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

This year, on December 29, is the 450th anniversary of the birth of Ven. John of St Samson. He was christened the following day in Sens. He had a very difficult childhood. He was blinded by an incompetent physician after contracting chicken pox and was orphaned at a young age.

He was introduced to the Parisian Carmelites in Place Maubert in 1603 and joined the Order at Dol-de-Bretagne three years later. When he was transferred to Rennes in 1612, he became the spiritual soul of the Touraine reform.

His deep mystical life made him a seasoned teacher of the spiritual life. His teachings, dictated to novices and disciples, have come down to us in over 4000 manuscript folios.

A lover of solitude made fruitful by his encounters with God, he was aflame with ardent love for humanity especially the poor and the sick to whom he ministered through his charism of healing.

He died in the odor of sanctity on September 14, 1636 at Rennes. His last words were: “With Christ, I am affixed to the cross.”

Of the Ineffable Incarnation of God made Man

But let us now, my Love and my Life, look at Your ineffable Love and Your ineffable Incarnation. It is from here on and in this vein that I am lost in an abyss within the innermost depths of all Your Deity. There I do not know where to start to reason about you, in all humility.

For, seeing Your resolution to save us, and your Love and its order to effect it, and the means which you hold fast to, that is what totally enraptures me in admiration outside of myself, where, being fixed in the enjoyment of this admirable mystery above admiration, I would not like to break into speech. And what can we say of a mystery so ineffable, which contains and comprehends contraries so opposite and so distant one from the other as are the all and the nothing, immensity and infinity and nothingness, Deity in itself and nothingness?

This is what has already detained us, occupied more in admiration of such an ineffable Mystery, than in speaking as a result of my ardent love. 

What is this? The Word is made flesh. Behold You whom all creatures cannot comprehend cut short in human nature, in the form and manner of an infant enclosed within the maternal prison of a mother made Mother of God, of the flesh with which you clothed Yourself, elevating it and uniting it to Your infinite Subject!

It is the perpetual subject of profound astonishment of all creatures. For to see You so much changed without change, so far off without distance, so much cut short and so great, so contained and so containing, so enclosed and so free, indeed so enclosed and so universal in all and by all, so high and so low, so wide and so narrow, so strong and so weak, so powerful and so powerless, so much more than all and above all and so next to nothing; all that, I say, my Love and my Life, is an eternal cause to creatures high and low, not only of eternal admiration and astonishment at the contemplation of this sight, but also of annihilating them by itself and reducing them to nothing in the action and act of their astonishment.

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

Today, the Holy Father, during the Audience granted to His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, authorized the said Congregation to promulgate the Decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Titus Brandsma.

We give thanks to God for the positive outcome obtained and we continue to pray to the Lord, hoping that soon the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma will take place.

Read here (only in Italian) the Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office

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

On November 9, 2021, the Ordinary Session of the Cardinals and Bishops who are members of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints met with a positive result for the cause of the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma, O. Carm.

Soon the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, will submit the conclusions of the Ordinary Session to the Holy Father for approval. The Holy Father, if he confirms the conclusions of the Ordinary Session, will then convoke the Ordinary Consistory in which he would official announce the canonization of the Blessed.

We give thanks to God for the positive results obtained so far. We continue to pray to the Lord, hoping that the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma will soon be achieved.

Read our post entitled Brandsma Writings Now Available in English here

On October 15th we celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Jesus (or of Avila), Virgin and Doctor of the Church.

Saint Teresa is among the most important figures of all time for Catholic spirituality.

Her works-- especially the four best known (The Life, The Way of Perfection, The Interior Castle and The Book of Foundations)-- together with her more historical works, contain a doctrine which encompasses the whole of the spiritual life, from the first steps right up to intimacy with God at the center of the Interior Castle.

Her Letters show her occupied with a great variety of everyday problems.

Her doctrine on the unity of the soul with God follows the Carmelite tradition which had preceded her and to which she herself contributed in such a notable way, enriching it as well as passing the tradition on, not only to her spiritual sons and daughters, but also to the whole Church which she served so unsparingly.

Too many confuse being loved with love itself. Love is outgoing, unselfish, active. It means giving rather than self-seeking. It strives to please rather than be pleased.

In Saint Teresa's own words:

“Perhaps we do not know what love is. It would not surprise me, for love consists not in the extent of our own happiness, but in the firmness of our determination to please God in everything.”

“Let nothing disturb thee;
 Let nothing dismay thee:
 All thing pass;
 God never changes.
 Patience attains
 All that it strives for.
 He who has God
 Finds he lacks nothing:
 God alone suffices.”

Read St. Teresa's bio here

Read the Message of Pope Francis to the Bishop of Avila on the occasion of the opening of the Teresian Jubilee year on October 15, 2014, here

Read the words of Pope Benedict XVI on St. Teresa during the General Audience of February 2, 2011, here

To learn more about the life of St. Teresa and her work and legacy, we suggest reading the book The Heirs of St. Teresa of Avila, published by Edizioni Carmelitane.

To access this and many other fine publications at Edizioni Carmelitane, click here.

To place your order please contact:

Libreria Nardecchia
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On October 1st, we celebrate the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Virgin and Doctor of the Church.

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”

"Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”

Read St. Therese's bio here

Read the words of Pope Benedict XVI on St. Teresa during the General Audience of April 6, 2011 here

Read Pope John Paul II 's declaration of St. Therese as Doctor of the Church, the Apostolic Letter Divini Amoris Scientia here

Read A Prayer to Saint Thérèse during COVID-19 here: here

Sometime before 1214, Albert, as Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote a Formula Vitae to guide the lives of the community on Mount Carmel into greater holiness.

Read more here

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

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

A devoted catechist, Isidore Bakanja did not hesitate to offer his life to God, filled with the certain beliefs he found in his faith and in his regular praying of the rosary. A witness for his canonization testified that a Belgian overlord accused Bakanja of teaching prayers and “all sorts of stupidities to my workers, to my servant-boys, and even to the villagers. If that does not stop, no one will want to work anymore for me.” His tirade ended with another beating for Isidore.

The Belgian possession of the Congo since 1885 was no more than crass, unjust exploitation of the native people. Bakanja was employed as a servant-boy, eventually returning to his native village. Mild, honest, respectful by nature, Isidore worked conscientiously and prayed faithfully, as many non-Christian witnesses attested. Often with rosary in hand, he looked for opportunities to share his new-found faith with others, to the extent that many thought of him as a catechist.

Working again for agents of a Belgian company, Isidore was told to discard his scapular. When he did not, he was twice flogged. The second time, the agent flew into one of his rages. He jumped at Isidore, tore the scapular from around his neck and threw him to the ground. He had two servant boys hold Isidore by his hands and feet and a third domestic flogged him. The whip was made of elephant hide with nails protruding at the end. The writhing Isidore asked for mercy. "My God, I'm dying", he muttered. But the colonizer kept kicking Isidore in the neck and head, and ordered his domestic to scourge him harder still. After 100, those assisting lost count of the number of blows.

An inspector for the company physically prevented the worker from killing Isidore. He took Isidore to his own settlement, hoping to help him heal. But Isidore felt death in his bones. He told someone who had pity on him: "if you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet the priest, tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian". Two missionaries spent several days with him. He devoutly received the last sacraments.

He told them the reason for his beating: "The white man did not like Christians.... He did not want me to wear the scapular.... He yelled at me when I said my prayers". The missionaries urged Isidore to forgive the agent; he assured them that he had already done so and that he nursed no hatred for him. "Certainly I shall pray for him. When I am in heaven, I shall pray for him very much."

Isidore’s agony, his own cross, lasted six months. He died on either August 8 or 15, 1909, rosary in hand and the scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel around his neck.