Our Vision and Mission

We the Augustinian Recollect Sisters, envisions a community of Christ's disciples witnessing to the Gospel values and charism of our Congregation.
Together in vocation and mission, we commit to a prayerful communion of life and humble service to the synodal Church through our various apostolates.

Who We Are

We are women who have heard Christ's invitation and have chosen to follow Him through the consecrated life.

As Augustinian Recollect Sisters, we seek God through a life rooted in prayer and interiority, strengthened by sisterly communion, and expressed in service to the Church and to humanity.

Our religious family grew from the vocation of the Talangpaz Sisters, whose desire to live completely for God brought them from Calumpit, Bulacan, to San Sebastian in Manila in the early eighteenth century. Under the spiritual care of the Augustinian Recollects, the community that gathered around them eventually developed into the Congregation of the Augustinian Recollect Sisters.

What Does “Augustinian” Mean?

To be Augustinian is to recognize that the human heart is always searching for God.
Following the spiritual wisdom of Saint Augustine, we are invited to turn inward, listen deeply, search for truth, and encounter the God who dwells within us.
But interiority never ends with ourselves.
An authentic encounter with God opens the heart to others.
That is why our spirituality is both interior and communal—a journey inward to God that leads outward toward communion and service.

What Does “Recollect” Mean?

The Recollect spirit invites us to a deeper attentiveness to God.

It calls us to recollection, simplicity of life, prayer, and the continual conversion of the heart.

In a world filled with noise and distraction, recollection reminds us to return to what is essential—to listen for God's voice and allow Him to shape the way we live and love.

What Does It Mean to Be a Sister?

For us, sisterhood is more than living under one roof.

We pray together. We eat together. We work and serve together. We celebrate together.

Community life becomes a daily school of charity in which each sister learns to love God through the concrete reality of loving those He has placed beside her.

We carry one another through difficulty. We learn to forgive.

We listen. We laugh. We discern. We grow.

Our Marian Heart

The story of our Congregation is closely connected with Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Sebastian Church in Manila.

The Talangpaz Sisters' devotion to the Blessed Mother formed part of the spiritual environment in which their vocation grew. Their life near the shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and their relationship with the Augustinian Recollect Fathers became deeply woven into the beginnings of our Congregation.

Mary continues to lead us to Christ. From her we learn to listen to God's word, keep it in our hearts, and serve others with humility and love.