The great revival of Catholic life that followed the Council of Trent included the revival of religious orders. At the death of Nicholas Audet, Pope Pius IV on December 1562 named John Baptist Rossi vicar general of the Order. Using the new prescriptions of the Council of Trent, the General Chapter of 1564 chose Rossi as prior general in secret ballot. King Philip II of Spain called for reform of the religious orders in his realm and Rossi set about trying to do just that among many other projects in the Order, including the re-incorporation of the hermits of Monte Oliveto.
Discalced Reform
Perhaps the major assists to Rossi’s project of reforming the Order in Spain was the incredibly charismatic, committed, and energetic Doña Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda, Teresa of Jesus in religious life. With the blessing of the prior general, Teresa set about returning the Order to a more faithful observance of the “primitive Rule” which was actually the mitigated Rule of 1247. She founded enclosed monasteries and established a group of priests who would direct her nuns. Among the first was John of St. Matthias who became known as John of the Cross. Both Teresa and John are most known today for their writings on spirituality. Teresa relied more upon Jerome Gracián for moving the Discalced reform forward although this caused tensions with the prior general John Rossi. On July 10, 1587, in his letter Cum de statu, Pope Sixtus V raised the Discalced reform to the status of a congregation headed by a vicar general. Following the death of both Teresa of Jesus (1582) and John of the Cross (1591), the General Chapter of Cremona in 1592 divided the Order in two with the Discalced Congregation receiving total independence. Clement VIII, in his constitution Pastoralis officii, confirms the decree of the Cremona chapter and erects the Order of Discalced Carmelites.
St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi
One of the greatest saints of the Order and one of its most exalted mystics, St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi was born in 1566 in Florence (Italy). Coming from a wealthy Florentine family, the future saint became friends with other influential women who would also leave their mark on the Church. She was canonized but not for her ecstasies but for her perfection of love, manifested in fidelity to daily duty and sincere dedication to the needs of others.
Expansion to South America
Although Pope Adrian VI authorized evangelization of the Indies and the post Tridentine period saw the development of a missionary apostolate of the Order, the Spanish king carefully controlled his realms beyond the sea and those remained closed to the Order. Al though a number of Carmelites were nominated as bishops in Spanish America, there was no permanent foundation of the Order. Brazil was a fertile territory for the Order with a vice-province being established by Portugal in 1595. The pope established two autonomous provinces in 1720. It would not be until the 20th century that Spanish America would benefit from the Carmelites.
Spiritual and Intellectual Life
In the second half of the sixteenth century, the Church and Carmel was adjusting to the Council of Trent and its enlightened faith, orthodoxy through education, renovation of liturgy, and private prayer. Carmelite spiritual writers gained a broader audience reflecting the spiritual interests of the age. Two incredible writers of the time were Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, both of whom wrote out of their Carmelite experience. They overshadow a host of other Carmelite writers from the period in Spain and beyond. Even today their literature and poetry remains popular.
