Some of the foundations of the Province of Catalonia are among the oldest in the Order. The early history of what is now the Province, involving Southern France, Northern Spain and the Balearic Islands, reflects the complicated political situation of the time. In 1336 the Vicariate of Perpignan was erected from the Province of Spain, also called Aragon. In 1339 it appears as the Vicariate of Perpignan and Majorca. In 1342 it was raised to the status of Province with the name Majorca; from 1354 it bore its present name. Together with the other houses in Spain, the Province was suppressed by the secular authorities in 1835.
The Province is the basic unit of the life and activity of the Order. It consists of the friars who belong to it, gathered in several houses and governed by a Prior Provincial with his Council, in accordance with the norms of canon law and with the Order's own laws (Carmelite Constitutions 179). At this moment the Carmelite Order has 19 Provinces in the world.
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