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Spirituality > Our Carmelite Saints
Saints of the Discalced Carmelite Calendar
3 January
Blessed Cyriacus Elias Chavara
Priest - Optional Memory
Blessed (Cyriac) Kuriakos Elias Chavara, co‑founder and first prior
general of the congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, was born
at Kainakary in Kerala, India, on February 10th, 1805. He entered
the seminary in 1818, and was ordained priest in 1829. He made his religious
profession in 1855, in the congregation he founded. In 1861 he was named
vicar-general for the Syro-Malabar church; in this capacity he defended
ecclesial unity threatened by schism when mar Tomas Rochos was sent from
Mesopotamia to consecrate Nestorian bishops. Throughout his life he worked
for the renewal of the church in Malabar. He was also co‑founder
in 1866 of the congregation of the Sisters of the Mother of Carmel. Above
all, he was a man of prayer, zealous for the Eucharistic Lord and devoted
to the Immaculate Virgin Mary. He died at Koonammavu in 1871. His body
was transferred to Mannanam in 1889.
8 January
Saint Peter Thomas
Bishop - Optional Memory
Born about 1305, in southern Perigord in France, Peter Thomas entered
the Carmelite Order when he was twenty‑one. He was chosen by the
Order as its procurator general to the Papal Court at Avignon in 1345.
After being made bishop of Patti and Lipari in 1354, he was entrusted with
many papal missions to promote peace and unity with the Eastern Churches.
He was transferred to the see of Corone in the Peloponnesus in 1359 and
made Papal Legate for the East. In 1363 he was appointed Archbishop of
Crete and in 1364 Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He won a reputation
as an apostle of church unity before he died at Famagosta in Cyprus in
1366.
9 January
Saint Andrew Corsini
Bishop - Optional Memory
Andrew was born at the beginning of the fourteenth century in Florence
in Italy and entered the Carmelite Order there. He was elected provincial
of Tuscany at the general chapter of Metz in 1348. He was made bishop of
Fiesole on 13th October 1349, and gave the Church a wonderful
example of love, apostolic zeal, prudence, and love for the poor. He died
on 6th January 1374.
27 January
Saint Henry De Osso y Cervello
Priest - Optional Memory
Henry was born at Vinebre, Catalonia, Spain, on the 16th October 1840
and was ordained priest on September 21, 1867. He was an apostle to young
people in teaching them about their faith and inspired various movements
for the teaching of the Gospel. As a spiritual director he was fascinated
by St Teresa of Jesus, the great teacher in the ways of prayer and Daughter
of the Church who is better known in the English‑speaking world as
St Teresa of Avila. In the light of her teaching, he founded the Company
of St Teresa (1876) dedicated to educating women in the school of the Gospel
and following the example of St Teresa. He gave himself to preaching and
the apostolate through the printing press. He underwent many severe trials
and sufferings. He died at Gilet, Valencia, Spain, on the January 27, 1896.
He was canonised on July 16, 1993, in Madrid, by Pope John Paul II.
1 April
Blessed Nuno Alvares Pereira
Religious
- Optional Memory
Nuno was born in 1360, and for many years pursued a military career,
becoming the champion of Portuguese independence. After the death of his
wife, he joined the Order as a brother in 1423 at the monastery of Lisbon,
which he had founded himself, and took the name Nuno of Saint Mary. There
he lived until his death in 143 1. He was noted for his prayer, his practice
of penance, and his filial devotion to the Mother of God.
17 April
Blessed Baptist Spagnoli of Mantua
Priest - Optional Memory
Born in Mantua on 17 April 1447, as a youth Baptist joined the Carmelites
of the Congregation of Mantua at Ferrara. He made his religious profession
in 1464 and served in many positions of responsibility in the community;
he was vicar general of his congregation six times, and in 1513 was elected
prior general of the whole Order. In his own time he was a renowned Christian
humanist ‘who brought his richly varied poetry into the service of Christ’.
He used his friendships with scholars as an opportunity of encouraging
them to live a Christian life. He died in Mantua on 20th March 1516.
18 April
Blessed Mary of the Incarnation
Religious - Optional Memory
Barbe Avrillot was born in Paris in 1566. At the age of sixteen she married
Pierre Acarie, by whom she had seven children. In spite of her household
duties and many hardships, she attained the heights of the mystical life.
Under the influence of St Teresa’s writings, and after mystical contact
with the Saint herself, she spared no effort in introducing the Discalced
Carmelite nuns into France. After her husband’s death, she asked to be
admitted among them as a lay sister, taking the name of Mary of the Incarnation;
she was professed at the Carmel of Amiens in 1615. She was esteemed by
some of the greatest men of her time, including St Francis de Sales: and
she was distinguished by her spirit of prayer and her zeal for the propagation
of the Catholic faith. She died at Pontoise on April 18, 1618.
23 April
Blessed Teresa Mary Manetti of the Cross
Virgin - Optional Memory
She was born at Carnpi Bisenzio, Florence, where in 1874 she founded
the Congregation of Carmelite Sisters of St Teresa whom she also sent to
Lebanon and the Holy Land. She lived joyfully, body and soul, the mystery
of the Cross in full conformity to the will of God and she was outstanding
for her love for the Eucharist and her maternal care for children and for
the poor. She died at Campi Bisenzio on 23 April 1910.
16 May
Saint Simon Stock
Religious - Optional Memory
Simon, an Englishman, died at Bordeaux in the mid‑thirteenth century.
He has been venerated in the Carmelite Order for his personal holiness
and his devotion to Our Lady. A liturgical celebration in his honour was
observed locally in the fifteenth century, and later extended to the whole
Order.
22 May
Saint Joachina de Vedruna de Mas
Religious - Optional Memory
Joachina was born in Barcelona in 1783. She married Theodore de Mas in
1799 and bore him nine children before being widowed in 1816. Then in 1826
she was prompted by God’s Spirit to found the Congregation of Carmelite
Sisters of Charity, which spread throughout Catalonia, establishing houses
for the care of the sick and the education of children, especially the
poor. She was greatly drawn to contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Her spiritual life was marked by prayer, mortification, detachment, humility
and love. She died at Vich in 1854.
25 May
Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
Virgin - Memory
Born in Florence in 1566, she had a religious upbringing and entered
the monastery of the Carmelite nuns there. She led a hidden life of prayer
and self‑denial, praying particularly for the renewal of the Church
and encouraging the sisters in holiness. Her life was marked by many extraordinary
graces. She died in 1607.
7 June
Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew
Virgin - Memory
Ana Gracie was born at Almendral, Castille, in 1549. In 1572 she made
her profession as a Carmelite in the hands of St Teresa, at St Joseph’s,
Avila. The saint later chose her as her companion and nurse, and she subsequently
brought the Teresian spirit to France and Belgium, where she proved herself,
like Teresa, a daughter of the Church in her great zeal for the salvation
of souls. She died at Antwerp in 1626.
13 July
Saint Teresa of Jesus “of Los Andes”
Virgin - Memory
Juanita Fernandez Solar was born at Santiago, Chile, on 13 July 1900.
From her adolescence she was devoted to Christ. She entered the monastery
of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns at Los Andes on May 7, 1919, where she
was given the name of Teresa of Jesus. She died on April 12 of the following
year after having made her religious profession. She was canonised on March
21, 1993, by Pope John Paul H and proposed as a model for young people.
She is the first Chilean and the first member of the Teresian Carmel in
Latin America to be canonised.
16th July
Solemn Commemoration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Solemnity
Mount Carmel is commemorated in Sacred Scripture for its beauty, and
it was there that the prophet Efijah defended the purity of Israel’s faith
in the living God. Towards the end of the twelfth century A.D. near a spring
called after Efijah, a group of hermits established themselves on Mount
Cannel and built an oratory in honour of Our Lady, whom they chose as their
titular and patroness. They became known as ‘the Brothers of Saint Mary
of Mount Cannel’. They regarded the Blessed Virgin Mary as their mother
and model first of all in leading the contemplative life, and later in
sharing the fruits of their contemplation with others. The Solemn Commemoration
of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was first celebrated in the fourteenth century,
but gradually adopted throughout the Order as an occasion of thanksgiving
for the countless blessings which Our Lady had bestowed on the Carmelite
family. The Scapular is a symbol of this and of consecration to her.
17 July
Blessed Teresa of Saint Augustine and Companions
Virgins and Martyrs - Memory
As the French Revolution entered its worst days, sixteen Discalced Carmelites
from the monastery of the Incarnation in Compiegne offered their lives
as a sacrifice to God, making reparation to him and imploring peace for
the Church. On June 24th, 1794, they were arrested and thrown into prison.
Their happiness and resignation were so evident that those around them
were also encouraged to draw strength from God’s love. They were condemned
to death for their fidelity to the Church and their religious life and
for their devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Singing hymns,
and having renewed their vows before the prioress, Teresa of St Augustine,
they were put to death in Paris on July 17th, 1794. Pope Saint Pius X beatified
them on May 13th, 1906.
19 July
Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace
Memory
‘The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of
the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. As decreed
by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine
Redeemer, his associate, uniquely generous, and the Lord’s humble servant.
She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented him to the Father
in the Temple; and was united with him in his suffering as he died on the
cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience,
faith, hope and burning charity, with our Saviour’s work of restoring supernatural
life to souls. For this reason she is Mother to us all in the order of
grace’ (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, 61).
20 July
Saint Elijah
Prophet - Feast
The prophet Elijah appears in Scripture as a man of God that lived always
in his presence and fought zealously for the worship of the one God. He
defended God’s law in a solemn contest on Mount Carmel, and afterwards
was given on Mount Horeb an intimate experience of the living God. The
hermits, who instituted a form of monastic life in honour of Our Lady on
Mount Carmel in the twelfth century, followed monastic tradition in turning
to Elijah as their Father and model.
24 July
Blessed Maria Pilar, Teresa and Maria Angeles
Virgins and Martyrs - Optional Memory
Maria Pilar of St Francis Borgia (born at Tarazona on December 30, 1877),
Teresa of the Child Jesus and of St John of the Cross (born at Mochales
on March 5, 1990), and Maria Angeles of St Joseph (born at Getafe on March
6, 1905), Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of Guadalajara, Spain,
were martyred on July 24, 1936. They gave witness to their faith in Christ
the King and offered their lives for the Church. The first fruits of the
countless martyrs of the Spanish Civil War of 1936‑1939, they were
beatified by John Paul 11 on March 29, 1987.
24 July (also)
Blessed Maria Mercedes Prat
Virgin and Martyr - Optional Memory
Mercedes Prat was born on March 6, 1880, in Barcelona, baptised on the
following day, and made her First Holy Communion on June 30, 1890. From
her childhood she gave herself completely to God, whom she received every
day in Communion. She displayed a great love for her neighbour and tried
to foster this kind of love in others. During her years in school, she
was known for her goodness and her dedication to school work, excelling
especially in painting and needlework, which were areas in which she had
a natural talent.
Entering the novitiate of the Society of St Teresa of Jesus in 1904,
in Tortosa, she made her temporary profession in 1907. She was a religious
‘according to the heart of God:’ prudent, and truthful, calm and gentle
in her reactions, having a natural goodness in all her dealing with others,
but firm in character. God was her one love, and her love for God kept
growing to the point where she would give her life for Him. In 1920 she
was assigned to the motherhouse in Barcelona. From there the path to martyrdom
began on July 9, 1936, when the community was forced to give up the school
and flee. On July 23, because she was a religious, Sr Mercedes was arrested
and shot; she died in the early morning of July 20.
27 July
Blessed Titus Brandsma
Priest and Martyr - Optional Memory
Born in Bolsward (The Netherlands) in 1881, Blessed Titus Brandsma. joined
the Carmelite Order as a young man. Ordained a priest in 1905, he earned
a doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He then taught in various schools in
Holland and was named professor of philosophy and of the history of mysticism
in the Catholic University of Nijmegen, where he also served as Rector
Magnificus. He was noted for his constant availability to everyone. He
was a professional journalist, and in 1935 he was appointed ecclesiastical
advisor to Catholic journalists. Both before and during the Nazi occupation
of The Netherlands he fought, faithful to the Gospel, against the spread
of Nazi ideology and for the freedom of Catholic education and of the Catholic
press.
For this he was arrested and sent to a succession of prisons and concentration
camps where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow prisoners and did
good even to his tormentors; in 1942, after much suffering and humiliation,
he was killed at Dachau. Pope John Paul II beatified him on November 3,
1985.
28 July
Blessed John Soreth
Priest - Optional Memory
John Soreth was born at Caen in Normandy and entered Carmel as a young
man. He took a doctorate in theology in Paris and served as regent of studies
and provincial of his province. He was prior general from 1451 until his
death at Angers in 1471. He restored observance within the Order and promoted
its reform, wrote a famous commentary on the Rule, issued new Constitutions
in 1462, and promoted the growth of the nuns and the Third Order.
7 August
Saint Albert of Trapani
Priest - Memory
Albert degli Abbani was born in Trapani in Sicily in the thirteenth century.
Having joined the Carmelites and been ordained a priest, he soon became
famous for his preaching and miracles. He was provincial in Sicily in 1296,
and died in Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and
prayer.
9 August
Saint Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)
Martyr & Co-Patron of Europe - Memory
Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family at Breslau on October 12, 1891.
Through her passionate study of philosophy she searched after the truth
and found it in reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Jesus. In
1922 she was baptised a Catholic and in 1933 she entered the Carmel of
Cologne where she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was
gassed and cremated at Auschwitz on August 9, 1942 during the Nazi persecution
and died a martyr for the Christian faith after having offered her holocaust
for the people of Israel. A women of singular intelligence and learning,
she left behind a body of writing notable for its doctrinal richness and
profound spirituality. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Cologne
on May 1, 1987, and canonised in Rome in 1998.
18 August
Blessed Jean-Baptiste, Michel-Louis and Jacques
Priests and Martyrs - Optional Memory
Fr Jean-Baptiste Duverneuil is thought to be born in Limoges 1737 or
at Saint-Trielx on January 7th, 1759. In religious life he was called Fr.
Leonard. Fr Michel‑Louis Brulard, was born at Chartres on June 11,
1758. His religious name is not known. Fr Jacques Gagnot, known in religious
life as Fr. Hubert of St Claude, was born at Frolois on February 9, 1753.
Loyal to God, the Church and the Pope, they refused to take the oath
of the civil Constitution for the Clergy imposed by the Constituent Assembly
of the French Revolution. Persecuted and condemned, they were imprisoned
on a boat in Rochefort Bay, on the Atlantic coast of Charente-Maritime,
waiting. to be deported for forced labour in French Guyana or in Africa.
This never happened. They were left massed like animals on the slave‑trader
Deux‑Associes, anchored in a small inlet between the islands of Aix
and Madame. During 1794, on this old ship or “Ponton” the first two Carmelite
religious died: Fr Jean-Baptiste on July 1 and Fr Michel-Louis on July
25. They were buried on the island of Aix. Towards the end of August a
widespread plague of frightening proportions broke out aboard the ship.
Those prisoners left alive were disembarked on the island of Madame and
housed in tents in conditions that continued to he horrifying. Fr Jacques
died there on September 10 and was buried on the island. They were beatified
by Pope John Paul II in Rome on October 1, 1995, together with 61 other
martyrs who were likewise victims of the French Revolution (1794-1795).
25 August
Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified
Virgin - Optional Memory
Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified was born of the Baouardy family, Catholics
of the Greek Melchite Rite, at Abellin in Galilee in 1846. In 1867 she
entered the Discalced Carmelites at Pau in France and was sent with the
founding group to the Carmel of Mangalore in India where, in 1870, she
made her profession. She returned to France in 1872. In 1875 she went to
the Holy Land where she built a monastery in Bethlehem and began planning
for another at Nazareth. Noted for her supernatural gifts, especially for
humility, for her devotion to the Holy Spirit, and her great love for the
Church and the Pope, she died at Bethlehem in 1878.
26 August
Saint Teresa of Jesus’ Transverberation
Nuns: Memory - Others: Optional Memory
‘The chief among Teresa’s virtues was the love of God, which our Lord
Jesus Christ increased by means of many visions and revelations. He made
her his spouse on one occasion. At other times she saw an angel with a
flaming dart piercing her heart. Through these heavenly gifts the flame
of divine love in her heart became so strong that, inspired by God, she
made the extremely difficult vow of always doing what seemed to her most
prefect and most conducive to God’s glory’ (Gregory XV in the Bull of Canonisation).
1 September
Saint Teresa Margaret Redi of the Sacred Heart
Virgin - Memory
Teresa Margaret was born in Arezzo in Tuscany in. 1747 of the noble Redi
family, and entered the Discalced Carmelites in Florence on September 1’,
1764. She was given a special contemplative experience concerning the words
of Saint John, “God is love.” She felt deeply that her vocation was to
live a hidden life of love and self‑immolation. That vocation was
confirmed by her heroic exercise of fraternal charity, but was soon completed:
she died in 1770, aged twenty‑three.
12 September
Blessed Mary of Jesus
Virgin - Memory
Born in 1560 at Tartanedo (Spain) she took the Discalced Cannelite habit
at Toledo in 1577 and made her profession the following year. She spent
the rest of her life serving God in that Carmel, except for a brief period
in 1585 when she helped with a foundation at Cuerva. She died at Toledo
on September 13 th ‘ 1640. St Teresa of Jesus thought extremely highly
of her. She was a great contemplative, intensely devoted to our Lord, and
often drawing inspiration from the liturgy.
17 September
Saint Albert of Jerusalem
Bishop and Lawgiver of Carmel
Feast
Albert Avogadro was born about the middle of the twelfth century in Castel
Gualteri in Italy. He became a Canon Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara
and was elected their prior in 1180. Named Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and
of Vercelli in 1185, he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205. There,
in word and example, he was the model of a good pastor and peace‑maker.
While he was Patriarch (1206‑1214) he united the hermits of Mount
Carmel into one community and wrote a Rule for them. He was murdered at
Acre on September 14th, 1214.
1 October
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
Virgin and Doctor of the Church - Feast
Therese Martin was born at Alencon in France in 1873. While still young
she entered the Carmel of Lisieux, where she lived in the greatest humility,
evangelical simplicity and confidence in God. By her words and example
she taught the novices these same virtues. Offering her life for the salvation
of souls and the spread of the Church, she died on September 30, 1897.
15 October
Saint Teresa of Jesus
Virgin and Doctor of the Church - Solemnity
Teresa was born at Avila (Spain) in 1515. As a member of the Carmelite
Order she made great progress in perfection and received mystical revelations.
As reformer of her Order she underwent many trials which she intrepidly
overcame. She also wrote books of the greatest spiritual value which reflect
her own experiences. She died at Alba in 1582.
6 November
Blessed Josepha Naval Girbes
Virgin - Optional Memory
Josepha Naval Girbes was born at Algemesi in the Archdiocese of Valencia,
Spain, on 11 December 1820. As a very young woman she consecrated herself
to the Lord by a perpetual vow of chastity. Josepha’s life was simple.
She stood out for her ardent love, and she made progress along the way
of prayer and evangelical perfection while dedicating herself generously
to apostolic works in her parish community.
In her own time she opened a school where she taught needlework, prayer,
and the evangelical virtues. She formed many young girls and women and
shared with them her wisdom and spiritual understanding. She was a member
of the Third Order Secular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Teresa of
Jesus and had a special love for the Virgin Mother of God. Her holy death
took place on February 20, 1893. She is buried in her parish church of
St James in her native city.
7 November
Blessed Francis Palau y Quer
Priest - Optional Memory
Born in Aytona, Lerida,
Spain, on December 29,’, 1811, Blessed Francis Palau y Quer entered the
Order in 1832 and was ordained priest in 1836. Civil turmoil forced him
to live in exile and outside his community. On his return to Spain in 1851,
he founded his “School of Virtue”—which was a model of catechetical teaching—at
Barcelona. The school was suppressed and he was unjustly exiled in Ibiza
(1854‑1860) where he lived at El Vedra in solitude and experienced
mystically the vicissitudes of the Church. While in the Balearic Islands
he founded the Congregations of Carmelite Brothers and Carmelite Sisters
(1860‑1861). He preached popular missions and spread love for Our
Lady wherever he went. He died at Tarragona on March 20th, 1872, and was
beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1980.
8 November
Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity
Virgin - Memory
Elizabeth Catez of the Trinity was born in 1880 in the diocese of Bourges.
In 1901 she entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery of Dijon. There she
made her profession of vows in 1903 and from there she was called “to light,
to love and to life” by the Divine Spouse in 1906. A faithful adorer in
spirit and in truth, her life was a “praise of glory” of the Most Blessed
Trinity present in her soul and loved amidst interior darkness and excruciating
illness. In the mystery of divine inhabitation she found her “heaven on
earth”, her special charism and her mission for the church.
14 November
All Carmelite Saints
Feast
15 November
All Carmelite Souls
Commemoration
Just as the love of Christ and the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary
have brought us together in a single family, fraternal charity unites those
of us still striving to lead a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ in the
world, and those already awaiting the vision of God in purgatory. Today
the whole Order commends our departed brothers and sisters to God’s mercy
through the intercession of Our Lady, sure sign of hope and consolation,
and begs for their admission to the courts of heaven.
19 November
Saint Raphael Kalinowski of Saint Joseph
Priest - Memory
Raphael Kalinowski was born to Polish parents in the city of Vilnius
in 1835. Following military service, he was condemned in 1864 to ten years
of forced labour in Siberia. In 1877 he became a Carinelite and was ordained
a priest in 1882. He contributed greatly to the restoration of the Discalced
Carmelites in Poland. His life was distinguished by zeal for Church unity
and by his unflagging devotion to his ministry as confessor and spiritual
director. He died in Wadowice in 1907.
29 November
Blessed Denis and Redemptus
Martyrs
Memory
Denis of the Nativity, a priest, whose secular name was Pierre Berthelot,
was born in Honfleur in France in 1600. He was a cartographer and naval
commander for the kings of Portugal and France before he joined the Discalced
Carmelites in Goa in 163 5; it was also at Goa that the Portuguese lay
brother, Thomas Rodriguez da Cunha, born in 1598, had made his profession
in 1615, taking the name Redemptus of the Cross. They were sent to the
island of Sumatra, where, in the town of Achen, they received the martyr’s
crown on November 29, 1638.
14 December
Saint John of the Cross
Priest and Doctor of the Church - Solemnity
John was born at Fontiveros in Spain about 1542. He entered the Carmelites
and with the permission of his superiors began to live a stricter life.
Afterwards he was persuaded by Saint Teresa to begin, together with some
others, the Discalced reform within the Order; this cost him much hard
work and many trials. He died in Ubeda in 1591, outstanding in holiness
and wisdom, to which his many spiritual writings give eloquent witness.
16 December
Blessed Mary of the Angels
Virgin - Optional Memory
Born in Turin, Italy, in 1661, she died, after spending her whole life
there, in 1717. In 1675 she entered the Discalced Carmelite Convent of
St Christina, and several times filled the offices of Prioress and Novice
Mistress. She underwent continual spiritual trials, but was constant in
her ardent love of God. She was outstandingly faithful to prayer and particularly
devoted to St Joseph, in whose honour a convent was founded through her
good offices at Moncalieri.
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