Displaying items by tag: Carmelite Saints

On August 28, Authorities opened the silver reliquary containing the body of St. Teresa of Avila who died in 1582. The process was undertaken so that a study of the Saint’s relics can be carried out by the Italian doctors and scientists with the Vatican’s approval. The casket was previously opened in 1914, apparently so that the propositor general of the Discalced Carmelites at that time, Clemente de los Santos, could view the Saint’s body.

Photos were taken of the body at the time of the 1914 study. According to the Discalced Carmelites’ postulator general, Marco Chiesa, who was present at this recent opening, the body “is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914.” According to a press release, “the uncovered parts, which are the face and foot, are the same as they were in 1914." The press release also states, "There is no color, there is no skin color, because the skin is mummified, but it is seen, especially in the middle of the face. … Expert doctors see Teresa's face almost clearly."

Both viewings have confirmed that the body of Teresa has remained incorrupt.

The Diocese of Avila, where Teresa lived much of her life, wants canonical recognition by Rome of the relics.

For the opening of the casket to occur, a marble slab had to be removed. Then the case containing the body was moved to a room which has been set aside for the study of the relics. The urn was opened in the presence of the scientific medical team and Church authorities. The local community of Discalced Carmelites, as well as the general postulator of the Order, members of the ecclesiastical tribunal, and a small group of religious participated by singing the Te Deum.

The actual process of opening the urn required the assistance of two goldsmiths and 10 keys. Three keys are kept in Alba de Tormes, three are kept by the Duke of Alba, three are kept by the Discalced Carmelites in Rome, and one key is kept by the king of Spain. Three keys are required to open the gate protecting the tomb, three are needed to open the marble tomb, and the remaining four are required to open the silver reliquary itself.

According to news reports, scholars “were struck by its magnificent state of preservation and robustness. In Teresa’s final years, she did have trouble walking.  She describes this ailment in her writings. According to Father Chiesa, the pain she experienced is quite understandable. “Analyzing her foot in Rome, we saw the presence of calcareous thorns that made walking almost impossible.”

Two goldsmiths assisted in the process of opening the tomb and reliquary. Ten keys that protect the tomb were required: three that are kept in Alba de Tormes, three kept by the Duke of Alba, another three that the father general keeps in Rome, in addition to the key kept by the king of Spain. Three of these keys are to open the outer gate, three are to open the marble tomb, and the other four are to open the silver coffin.

The Saint’s tomb was donated by King Ferdinand VI and his wife, Barbara of Braganza. It is noted for its fine workmanship.

St. Teresa’s writings are recognized as masterpieces of 16th century Spanish literature and spirituality. Her reflections on the process for one to progress toward God through prayer and contemplation are considered benchmarks in the history of Christian mysticism. She initiated a reform within the Carmelite Order which following her death became the separate Discalced Carmelite Order. She was canonized on March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV along with Ignatius of Loyola, Isidore of Madrid, Francis Xavier, and Philip Neri. Pope Paul VI declared her to be a doctor of the Church in 1970.

1 October Feast

Saint Thérèse was born at Alençon in France on 2nd January 1873. Her parents were Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin. After the death of her mother on 28th August 1877, Thérèse and her family moved to Lisieux. 

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9th Day Novena to St. Therese of Child Jesus

Watch here

The Canonization Process of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Watch here (in Italian with English subtitles)

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face promised, “I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens; I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth.” Many thousands of people recall receiving roses after praying to St. Thérèse for some intercession. It may have been actual roses, a card with a rose, or the scent of roses. It does not matter. Each is taken as a sign of St. Thérèse’s hearing the person prayer.

The Blessed Rose Petal Project run by members of the Flos Carmeli Choir at the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is an attempt to recall that promise of St. Thérèse. The choir provides music at the monastery’s midday Mass on Wednesdays and feast days. They volunteer in various other ways at the monastery.

They noticed that after big celebrations, the flowers in the chapel would be unceremoniously discarded in the garbage. Around 2018, Carmelite priest Chris Kulig, who occasionally celebrates the Mass, began collecting the old flowers, drying them out, and putting them in bags as a remembrance of Thérèse promise to shower roses down from heaven. As the demand for the rose petals grew so did their volunteer list. Mt. Carmel supplied the little bags. The people supplied the flowers. The Flos Carmeli folks provided the finger power to fill the bags.

Soon it was not enough. “We just ran out of rose petals,” said Yolanda Bartley, one of the steady volunteers. But someone, while driving through nearby St. Catherine, noticed a field of roses at a wholesale of rose bushes. They were willing to sell roses at a discounted price for use at the monastery. Then they discovered three fields belonging to another wholesale plant nursery. They supply rose bushes to large stores like Cosco and Walmart.

After a conversation with the sales manager and the sales manager’s conversation with the owner, choir members were told they could have “all the roses we could pick,” said Angie Walledor, another member of the choir. After securing permission to park in a nearby non-Catholic church lot (the choir is very ecumenical in its work!), the members descended on the fields. Of the three fields, the smallest has about 30,000 plants.

“They grow in rows like corn,” said Angie. The fields bloom every second year as the nursery rotates through the fields to maintain a large number of plants to sell each year.

“It is St. Thérèse and Mother Mary at work,” said Yolanda. “It isn’t a shower of roses anymore. It is pouring roses.”

The small packages of roses are ready for the crowds expected to come to the Monastery of Mount Carmel in Niagara Falls for the October 1 celebrations. But after the crowds have gone back home, there will be more roses to pick, remove the petals, dry the petals, and then put in the small bag. It is all done with love in an effort to recall St. Thérèse’s magnificent promise to continue to do good works on earth.

17 September Feast

There are very few facts known about the birth of Albert. The first biographical data comes from the Canons of Mortara. Albert entered into this order around 1170. Around 1180 Albert began developing connections with the pope and the Roman curia. Between 1181 and 1183 he undertook two missions at the behest of Alexander III and Lucio III. The following year he was nominated bishop.

He was bishop of Vercelli for 20 years but continued to be involved in diplomatic activity on behalf of the popes. Some of his work was settling conflict between people or cities. But he was also very active in the area of legislation and organizational structure. He would ultimately provide these gifts in service to the hermits on Mount Carmel.

In 1204 the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre elected Albert as patriarch of Jerusalem. Pope Innocent III added the responsibilities. Of papal legate for the Holy Land and Middle East. Albert arrived in Palestine in 1206, residing at Acre since Jerusalem was occupied by the Saracens. Here too Albert became the mediator of various disputes. In fact, this role as mediator has led some to conclude that Albert became involved with the hermits on Mount Carmel because of a dispute among the members.

When exactly Albert wrote his formula vitae for the hermits is open for discussion. This document was addressed to someone named “B” which later traditions named “Brocard.” Albert becomes referred to in the Carmelite Order as “the lawgiver” for his development of a rather short document outlining the life of the hermits on Mount Carmel. Albert’s formula vitae which will eventually become the Rule of the Order.

By the 16^th century Albert’s feast was celebrated on April 8. Later it was customary to celebrate his feast on September 17. There were attempts to have Albert proclaimed as a martyr but the Order continues to celebrate him as “bishop and legislator of our Order.”

Read more here

Watch here the Reflections on St. Albert of Jerusalem with Br. Patrick Mullins O. Carm.

Watch here the Interview with Br. Patrick Mullins O. Carm, an expert on St. Albert.

List of Books From Edizioni Carmelitane on St. Albert of Jerusalem.

La Regola del Carmelo: Origine, Natura, Significato – Seconda Edizione. Carlo Cicconetti, O. Carm. 

A cornerstone of formation for members of the entire Carmelite Family today as in the past is the Rule.

Alberto Patriarca di Gerusalemme. Tempo – Vita – Opera. Vincenzo Mosca, O. Carm. 

The book opens with a broad sweep covering the historical and religious environment of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.

The Life of St Albert of Jerusalem – A Documentary Biography – Part 1. Patrick Mullins, O. Carm.

English. 2016. 604 pages. Euro 45.00.

The large number of extant documents concerning the early thirteenth-century Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Albert degli Avogadri (c. 1150-1214), demonstrate both his impact on his times and the ways in which his life was shaped by his historical circumstances. Divided into two volumes, each of twelve chapters.

The Life of St Albert of Jerusalem – A Documentary Biography – Part 2. Patrick Mullins, O. Carm.

These and more books can be purchased directly from Edizioni Carmelitane or from other webstores around the world.

Click here to access these and other many fine publications at Edizioni Carmelitane.

To place your order please contact Edizioni Carmelitane at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Vatican has approved a new liturgical calendar for the Order. The Order was notified on November 18, 2021, by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The calendar was approved and signed by officials at the congregation on November 6, 2021, the Feast of Saint Nuno Álvares Pereira.

Fr. Michael Farrugia, the procurator general of the Order, has written a letter to the Order explaining the changes. This letter and the new calendar as well as some accompanying documents are now posted on the Order’s website.

Some modifications were made to the 1972 Proper Calendar which has been in use until now. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments revised the levels and dates of the celebrations according to the 1999 norms. The new calendar is divided into two parts: the first is intended for celebrations in the whole Order, while the second is an Appendix, for celebrations intended exclusively for local areas. In the first part the dates and levels of the celebrations are indicated: solemnity, feast, and obligatory memorial. Some ‘optional memorials’ have been moved to the Appendix, whereas previously they could be celebrated throughout the Order. Now they are allowed in certain regions.

This is further explained in Fr. Michael's letter and in the accompanying documents:

Read pdf here (121 KB) the Letter to the Order, by Fr. Michael Farrugia O. Carm.

Read pdf here (42 KB) the Decree on the Calendarium proprium

Read pdf here (16 KB) the Approval of the Calendarium proprium

Read pdf here (68 KB) the Calendarium proprium

On January 8th we celebrate the Feast of Saint Peter Thomas. 

He joined the Carmelite Order when twenty years of age. He was Procurator General of the Order at the Papal Curia at Avignon and also an official preacher to the Curia there.

In 1354, he was appointed bishop of Patti and Lipari. He acted as papal legate to the kings and emperors of his time, seeking to promote peace and to re-establish unity with the Eastern Churches.

Read more here

St. John was born, probably in 1540, in Fontiveros, near Avila in Spain.

As Saint John says - in order to arrive at the All which is God, it is necessary that man should give all of himself, not like a slave but inspired by love.

Canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on 27th December 1726, he was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pius XI on 24th August 1926.

Read pdf here (67 KB) "Who is St. John of the Cross for Me?", by Sister Hernalyn U. Rebuton, INSC.

Watch here the Interview with Dr. John D. Love, S.T.D., on the relevance of St. John's today.

Read more here

On December 5th we celebrate the memorial of Blessed Bartolomew Fanti.

For 35 years, Bartolomew Fanti was part of the Confraternity of Our Lady in the Carmelite church of Mantova. On January 1, 1460, he became the spiritual director and rector of the confraternity, writing its rule and statutes. It is clear that he was completely dedicated to this ministry until he died.

Such was his own devotion to the Eucharist that it stressed by his biographers along with that of his very loving devotion towards the Virgin Mary. A popular image of Blessed Bartolomew shows him explaining the Eucharist to a group of novices, including Blessed Baptist Spagnoli, seated prominently in the front row. Other biographers stress his extraordinary effective preaching.

Such claims that Blessed Baptist Spagnoli was a novice of Fanti’s appear to be erroneous for a couple of reasons. There are no reliable indications that Fanti served as a novice director and Spagnoli spend his first year in 1463-1464 at Ferrara and not at Mantova.

The Rule for the Confraternity consists of 12 chapters written by Fanti. He uses a very simple and concise style some say is indicative of the First Order of Carmelites. He also wrote a registry of worthwhile facts. These writings have been published, with an exhaustive introductory text, by Graziano of St. Teresa.

Fanti died in 1495. In 1516 his body was moved from its tomb to the chapel of the Church to Our Lady. In 1598 his body was placed under the altar. Following the suppression of the house, in 1783, his body was moved to San Marco, and from there, after approximately 10 years, to the cathedral where it remains today, incorrupt, in the chapel of the crowned Madonna.

Prayer

Lord God,
you made Blessed Bartholomew Fanti
outstanding in his zeal for devotion to the Eucharist
and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
May we experience in this regard
the same fullness of spirit that was his.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

On November 15th, we celebrate the Commemoration of all Carmelite Souls.

From the Collect of the Commemoration of All Carmelite Souls

Lord,
you are the glory of those who serve you.
Look lovingly on our departed brothers and sisters,
united in following Christ and his Mother
by the waters of baptism
and the bonds of Carmel.
In your mercy
grant them everlasting sight of you,
their Creator and Redeemer.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Read here the list of those Carmelites who died during the past 12 months

On November 13th we celebrate the memorial of Blessed Maria Teresa Scrilli.

Maria Scrilli, in religion Maria Teresa of Jesus was born in Montevarchi on May 15, 1825 and was called by the heavenly Father while in Florence on November 14, 1889.

She was beatified in Fiesole (Florence) on October 8, 2006.

The Blessed Mother was a devotee of the Florentine saint Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi whom she met while still an adolescent reading the lives of saints.

She is the foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Carmel.

Mother Maria Teresa's charism lives on in her Institute in the nations where it is present today: Italy, the United States, Canada, Poland, India, Brazil, the Czech Republic and the Philippines.

Prayer for Blessed Maria Teresa Scrilli

Lord Jesus,
Who in the evangelic testimony
of the Blessed Maria Teresa Scrilli
continue to show to the world that it is the gentle
who inherit your kingdom
and that only in You do those who are
tired and oppressed find rest
following her example, may we experience in our hearts
the desire to serve you in our brothers
and to be able to awaken, especially in young people,
a burning thirst for your love, Grant to us we pray you,
by her intercession, the favor we Confidently ask of you ….
You live and reign forever and ever. Amen .

Glory be.
Blessed Maria Teresa Scrilli.
Pray for us...

Read pdf here (47 KB) the Interview with Sr. Maria Stella Marzano, Superior General of the Institute of Our Lady of Carmel

Read pdf here (34 KB) "Maria Scrilli’s Presence in this Arduous Path" by Sr. Stephanie Gadalquivir, INSC

Read pdf here (34 KB) "Citizens of Heaven" by Sr. Lini Mathew, INSC

Read here a short bio of Bl. Maria Teresa Scrilli

Visit here to purchase The Autobiography of Maria Teresa Scrilli (available only in English), published by Edizioni Carmelitane