The Secular Augustinian Recollects, (together composed a body called the 'Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity' or 'SARF') is the Third Order of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. Being a full member of the OAR Family, they share in the charism of the Order and in turn share in the graces bestowed upon the First Order and the Second Order.
Today, the SARF is present in 15 countries, divided into 111 local chapters and totals to about 3500 members. like the Recollect priests and nuns, full-fledged members of the Third Order attach the SAR to their names.
History
Like the Third Order of the Augustinians, the Secular Augustinian Recollects trace back its history in the middle ages. On 5 December 1588, a number of religious of the Augustinian Province of Castile, moved by a special collective charism, expressed with renewed fervour, and according to new norms, their desire to live the type of consecrated life which Saint Augustine established in the Church, illustrated by his doctrine and examples and ordered in his Holy Rule. Hence, the Augustinian Recollection came to be.
The first groups of tertiaries were recorded in the convents of Madrid, Alcalá, Nava del Rey. In Granada, there were known to exist two or three groups of mantelatas (Spanish members of the Third Order) between 1655 and 1676.