Pope Leo XIV tastes the biscuits of the Augustinian Recollect nuns of the Royal Monastery of Santa Isabel

The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, received handmade biscuits from the Royal Monastery of Santa Isabel in Madrid, a bakery kept alive by the Augustinian Recollect nuns. The prioress, María Teresa Arakkal, tells us how these home-made treats, from a monastery founded by Saint Alonso de Orozco in 1589, reached the Pontiff’s hands.

An Augustinian treat for the Holy Father

The biscuits Pope Leo XIV tasted did not come from just any bakery: they come from the Royal Monastery of Santa Isabel, a Madrid community of Augustinian Recollect nuns with roots going back to the late 16th century. The house was founded in 1589 by Saint Alonso de Orozco, a central figure of the Augustinian family, and today its nuns still bake treats that combine tradition, prayer and work.

How the biscuits reached Pope Leo XIV

It all began with a special request. It came from the office of the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida Navasqüés, which asked the nuns for biscuits from their bakery to offer to the Holy Father.

The community responded with generosity and affection: they sent 600 grams of biscuits made in their own bakery, together with a gesture that went far beyond the treats themselves.

“Saint Alonso biscuits”: almonds and affection

At the Royal Monastery of Santa Isabel, the biscuits are not just sweets: each has its own name. The nuns name them after sisters of the monastery or saints, so that each variety keeps a memory and a devotion.

For Pope Leo XIV they chose the Saint Alonso biscuits, in honour of the community’s founder. Their recipe has one essential ingredient: almonds, the basis of a simple, recognizable flavour that sums up the craftsmanship of the Augustinian Recollect nuns.

A letter written from the heart

Along with the biscuits, the nuns sent the Holy Father a letter recalling the closeness they once shared with him. A simple gesture, made with the heart, that turns a gift of food into a sign of communion and Augustinian memory.

Transcript of the letter to Pope Leo XIV

Dearest Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV:

We are a community of Augustinian Recollect nuns, founded in 1589 by Saint Alonso de Orozco. In 2002, on the day of his canonization in Rome, we had the honour of meeting you in St. Peter’s Square.

Sister María del Amor Gómez Jiménez (may she rest in peace) fondly remembered that meeting and, on hearing the news of your election, was filled with great joy.

Holy Father, the Lord has given us a great gift with your visit. Thank you so much!

A simple gesture, made with the heart

Beyond the 600 grams of almonds and sugar, what the Augustinian Recollect nuns sent Pope Leo XIV was a testimony of faithfulness and affection. From the silence of the Royal Monastery of Santa Isabel, in the very heart of Madrid, the community founded by Saint Alonso de Orozco wanted to remind the Holy Father that he remains present in their prayer and in their memory.