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Spirituality > Origins of the Carmelites
ORIGINS OF THE CARMELITES
The Carmelite Order takes its name from Mount Carmel in the Holy Land
(Israel) and traces its origins back to the ancient hermits living on that
mountain. There in the 12th century were to be found a group of hermits,
mostly former crusaders and pilgrims, calling themselves the Brothers of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, and striving to live, in the spirit of the prophet
Elijah, a life of solitude and prayer.
Standing always before the Living God on behalf of His people, and totally
dedicated to His worship and glory, these hermits had heard the call of
Jesus Christ to leave everything and to follow him.
From its very beginning the Order of Carmel always had a special love
and veneration for Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She is the Mother and Patroness
of all Carmelites and the scapular which they wear as part of their habit
is a sign of their dedication to her and a reliance on her protection.
They see in Mary one who, in her simplicity, was totally open and receptive
to God's action and took her as their model and sister in their search
for God.
They also took their inspiration from the prophet Elijah who was a man
on fire with love of God. His basic message was "the Lord lives in
whose presence I stand". His cry of triumph: "I have burned with
zeal for the Lord God of hosts" has been adopted as the motto for
the Carmelite Order.
The First Carmelites
This group of hermits living on Mount Carmel were given a Rule of Life
by Saint Albert of Jerusalem between 1206 and 1214.
The Rule of Saint Albert is perhaps the least known
of the existing monastic Rules. It is a Rule noted for its shortness, simplicity
and its rootedness in the Bible. It sketches out a way of life based on
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, stressing continual prayer, in silence and
solitude, self-giving and life in community.
After the Saracen conquest of the Holy Land the Order moved westward
to Europe, reaching Britain as early as 1242. Certain modifications were
introduced to adapt the Rule to the changed conditions in which the Carmelites
found themselves. For the most part they ceased to live as hermits and
became friars, giving themselves to preaching and pastoral work, though
prayer and the eremitical spirit remained the basis of their lives.
Until the 15th century the Order consisted only of friars, priests and
lay brothers, although there were several groups of pious women living
according to the Carmelite spirit. The Second Order, of nuns, was founded
in 1452 by Blessed John Soreth, Prior General of the Order who also founded
the Secular Order of Carmel for lay people.
The Reform of Carmel
Then in the 16th century at the time of the Reformation, the great Spanish
Carmelite, St. Teresa of Avila, wishing to renew among the nuns the fervour
and purity of the spiritual beginnings of the Order, initiated a reform
movement, which later, with St. John of the Cross as her collaborator,
spread also to the friars.
After her death monasteries of her reform were established in France
and Belgium, and from these two countries nuns came to found houses in
England and thence in Scotland and Wales. Now there are Carmels in almost
every country of the world with the nuns numbering around 13,000.
There are, then, since St Teresa's times, two branches of the Carmelite
Order:
- Carmelites of the Ancient Observance (O.Carm)
- St Teresa's Reformed Carmelites, known as the Discalced Carmelites
(OCD).
These two branches live the same Rule of St Albert and share much in
common. Today there is a strong movement of mutual support and co-operation
between the two stems of Carmel's vine.
Patriarch of Jerusalem, one of the conspicuous ecclesiastics in the troubles
between the Holy See and Federick Barbarossa; date of birth uncertain;
died 14 September, 1215. He was in fact asked by both Pope and Emperor
to act as umpire in their dispute and, as a reward, was made Prince of
the Empire. He was born in the diocese of Parma, became a canon regular
in the Monastery of Mortara (not Mortura, as Butler has it) in the Milanese,
and after being Bishop of Bobbio, for a short time, was translated to the
see of Vercelli. This was about 1184. At that time the Latins occupied
Jerusalem and, the Patriarchate falling vacant, Albert was implored by
the Christians of Palestine to accept the see. As it implied persecution
and a prospect of martyrdom, he accepted, and was appointed by Innocent
III, who at the same time made him Papal Legate. His sanctity procured
him the veneration of even the Muslims. It was while here that he undertook
a work with which his name is particularly and peculiarly associated. In
Paslestine, at that time, the hermits of Mount Carmel lived in separate
cells. One of their number gathered them into a community, and in 1209
their superior, Brocard, requested the Patriarch, though not a Carmelite,
to draw up a rule for them. He assented, and legislated
in the most rigorous fashion, prescribing perpetual abstinence from flesh,
protracted fasts, long silence, and extreme seclusion. It was so severe
that mitigations had to be introduced by Innocent IV in 1246.
The end of this great prelate was most tragic. Summoned by Innocent III
to take part in the General Council of the Lateran, in 1215, he was assassinated
before he left Palestine, while taking part in a procession, on the feast
of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. He is honoured among the saints by
the Carmelites, on 8 April. The Bollandists call attention to this curious
anomaly, that not at Vercelli, where he was Patriarch, not among the Canons
Regular, to whom he properly belonged, but in the Order of the Carmelites,
of which he was not a member, does he receive the honour of a saint. "That
holy Order could not and ought not to lose the memory of him by whom it
was ranked among the Orders approved by the Roman Church; in saying which",
adds the writer, "I in no way wish to impugn the Carmelite claim of
descent from Elias." At Vercelli Albert does not even figure as Blessed,
and the Canons Regular honour him as a saint, but pay him no public cult.
T.J. CAMPBELL (Transcribed by Alberto Hernández Banuchi)
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright ©1913 by the Encyclopedia Press,
Inc.
Electronic version copyright ©1997 by New Advent, Inc.
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