The Augustinian Family celebrates ... The Conversion of St. Augustine, St. Mark the Evangelist and Our Lady of Good Counsel

Along the year, throughout the Liturgical Calendar we celebrate the great mysteries of our redemption, along with dogmas of faith or other occurrences that are relevant to the history of our salvation and the Tradition of the Catholic Church. In addition we also celebrate models, among these, the Holy Mary - whom we celebrate under various titles – and so many saints who chose to follow Jesus with their radical choices in life. In the Liturgical calendar of our Augustinian Family and moreover, of the Maltese Province, April 24, 25 and 26 are days of particular celebration.

April 24 marks the day on which so many years ago, exactly in the year 387, our spiritual father Saint Augustine received the sacrament of Baptism. It was the Easter Vigil Celebration. That is why on this day the Augustinian Order celebrates the Conversion of St. Augustine which is one of the most conversion stories which marked not only St. Augustine himself, but also served as an inspiration to many in the long Christian tradition. St. Augustine recounts this experience particularly in his book ‘The Confessions’ as the journey to the moment in which he found God being the moment in which his heart found rest.

On April 25, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. This year falls on a Sunday and therefore the liturgy celebrates the 4th Sunday of Easter to continue the journey of this strong liturgical season. However St. Mark carry particular significance in the Maltese Augustinian Province that bears his name. The Augustinian Province of St. Mark was founded in 1817, but the Augustinian Friars had been in Malta for hundreds of years before. In 1551 they were given a chapel dedicated to St. Mark in Rabat and a few delapidated buildings around it. This was the beginning of the presence of an Augustinian Community in that place with a monumantal church and priory. It was precisely the link with this presence that led to St. Mark being chosen as patron of the Province upon its establishment.

On April 26 then, the Augustinian family around the world celebrates Our Lady Mother of Good Counsel which is a title to Our Lady very much at hearth for the Augustinians because of the Sanctuary that bears this title in Genazzano just outside Rome, in Italy. This devotion was actually born in the Augustinian Church hundreds of years ago and eventually the devotion grew and spread not only in the Augustinian Family but also in various other Churches in every corner of the world. Several Popes have in fact resorted to Mary's intercession in this Sanctuary. In Malta the Augustinian friars run a church dedicated to Our Lady under this title in Paceville, but you can practically find such an image in all other Augustinian churches on the islands.

Let us pray for the intercession of the Mother of Good Counsel, St. Mark and St. Augustine so that the Lord may continue to guide us in our juorney to follow him. Above all, we pray for the Augustinian Family and the various pastoral initiatives it embraces so that the Lord may strengthen it and bless it with new vocations.