Wildfires burning through central Spain forced a community of Augustinian sisters to evacuate their monastery as flames threatened the region. Source: Catholic Review.
In a statement published on Monday, the Sisters of the Monastery of the Conversion in Sotillo de la Adrada said they were evacuated on Saturday and “had no choice but to leave the monastery.”
The community said they were offered shelter at the Augustinian convent of Saint Ildefonso in Talavera, located 42 kilometres south of their monastery.
“We are here, sharing as sisters, awaiting a grace that will allow us to return home,” the statement read. “We especially ask for prayers for all the volunteers and security forces who are tirelessly working to extinguish the fires.”
Wildfires across Spain and France have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. Firefighters face an uphill battle in combatting the flames as extreme heatwaves in both countries have made it difficult to extinguish the fires.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s interior minister, said taming the wildfire would be crucial before a major heatwave was forecasted to last until August 2.
“We have to stay positive; we have control of the emergency. We do have to acknowledge that we are moving slowly because the weather conditions are not helping us at all,” Mr Grande-Marlaska said.
Almost 50,000 hectares of land in the province of Ávila alone have been burned and destroyed, making it the largest and most aggressive wildfire in Spain’s recorded history, El País reported.
The Diocese of Ávila said it was cooperating with authorities to coordinate relief efforts and made the diocesan seminary and retreat house available to accommodate evacuees.
In an interview with the Spanish Catholic weekly Alfa y Omega, Mother Prado González, superior of the Monastery of the Conversion, said the decision to evacuate was made in cooperation with police and military authorities.
While praising the orderly evacuation of the monastery and surrounding villages, Mother González said she and her sisters felt “tremendous grief” not just for leaving their home “but for everything that is happening.”
“Seeing that natural heritage destroyed – such a beautiful creation – causes immense pain. It is an ecological tragedy, a human tragedy and a social tragedy,” she said.
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Wildfires in Spain force Augustinian nuns to evacuate monastery (By Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News via Catholic Review)
