Augustinians first went to Peru in 1551; tradition holds that the exact date was 19th September 1551. Once again, the Augustinians in question were members of the Province of Spain (Castile). The first twelve arrived from Spain in 1551, another eleven in 1558, ten more in 1563, and sixteen in 1573. King Philip II of Spain subsidised the voyages of these men and in great part paid for the construction of the churches and houses they built. (His financial assistance to the Church in Latin America was not limited to the Augustinians by any means, for other Orders also received it.)
Augustinians were in Peru in sufficient numbers that in 1575 a Province of Peru was founded. The Augustinian school of San Ildefonso at Lima obtained from Pope Paul V the privileges of a pontifical university in 1608. Prior to this, Augustinians had founded the University of Quito (Ecuador) in 1586, and would establish the University of Bogota (Colombia) in 1694. At the end of the 18th century the Order in Peru comprised mainly of men who had been born locally. There were then 200 members, of whom about 120 lived in what was known as the Grand Convent (convento) in the city of Lima. When Peru became independent from Spain in 1821, the government expelled the Spanish members of the Order. Suppression of religious houses followed, including in 1828 the one at Trujillo, where Augustinians once again work today. Only two houses out of twenty three remained open in Peru. Much of the grand convent in Lima was demolished in 1829 to make space for a public square.
The Order barely continued in Peru. In 1899 there were only four members left, the last of whom died in 1911. Accordingly, in 1902 the regime of the Province of Peru was suspended, made inactive as a juridical unit until such time as the number of Augustinians in Peru again reached sufficient numbers to merit its restoration. This happened by decree of the Augustinian General Curia on 19th September 2005, exactly 454 years after the first Augustinians had arrived in Peru. Three other Provinces of the Order are now assisting in Peru: Italians in the region of Chuquibambilla since 1968, Americans around Chulucanas since 1964, and members of the Madrid-based Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines around Iquitos since 1901. In recent years, there have thus been four circumscriptions (jurisdictions) of the Order at presently working in Peru in relative independence of one another.
This is now changing, after the restoration in 2005 of what is called the ordinary government of the official Province of Peru. With this goal in mind, the Prior General went from Rome to Lima to conduct an Assembly of the members of the Province of Peru at the end of April 2005. During that Assembly, as well as during the meeting of the major superiors of the four circumscriptions of the Order in Peru held earlier on 7th April 2005, the topic of greater collaboration among the four circumscriptions was discussed, including plans for a shared house of novitiate. In July 2006 the Province of Our Lady of Grace of Peru had attained 45 members in solemn vows, 16 of whom come from other Provinces and nations. There are seven Peruvians in temporary vows, 25 aspirants, and other young men preparing to join the Augustinian Order in Peru. The Province ministers in five primary and secondary schools, two non-parochial churches and its houses of Augustinian formation.
On 2nd-5th March 2006 all candidates and formators from the four Augustinian formation houses in Peru met at Sao Paulo for a spiritual retreat. This brought together 44 candidates and 11 formators. The retreat was conducted by Fr Emanuel Borg Bonello O.S.A., who at the time was a member of the Augustinian General Curia (Rome). In November 2014 the most recent Prior General emeritus, Very Rev Robert Prevost O.S.A. was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, a nation in which he had ministered for many years before being elected Prior General.
From Peru the Order in Latin America extended to Ecuador in 1573, at the direction of King Philip II, and from Ecuador in 1575 extended into Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Provinces were established as follows: Ecuador (declared in 1579, but not instituted until 1601), New Granada (Colombia and Venezuela) in 1601, and Chile 1627. Thus in 1573 the Order opened a house at Quito in Ecuador, and founded the University of Quito (Ecuador) in 1586. The Province of Ecuador was founded in 1579. In 1586 a royal and pontifical university was established there. This province still exists today. By the year 1615, there were 32 houses of the Order in Ecuador, and they contained 120 members. It had 180 members consolidated in 13 houses at the end of the 18th century.
Photos (at right): Picture 1: Belen vivente, a "living Nativity" in the Church of Saint Rita, Montevideo, Uruguay. Picture 2: A liturgy in the parish church. Church of Saint Rita, Montevideo, Uruguay. Picture 3: Priests and young adults in the Church of Saint Rita, Montevideo, Uruguay.
The struggle for national independence began in 1809, and the great Augustinian house in Quito was the place from which the declaration for independence was delivered. After independence was won, the larger Augustinian houses were taken and used by soldiers. In 1863 the Italian Augustinians assisted with leadership and personnel, with mixed success, such that the province operated only as a commissariate for the rest of the nineteenth century. By the year 1881 the Order was reduced to three houses at Quito, Latacunga and Guayaquil. The full rights of the Province to conduct its own affairs were not restored until 1921.
In the year 1591, Philip II commanded the Order in Peru to send men to Chile. They felt unable to supply any men, but a repeated demanded in 1594 from the King moved them into action. A house was established in Santiago (Chile) in 1595, and soon at eleven other centres. Books that made up the original library in the house at Santiago are still there. At the request of King Philip II in Spain the Augustinians went to Valparaiso in Chile in 1595, and within two years there were nine houses in Chile. The Province of Chile was first authorised by the Prior General in 1599, but did not formally operate until 1627. In the year 1663, Pope Alexander VII gave the Augustinian school at Santiago the title and privileges of a pontifical university. In 1787 there were 200 members in the Province, most of whom were born in Chile.
After the victory of Chile for independence happened in 1817, all ten Augustinian houses were lost, but in some places the Order obtained smaller houses nearby. Some Augustinians fled to Argentina and Peru, and the government and the bishops pressed the men of the religious orders to become priests of the local diocese. After a great struggle, the Province of Chile restored itself to having six houses and seventy members by 1890. It is still functioning.
(Continued on the next page) AN4854