General Commissariat of "La Vergine Bruna"

This Commissariat was only recently erected under this title. But it has inherited a tradition which goes back to 1524 when the Naples convent of Carmine Maggiore, even though remaining a community of the Neapolitan Province, nevertheless was withdrawn from that Province's jurisdiction and placed immediately under the Prior General. With the passage of time, this same convent acquired several granges (by 1617 it owned fifteen). In 1631 the reform of Santa Maria de Vita was born from this convent and was eventually augmented by brothers coming from the other convents thus the reform was erected into a Province in 1660. In the year 1725 the "Province of Naples" was erected and it was composed of the eleven convents of Carmine Maggiore, five convents from the Neapolitan Province and the convent of Santa Maria di Monte Santo. When, because of civil strife, this Province disappeared, the convents of Carmine Maggiore were again placed under the immediate jurisdiction of the Prior General, except for the years 1910 to 1920 when they formed part of the Neapolitan Province.

In 1947 the Commissariat "La Vergine Bruna" was erected from the convent of Carmine Maggiore and two other convents. At present the Commissariat is forming Tanzanian candidates in Naples for a future Carmelite foundation in their country. The General Commissariat is made up of about 20 religious.