The Federation of Augustinians of Brazil (FABRA) was set up to foster and make known among its members, the spirit of St. Augustine. It is made up of about twenty different groups which in the main, belong to one of the four great branches of the Augustinian family: the Augustinians, the Augustinian Recollects, the Discalced Augustinians and the Augustinian Assumptionists.
Its main activity is the Augustinian Congress which this year celebrated its twelfth anniversary and met in the Hotel Villa Santo Agostinho in Bragança Paulista, from the 16-20 of January. The theme for reflection was “Augustinian Spirituality. The light of the interior teacher sheds light on our reality”. Its aim was to strengthen Augustinian spirituality taking as the starting point the reality of life in Brazil: the World Youth Day, to be celebrated next year in Rio de Janeiro and the Campanha da Fraternidade 2013 whose theme will be “Fraternity and youth”.
Around two hundred attended, of these some thirty were Augustinian Recollects, mainly from the lay fraternities. They came from many parts, some quite distant of Brazil. Fr. Nicolás Pérez-Aradros, recently elected Provincial of St. Rita’s Province was one of them.