday, May 13, feast of Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Help, the Augustinian Parish of San Manuel y San Benito in Madrid hosted the celebration of the affiliation to the Order of the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo. The title brings with it a bond of friendship, closeness and appreciation for Augustinian spirituality. A good number of Augustinians from various communities in the archdiocese took part, among them the Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint John of Sahagún, Fr. Domingo Amigo, and the episcopal vicar of Vicariate VIII, Fr. Ángel Camino.
Homily
In his homily, the Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint John of Sahagún, Fr. Domingo Amigo, stressed the deep Marian meaning of the day, framed by the affiliation of José Cobo Cano to the Order of Saint Augustine. He recalled that Mary is the model of one who hears the Word of God and puts it into practice, and highlighted the ever-timely message of Fatima as a call to conversion, prayer and peace. He also referred to the Augustinian devotion to Our Lady of Help, a sign of Mary’s motherly protection over the Augustinian family.
The Prior Provincial explained that Cardinal Cobo’s affiliation expresses his spiritual closeness to the Order and his sharing in the spiritual goods of Augustinians throughout the world. In his homily, he presented some essential features of the spirituality of Augustine of Hippo: the tireless search for God, interiority as the path to meeting the Lord, fraternal communion and generous service to the Church. Finally, he invited those present to follow Mary’s example and to live the Augustinian charism authentically, building communities united in love and at the service of the Gospel.
Thanksgiving
At the end of the celebration, Archbishop José Cobo Cano expressed his deep gratitude to the Order of Saint Augustine for the affiliation, which he described as a gift and a concrete sign of communion and ecclesial affection. He recalled that his closeness to Augustinian spirituality began in his youth with reading the Confessions, where he discovered the importance of friendship, interiority and the need to live faith in community. He praised the Augustinians’ ability to unite thought and closeness, spiritual depth and care for people, and thanked them especially for their presence and service in the Church of Madrid.
In his address, the cardinal stressed the relevance of the message of Augustine of Hippo, convinced that the human heart still thirsts for meaning and for God. He noted that the Augustinian charism offers a valuable response to that search today through interiority, the dialogue between faith and culture and the building of community in a society marked by individualism. Quoting Augustine’s phrase «My weight is my love», he said that what remains in life is what we love, and assured that this affiliation is not a protocol gesture but the opening of the doors of a spiritual family with which he wishes to keep walking more closely.
Affiliates
The Order of Saint Augustine is a large Family made up of friars, contemplative nuns and lay fraternities, and it also extends to other affiliated brothers and sisters. These people, while living their own vocation in the Church, are closely united to the Order through a spiritual bond of mutual collaboration and by sharing in the spiritual goods of the Order.
During the affiliation ceremony, the new affiliate (in this case Cardinal José Cobo) receives a document signed by the Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine.
In the document, the Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, Fr. Joseph Lawrence Farrell, grants affiliation to José Cobo Cano for his values and his closeness to the Order.
In the Archdiocese of Madrid there are currently 14 communities (parishes, schools, university residences and residences) under the pastoral care of our Cardinal Archbishop. It is a very significant presence in Madrid.
“Both the friars and the lay people have found in Don José a closeness, warmth and welcome that has embraced us in a very simple and natural way, as is the Augustinian way,” Fr. Carlos Alonso said yesterday in the introduction to the celebration.
“With the Pastoral Visit of Leo XIV, an Augustinian Pope, to our Diocese of Madrid so close at hand,” he added, “from today Don José Cobo takes on the same Augustinian life and spirituality that Pope Leo keeps in his heart as one of his best-guarded treasures. It is therefore a joy for the Diocese of Madrid to know that its diocesan Pastor shares with the Pastor of the universal Church the same heritage of Augustine of Hippo: the Augustinian charism.”
Affiliates remind us that the Augustinian charism is a gift for the whole Church. Belonging to the Order of Saint Augustine means sharing, among many other traits, communion, the search for truth and interiority, with the single desire «to live in community with one heart and one soul», based on the Rule of Saint Augustine.
To be affiliated is to become part of a family. It is to let oneself be welcomed into the very heart of the Order of Saint Augustine. This is not simply an honorary title but a deep spiritual reality. The bond between the Order and its faithful affiliates continues even after death.
