71/2008-07-08
New Publication of “Edizioni Carmelitane”
New Publication of “Edizioni Carmelitane”
The Carmelite Rule (1207-2007). Proceedings of the Lisieux Conference, Edizioni Carmelitane, Roma 2008. ISBN 978-88-7288-102-6. ISSN: 0394-7793. 40 Euro.
The Rule of Carmel continues today to inspire thousands of men and women around the world and throughout the Church in their lives of allegiance to Jesus Christ even has it has inspired Carmelites over the centuries. This collection of papers by some of the best scholars in the Carmelite family is a landmark in our developing appreciation for this sacred text. The work of these men and women clearly demonstrates that the wisdom of Saint Albert of Jerusalem continues to speak in new times and new places of which those first hermits could never have dreamed. The Rule of Saint Albert is now ready to propel us into a future marked by all the glorious sanctity of our past eight centuries. (P. Patrick Thomas McMahon O.Carm.)
72/2008-11-08
Reopening of “Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús” Seminary, San Juan de Puerto Rico (Arag)
Reopening of “Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús” Seminary, San Juan de Puerto Rico (Arag)
It is with pleasure that we would like to communicate a small sign of hope for the future life of the Order. On Sunday 3rd August last, with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Fr. Jorge Ma. Rivera, O.Carm., the Carmelite Seminary of “Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús” belonging to Commissariate of Antilles of the Arago-Valentina Province, was reopened.
The seminary is located in the house of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The entry of four young men from the town of Ciales, Puerto Rico, has made this reopening possible after having been closed for a long time.
Activities of the Prior General in Brazil
From 2nd to 9th August last, Fr. Fernando Millán Romerál, O.Carm. participated in many different events in Brazil. In Curitiba he met those in formation (seminarians, postulants, novices and students) to whom he outlined the different projects of the Order for the coming six years. He then had a very fraternal meeting in that city with our Discalced brethren and with the Carmelite laity. He also visited the “Casas do Servo Sofredor” (for men and women) where the Carmelites of the Commissariate of Paraná (GerS) are engaged in great work with drug addicts.
From there, Father General moved on to the inter-provincial novitiate of “São Cristovão” (Sergipe) where he gave a course to the novices on the life and thought of Blessed Titus Brandsma. There are 15 novices belonging to the provinces of Pernambuco, San Elías (Rio de Janeiro), Italy (Colombia) and Malta (Bolivia). Fr. Fernando also visited various communities nearby and presided at a solemn celebration of the Eucharist with the members of the Carmelite Family of “São Cristovão”.
A year dedicated to Isidore Bakanja
On 12th August we celebrated the Memorial of Blessed Isidore Bakanja, born between 1880 and 1890 in Mbilankamba in the Congo (Zaire). He was baptized on the 6th May 1906 and received the scapular as a sign of his dignity as God’s child, together with the rosary a sign of his continuous prayer. He began to work for a Belgian colonial company and was whipped by his atheistic manager who ordered him to remove his scapular. Isidore died some days later, either on the 8th or 15th of August 1909, pardoning his tormentor.
The Catholic laity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have decided to dedicate a whole year to the memory of Isidore Bakanja. The year will run from August 2008 to August 2009 and will serve as an "awakening of the laity" according to Don Ambroise Mutshembe, secretary of the Episcopal Commission for the Apostolate of the Laity. For canonization a miracle through Blessed Isidore’s intercession is necessary, but above all it is important to make known the witness of this young apostle and martyr, who took seriously his Baptismal vocation.
First Electoral Chapter of the Monastery N.S. de America y San José, Monción, Dominican Republic
The first Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery N.S. de America y San José, Monción, Dominican Republic, was held 28 of June 2008. The following were elected:
Prioress: Sr. Maria Consuelo Rivera, O. Carm.
1st Councilor: Sr. Maria Josefina Luna, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor: Sr. Maria Assunta Mura, O. Carm.
Director of Novices: Sr. Maria Josefina Luna, O. Carm.
Treasurer: Sr. Maria Rosanna Serrata, O.Carm.
Vitam coelo reddiderunt (R.I.P.)
10-08-08: P. Miguel Mindeguía Aríztegui, Arag
14-08-08: P. Morris Wells, PCM
General Chapter of the Corpus Christi Carmelites
The Congregation of Corpus Christi Carmelite Sisters held elections for Prioress General and Council today at St. Paul's Spirituality Center in Georgetown, Guyana, South America. Here are the results:
Mother General: Sr. Petronilla Joseph, O. Carm.
1st Councilor: Sr. Katrina Charles, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor: Sr. Helena Profeiro, O. Carm.
3rd Councilor: Sr. Janice Romero, O.Carm.
4th Councilor: Sr. Antoinette Fahey, O.Carm.
First Councilor is also Assistant General.
58/2008-03-07
Promulgation of the Decree of the Congregation for Causes of Saints concerning Blessed Nuno
Promulgation of the Decree of the Congregation for Causes of Saints concerning Blessed Nuno
This morning, 3rd July 2008, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, received in a private audience Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. During the course of the audience the Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the Decree concerning the heroic virtues and the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Nuno of Saint Mary Álvares Pereira (1360-1431), Portuguese national and Professed Layman of our Order.
The Holy See will set the date for the Canonization.
59/2008-08-07
Vitam coelo reddiderunt (R.I.P.)
Vitam coelo reddiderunt (R.I.P.)
02-07-08: Fr. Benedict Reney, Brit
03-07-08: P. Nuno Alves Correia, Flum
03-07-08: P. Nuno Alves Correia, Flum
First Meeting of the International Commission for Carmelite Schools and Youth
From 26 to 29 June 2008, the new International Commission for Carmelite Schools and Youth held its first meeting in the General Curia house in Rome. Together with the Councillor General Fr. Raúl Maraví, there were representatives from Europe, North and South America and Oceania.
The Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, and the Vice Prior General, Fr. Christian Körner, greeted the members of the Commission. During the meeting various aspects of Carmelite education were discussed, as were the presence of Carmelite laity and the new challenges that we are facing in our school centres today. After exchanging views on a number of topics, the group discussed the preparations for an International Conference on Carmelite Schools, which had been suggested by the 2007 General Chapter. The meeting will be held from 8 to 14 April 2010 in Dublin, Ireland, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Irish province school, Terenure College. It was also decided to send a questionnaire to all Carmelite schools, which will serve as a basis for the participants’ work in the congress.
The Commission will meet again in 2009 to continue preparations for the International Congress and to promote other events linked to it.
XV Meeting of the Iberian Region
From 29 June to 2 July the fifteenth meeting of the Iberian Region was held in Pozuelo del Alarcón (Madrid). One hundred and ten members of the Carmelite Family took part: friars, nuns, sisters and laity from the provinces of Arago-Valentina, Betica, Castilla, Catalonia, the General Commissariat of Portugal and from the Congregations of the Sisters of the Virgin Mary and of the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who prepared the topic of this year’s meeting. The subject was “Silence, mysticism, prophecy in allegiance to Jesus Christ” and conferences were led by Fr. Hugo Canavan O. Carm., member of the General Delegation of Titus Brandsma in Colombia. At the end of the meeting three participants spoke: M. Magdalena Carretero O. Carm. from the monastery of Madrid, secondly, a lay woman, Blanca Frediani and finally, Fr. Augustín Rodríguez Teso, a priest from a suburb on the edge of Madrid.
The superiors of the Iberian Region, male and female, took advantage of the occasion in order to have a meeting of their own, as did the Iberian provincials.
Vitam coelo reddiderunt (R.I.P.)
05-07-08: P. Conal Collier, Hib
05-07-08: P. Floribert Schwering, GerI
Beatification of the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux on 19th of October 2008
The parents of Thérèse of Lisieux, Zélie and Louis Martin, will be beatified on 19th of October 2008 at Lisieux. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins announced the news last Saturday when he presided the Eucharist celebration in honour of the 150th anniversary of their wedding at Alençon.
In solemnitate B.V. Mariae de Monte Carmeli
Flos Carmeli, vitis florigera, splendor caeli, Virgo puerpera singularis.
Mater mitis, sed viri nescia, Carmelitis esto propitia, stella maris.
Fernando Prior Generalis et Consilium Generale
16.VII.2008
Five Hundred Years of the Presence of the Carmelite Nuns in Granada, Spain
The celebration of the 500 years of the Presence of the Carmelite Nuns in Granada (Spain) took place on the 16th of July in the Monastery of the Incarnation. Founded in 1508, it is one of the first monasteries established there after Granada was reconquered in 1492. During these 500 years of history, the monastery has gone through many hardships, but many nuns of outstanding spiritual and intellectual level have lived in it, and among them several Blesseds.
To celebrate this occasion, a History of the Monastery written by Fr. Ismael Martínez Carretero, O. Carm., was presented in a solemn act presided by the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O. Carm., who was accompanied by Fr. Rafael Leiva Sánchez, Prior Provincial of the Betica Province. Many people participated in the ceremony. Likewise, the Prior General presided the Eucharist on the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and unveiled a glazed ceramic tile commemorating the 500 years of the presence of the Carmelite nuns in the city of Alhambra.
Br. Pedro Murciano, O. Carm. completes his service in the General Curia and returns to his Province
After almost 25 years of continuous service to the General Curia in Rome, Br. Pedro Murciano, O. Carm. will return to the Arago-Valentina Province in September. Br. Pedro was exemplary in his spirit of service and availability toward the members of the different general councils he worked with in Rome.
The General Council expresses its gratitude to Br. Pedro for his many years of service to the General Curia and wishes him years of fruitful service as he returns to his home province.
Restored Carmelite Library at Straubing, Germany (GerS), Reopens
After two years of hard work, on 6th June 2008, the Straubing community was able to enjoy the fruits of this labour as the library was reopened. The main hall is famous for its dazzling frescoes completed in 1715 and now restored to its former glory. In 1806 the convent had been suppressed, but now the contents of the library will be put back in their rightful place.
In the course of the evening, Prior Fr. Elias Steffen O.Carm. thanked the benefactors and special guests present, the curator Alfons Huber delivered a lecture, published in Straubinger Tagblatt, and Provincial Fr. Dieter Lankes O.Carm. stressed the place of the library as one of formation and study. Greetings were also received from the mayor of Straubing, the local member of parliament in Bavaria and the head of the restoration project. The restoration has cost € 450,000 and will be financed by public institutions and private businesses, as well as fundraising.
The frescos in the library are the work of an unknown artist who was deeply imbued with the tradition of Carmel and of Mary. Eight half-portraits depict scholarly Carmelites, who were devoted to the defence of Faith and to the study of Divine Wisdom, such as Thomas Netter of Walden, Francisco Suarez and John Baconthorpe.
The day after the inauguration, many visitors took the opportunity to see the frescos for themselves and on 9th June the conference between the French and German Defence and Foreign Ministers took place in the library as part of the summit between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
http://www.karmelitenorden.de/straubing/bibliothek/restaurierung.html
Our Lady of Doncaster
In the middle ages there was a prominent Carmelite Church in the town of Doncaster, England, with a Shrine to Our Lady. Though nothing remains of the original church and friary, there has been a revival of the Shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster in the local Catholic Church. At the Reformation the statue of Our Lady was one of five ‘significant statues’ that were taken to London to be burnt. The Prior of Doncaster was one of the few Carmelites to be executed at that time.
Some of the Carmelite Third Order have been involved in promoting the restoration of the Shrine and the garden outside the shrine is being landscaped with stones from other shrines.
On Friday 27th June at the 12 noon Mass at Aylesford, there was a handing over of one of the medieval stones from the original church to the Guardians of the Doncaster Shrine.
Corpus Christi Carmelite Sisters mark the centenary of their foundation
On 16th July, the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Corpus Christi Carmelite Sisters marked 100 years of their foundation with a Centenary Mass in the English city of Leicester. It was in Leicester that Mother Mary Ellerker of the Blessed Sacrament formed a community of women devoted to contemplative living through prayer and social outreach. The Congregation was affiliated to the Carmelite Order in 1927 and today has communities in England, the Caribbean, North America and Liberia, many of which were represented at the Eucharist. During the celebrations the sisters made a presentation to the Prior Provincial of the British Province, Fr. Wilfrid McGreal, O.Carm., thanking the friars for their support and formation. The Mass was attended by Sister Antoinette Dickie, O.Carm. (Prioress General of the Congregation), the Lord Mayor of Leicester, many lay Carmelites, and Robert Rivas, O.P., the Archbishop of Castries. The sisters are concluding their centenary celebrations with a tour of places in Britain associated with their founder. The paperwork for her beatification cause will be finalised during the Congregation's General Chapter, to be held in Guyana from 11th to 25th August, which will reflect on the theme "With the Eucharist, centred in Carmel, let us serve the Lord with gladness". A full account of the Centenary Mass can be read online at: http://www.carmelite.org/jnbba/corpusxti.pdf
Vitam coelo reddiderunt (R.I.P.)
28-06-08: Sr. M. Giuseppina Orrù, Rav
16-07-2008: Fr. Robertus Hanenberg, Neer
