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Reprinted here are two recent accounts of the early history
of the Carmelite Order, one from a British perspective.
CH Lawrence, The Friars
THE CARMELITES-
By contrast with the wealth of literary sources for the beginnings of
the Franciscan movement, the sources for the early history of the Carmelites
are extremely meagre. Later Carmelite writers endeavoured to fill the gap
with pious legend: after the middle of the thirteenth century, younger
brethren, when questioned about the antiquity of their order, were instructed
to refer to the prophets Elijah and Elisha as the founders of their hermit
predecessors who had come from Mount Carmel in Palestine. Modern scholarship
has stripped the story of its fictional crust without being able to put
much in its place. As John of Hildesheim, the Carmelite apologist, explained
in 1374, the hermit founders had not generally been educated men;
[1] and during the first troubled century of their migration to the
West members of the order wrote little in the way of history.
The Carmelite Order begins to emerge from legend into the daylight of
history towards the end of the twelfth century, when groups of hermits
living on the slopes of Mount Carmel began to form an organisation that
attracted the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities. They were apparently
expatriates from the Latin West who had come to Palestine either as pilgrims
or as Crusaders. At some point in the first decade of the thirteenth century,
in response to their request the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Albert of
Vercelli, provided them with a brief rule: they were to confine their settlements
to deserted places, to occupy separate cells, and to assemble together
only for a daily mass in their common oratory and to meet on Sundays for
a weekly chapter. Possibly because it became a focus of contention in the
order at a later date, the original text of this rule has been lost.
[2]
With the collapse of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem the hermits lost
the protection of their Frankish overlords, and in the 1230s a diaspora
began. Impelled by the menacing attitude of the Muslim rulers of the area,
the occupants of the mountain hermitages migrated in groups to the West,
forming new settlements in Sicily, Italy, Spain, France and England. Most
of what is known of this phase of Carmelite history comes from the occasional
references of the Franciscan chroniclers. It is the Franciscan Eccleston
who tells us that the first contingent to reach England from the East was
brought by Lord Richard de Gray of Codnor in the year 1241-2, on his return
from crusading in Syria. An earlier group of émigrés was brought
to Valenciennes by Peter of Corbie in 1235, helped by the patronage of
the Countess of Flanders.
Initially these immigrants from the waster places of Palestine sought
out remote areas where they could pursue their contemplative way of life
in solitude. The earliest English settlements were in such remote spots
as Aylesford in the yet unpopulated Kentish Weald and Hulne in Northumberland.
But in less than ten years strains became apparent. Younger recruits, untroubled
by recollections of life on the holy mountain and sensitive to the apostolic
ideals of their time, pressed for change. They wanted an order devoted
to an active role of preaching and study, following the example of the
Mendicants, which would engage in a pastoral mission to the towns. In this
identity crisis leadership fell to an English Carmelite, the otherwise
obscure Brother Simon, who was elected General of the incipient order by
a general chapter at Aylesford in 1247. Nothing is now known of Simon —
the surname of ‘Stock’ attached to him in Carmelite tradition rests on
no contemporary evidence beyond the fact that he was the agent of the desired
change. Although he had himself come from the hermitage of Mount Carmel
he bowed to the demands for an active apostolate, and petitioned the pope
to have Albert’s rule modified.
Innocent IV set up a commission to investigate the case consisting of
the theologian, Cardinal Hugh of St Cher, and William, bishop of Tartoas,
both men Dominicans, who might be expected to sympathise with the desire
of the Carmelites to emulate the friars; and on the basis of their report
he issued in 1247 the constitution Quae honorem conditoris, which
made slight but significant changes in the original rule. [3] It authorised the order to make new settlements in any
convenient place, including by implication the towns or centres of population,
and approved various cenobitical practices such as taking meals in common;
the regime of fasting was mitigated to bring it into line with standard
monastic practice. This opened a new road to those who wished to take it.
The order now adopted a fully cenobitical pattern of life and an active
pastoral role in imitation of the Mendicants, and in the course of the
following decade began to establish houses in or on the fringe of cities.
The early stages of reorganisation are hard to trace owing to the lack
of documents. The earliest statutes that survive -those enacted by a general
chapter held at London in 1281 [4]
- show the order modelling its structure on that of the Friars Preachers,
holding annual provincial chapters, and also imitating the scholastic
organisation of the Dominicans. The logic of its changing role made it
a student order like the Dominicans and Franciscans, and soon after the
amendment of their rule the Carmelites began sending their men to the schools
at Cambridge, Oxford, Paris and Bologna. The London ordinances of 1281
provide, apparently for the first time, for the creation of a Carmelite
studium generale at Paris - a house of studies for the whole order,
to which each province was to send two men to study theology; those selected
were to be the men suited by their intellectual capacity to become lectors.
Such a radical reorientation was bound to meet with internal resistance
from more conservative members of the order. Some older men, who had renounced
everything to embrace the eremitical life in Palestine, felt that the ideals
of Mount Carmel had been betrayed. The struggles of the decades following
the reappraisal of 1247 are largely hidden from us by the poverty of the
sources. Some of the brethren who found the pace of change too slow quitted
and sought admission to the Friars Minor or the Dominicans; some who were
altogether opposed to it fled to the Cistercians. For a brief moment the
heart-searchings and tensions that accompanied the change of direction
are vividly illuminated by a curious tract called Ignea Sagitta - an
Arrow of Fire - that appeared in the year 1270. This was an encyclical
letter addressed to the brethren by the retiring General of the order,
Nicholas the Frenchman. It is a last plea from an old man for the order
to retrace its steps and return to the desert. He had, he explained, been
roused from sleep by the cold wind of adversity - ‘would it had blown through
my garden twenty years before’. Now religion, which had flourished in the
holy solitude, has been abandoned and perverted by her sons:
Perhaps they will answer, ‘It was never our intent to resist the divine
will, but rather to follow it. For we desire to build up the people of
God by preaching His word, hearing confessions and counselling, so that
we can be useful to ourselves and our neighbours. For this reason, a most
just one, we fled the solitude of the desert to settle among the people
in the cities, so as to perform these tasks.’ O foolish men! I will show
you that in the city you accomplish none of this, but that in time past
in the solitude you accomplished it all ... What is this new religion
discovered in the cities? ... Tour the provinces, go to and fro among
the superiors, and tell me, how many have been found in the order who
are fit and adequate to preach, to hear confessions and counsel the people,
as is proper for those who dwell in towns?
[5]
This is a strange valediction from a man who had been entrusted with
the direction of his order for many years. It suggests that a significant
number of the brethren believed that the changes made since 1247 had been
a mistake. Nicholas’s tearful jeremiad is evidence of the internal stresses
and conflicts engendered by the process of turning what had been an association
of hermits into an order of mendicant friars. But those who felt as he
did were increasingly isolated. The tide of change was now irreversible.
Twenty-four years after his lament, the statutes of a chapter held at Bordeaux
reveal that the White Friars (as they came to be known on account of their
white habit) had become an articulated order divided into twelve provinces,
governed by regular general and provincial chapters, organised for pastoral
work, and provided with an elaborate scholastic structure to promote advanced
studies.
Taken from: CH Lawrence, The Friars, New York, NY:
Longman, 1994 (pp. 94-98)
[1] A. Staring, Medieval Carmelite Heritage: Early Reflections
on the Nature of the Order (Institutum Carmelitanum Rome 1989), p.
339. This scholarly work provides an edition of the earliest Carmelite
writings relating to the history of the order, beginning with the so-called
rubrica prima, a brief narrative which first appears as an appendage
to the chapter constitutions of 1281.
[2] The text was reconstituted from the papal register
by G. Wessels, 'Excerptae historiae ordinis': AOC 2 (1910), pp. 556-61.
[3] M.-H. Laurent (ed.) ‘La lettre Quae honorem conditoris’
in Ephemerides Carmelilicae 2, fasc. i (Florence 1948), pp.
5-16.
[4] L. Saggi, ‘Constitutiones capituli Londinensis anni
1281’: AOC n.s. 15 (1950), pp. 203-45.
[5] Nicolai Prioris Generalis Ordinis Carmelitarum Ignea
Sagitta,ed. A. Staring: Carmelus ix (Rome 1962), pp. 278-9,
281, 283.
Kenneth Rowlands, The Friars: A
history of the British Medieval Friars
CARMELITE FRIARS
The origin of the 'Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel' is obscure, but
it grew from a community of European hermits who settled on Mount Carmel,
near Haifa, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Mount Carmel was the scene
of Elijah's struggle with the priests of Baal 3,000 years ago when he prayed
for rain and called down fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:37-38). From very
early times, Mount Carmel has been a favourite resort of Greek anchorites
who regard themselves as the spiritual sons of Elijah the prophet.
The hermits on Mount Carmel lived alone or in small isolated groups, led by
their desire for the ascetic life of strict abstention, fasting and long
periods of silence. In about 1156, some crusaders settled on Mount Carmel
and a group of about 11 brethren established a society of hermits, calling
themselves the 'Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel'. They applied to
Patriarch Albert of Jerusalem for a written 'Rule of Carmel', which he
gave them in 1209. The group increased in numbers and, in 1226, the rule
was confirmed by Pope Honorius Ill, but it was moderated in 1247 by Pope
Innocent IV, on their petition that they were no longer hermits. The rules
entailed a strictly contemplative life which involved very little in the
way of a communal living. The rules show they were governed by a prior
and the brethren were leading an eremitical life. The rules also gave them
a liturgy which followed the rites of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem. By 1220, they had loosely organised themselves into groups
of individual cells, each group having an oratory dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin. Life on the mount was simple and the rules of the order were straightforward.
The fall of Jerusalem to the Saracens in 1187 and the decline of the Latin kingdom
made it difficult for the Carmelite hermits to remain on Mount Carmel in
safety, and for a long time the community debated what they should do and
where they should go. They had divided opinions as to what extent they
should allow any new influences, following their move from the mount, to
change the character of their traditions. When in 1238 they finally decided
to leave Carmel, they were fortunate in finding friends who took the hermits
with them on their return journey to Europe. Some settled in Cyprus, Italy
and France, while others continued their Journey to England, under the
benevolence of Lord de Grey. Carmelite friars returned to the mount in
the seventeenth century and a community of them is still there.
In 1247, the order was fortunate in that the General Chapter held in Aylesford,
Kent, elected an Englishman, Simon Stock (d. 1265) as Prior-General of
the order. He came from Kent and was among the first Englishmen at Mount
Carmel to join the Carmelites. It was a difficult time in the history of
the order, which was passing through a crisis due to attacks from without
and disunity within; but, under Stock's strong leadership, the General
Chapter modified the rule of their order, which permitted them to plant
Carmelite houses in towns and engage in the apostolic mission after the
manner of other mendicant orders. Though never formally canonised, Stock
was venerated by the Carmelites as a saint. He died in Bordeaux in southwest
France and was buried there. In 1951, his relics were removed from their
resting place and taken to Aylesford Friary, where they are now encased
in a modern reliquary shrine.
The order was approved by Pope Innocent IV in 1250 and organised on
the lines of the Dominican friars. Like the Austin Order, it managed to
survive the 1274 Council of Lyons, which abolished all mendicant orders
except the Dominicans and Franciscans but granted provisional approval
to the Carmelite Order. As we have seen, in 1298 Pope Boniface VIII extended
unconditional approval to the order. In 1326, Pope John XXII granted them
all the privileges and exemptions of mendicant orders, thereby completing
the gradual process by which the Carmelites became a mendicant order.
Although they established their first houses in thinly populated areas,
within a few years the strain of isolation became apparent. Following the
death of Stock, there was a reaction against the purely contemplative life
and the younger recruits pressed for the order to adopt an active roll
of study and preaching, after the example of the other mendicant orders.
By the end of the century the Carmelites had established themselves in
a way of life that differed very little from other mendicant brethren.
They supported themselves by begging and gifts but were allowed to hold
their property in common. However, many brethren maintained a love for
the solitary life and chose to dwell in their more remote houses.
The Carmelites were devoted to the Virgin Mary and dedicated all their
churches to her. When Carmelite friars made their profession, they vowed
their lives to God and Our Lady, and it was in her honour they offered
their lives to God.
It seems that every mendicant order sought inspiration from the life
and ideals of an individual. The Dominicans looked to St Dominic, the Franciscans
to St Francis and the Austin friars to St Augustine. The Carmelites chose
the Prophet Elijah for their ideal and teacher and strove to realise in
their own lives the example set by him.
From their origins as unlettered laymen living the hermit life, they
became clerics and literate friars who ministered to the community, with
an emphasis on study and preaching. By the end of the thirteenth century
they had an input into both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where many
of their brethren became eminent in the intellectual and university world.
The order was headed by a Prior-General and divided into provinces.
The English Province, which met annually, was headed by the Provincial
Master of the English Carmelites. It was divided into four districts called
'distinctions': London, Norwich, Oxford and York, each headed by a Provincial
Prior. Scotland and Ireland were also distinctions within the English Province.
The Carmelites came to Ireland some time before 1272 and, in 1309, the
General Council of the order meeting in Genoa established Ireland as an
independent province which eventually had 28 houses. In 1321, the Carmelite
friaries in Scotland achieved partial independence when they were formed
into a vicariate. At the next General Chapter meeting, held in Barcelona
in 1324, the Scottish houses were constituted into a Scottish Province.
Their houses were headed by a warden and each warden had to write an
annual report on his house, which he took to the Distinction Chapter meeting.
The Distinction Chapter passed the reports from the houses in its Jurisdiction
to the Provincial Chapter, who complied a combined Province report which
was forwarded to the General Chapter. This medieval system of reports appears
to be the prototype for such report writing in today's Civil Service.
In 1432, the Carmelite friars were authorised to eat meat three days
a week and the regulations for fasting and abstinence were later further
modified. The fifteenth-century relaxation of the Carmelite rules and the
decline in religious observance led to a division in the order, as in other
mendicant orders. The 'Shop' or 'Conventual Carmelite' friars wanted to
follow a more relaxed rule, while the stricter branch of ‘Barefooted',
or 'Observants Carmelite', friars wished to return to the early ideals
of the order. In 1462, the Observants Carmelite movement was given a constitution
which allowed it to establish its own houses. There were no Observants
Carmelite houses in Britain, but, no doubt, there was agitation for reform
within the order in Britain. If a brother in one of the British houses
wished to Join an Observants house of his order, he Joined such a house
on the Continent.
By 1300, the order had about 150 houses in Europe, and during the fourteenth
century the number reached nearly 300 houses.
From the thirteenth century onwards, there are instances of women taking
the vows according to the Carmelite Rule. However, it was not until John
Soreth, Prior-General of the Carmelite Order, requested Pope Nicholas V
to issue a bull, which he did in 1452, that the order was given permission
to receive women into the 'Carmelite Second Order'. They lived in enclosed
convents and were dedicated to praying for the friars of the order and
for all who were engaged in the work of saving souls. The Carmelite Second
Order was not a strong movement and had no houses in Britain.
According to tradition, in answer to the fervent prayer of Simon Stock,
the Virgin Mary appeared to him and, giving him the scapular of his order,
said, 'This shall be a sign to you and all Carmelites: whosoever died wearing
this shall not suffer eternal fire'. As a consequence of the vision there
arose the 'Scapular Devotion'. The 'Confraternity of the Scapular', which
is known as the 'Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel', was founded
by John Soreth, Prior-General of the Carmelite Order. In 1452, it was approved
by Pope Nicholas V and, in 1476 the order was confirmed by Pope Sixtus
IV. Soreth drew up a rule for the order, based on that of the friars, a
rule aimed at honouring the Blessed Virgin with special devotion, cultivating
the inner life of lay members and leading them in works performed in the
service of God. Members professed the private vows of obedience and chastity
in accordance with their state of life. The Third Order supported the brethren
of the First Order with finance and in their work.
At the time of their joining to the Third Order, members were given
a small brown scapular as a visible sign of their affiliation to the order.
It consisted of two small rectangular pieces of woollen cloth joined by
tapes passing over the shoulder and worn under secular clothes or attached
to their clothing like a badge. The small scapulars were frequently embroidered
and had a picture of Our Lady or a saint on them. Due to the Third Order's
devotion to the Virgin Mary, the scapular became very popular and those
who wore the scapular saw it as a sign of their devotion to Mary. The Scapular
of Carmel is still popular in the Roman Catholic Church.
Kenneth Rowlands, The Friars: A history of the British
Medieval Friars. Sussex, England: The Book Guild, 1999, pp. 84-88
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