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The Post-Tridentine Period
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.
Expansion in Late Middle Ages
Generally. the election of Gerard of Bologna as prior general in the 1297 General Chapter of Bruges (France) is seen at the beginning of a new era for the Carmelite Order. Thirteenth century Carmel was predominantly eremitical; all its generals had been hermits. The priors general of the subsequent century are doctors of theology and often became bishops. The growth of the intellectual life of the Order was slow: “the primitive dwellers on Mount Carmel were simple hermits, unlettered, poor, they possessed no parchments, nor were they writers. They were more accustomed to pray rather than to write.”
However, formal theological training at universities throughout Europe was required for care of souls. By the end of the 1300s, the Order had houses of study or studia affiliated with the great centers of learning. It also allowed the Carmelites to become involved in some of the disputed questions in these theological centers. A number of distinguished doctors were produced: Gerard of Bologna, Guy Terreni of Perpignan, John Baconthorpe, and Michael Aiguani.
Others become involved in three areas of concern for the Order and its detractors: the origins of the Order; the Order’s approval by the popes; and the Order’s Marian title. The “official” statement about the origin of the Order is the Rubrica prima, a part of the Order’s constitutions, probably written before 1247. Other major works include Speculum (1337) by John de Chemineto and Philip Ribot’s Institution of the First Monks. The Marian foundation of the Order can be found laid out in Rubrica prima, De inception Ordinis, and Baconthorpe’s Speculum de institutione Ordinis pro veneration Beatae Mariae, Tractus super regulam, and Laus religionis carmelitanae.
During the Western Schism (1378-1417), the Black Death (1348-1349), and the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), the Order continued to grow but not as in previous decades. Nevertheless, many new provinces were established throughout Europe.
First Reforms
The General Chapter of 1451 elected John Soreth, considered to be one of the great prior generals of the Order. He attempted to establish reformed houses that were open to it and tried to eliminate abuses and raise the standard of observance in the others. Because Pope Callixtus III confirmed the proposals for the reform of the Order, the movement is called the Callistine Observance. The reform met with success in the Lower German province, as well as to some extent in provinces of Upper Germany, Francia, and Sicily. Blessed Aloysius Rabatà is a product of this reform.
An important feature of John Soreth’s reform instituted the cloistered Carmelite nuns. The papal bull Cum nulla (1452) of Nicholas Vth also extended the spiritual benefits of the Order to its lay members as well. Blessed Joan of Toulouse and Blessed Frances d’Amboise were major proponents of the Carmelite nuns.
Several other efforts were made to reform the Order from within. The Manutuan Congregation originated in the Tuscan Province of the Order, stressing silence and cloister and the common life. A major leader is Blessed Angelus Mazzinghi. Houses included LeSalve (Florence), Mantua and Geronde (Switzerland). The so-called Reform of Monte Oliveto was actually one autonomous house of the Order. Other reforms from outside the Order. The Reform of Albi was established by Cardinal George d’Amboise. He also reformed the studia in Place Maubert (Paris) and Toulouse, the most important stadium in the Order.
Another prior general which lasting influence on the life of the Order was Nicholas Audet from Cyprus. His lengthy term as leader of the Order was a time of renewal unseen since the time of Soreth. His articles of reform, Caput unicum, focused on divine worship, common life, and renewal of houses, with absences outside the cloister no longer permitted, perpetual priorates abolished, the sale of office and academic degrees forbidden, attendance required in the choir and refectory, among many others. Audet also receives some credit for reforms of the Roman Curia under Pope Julius III and Paul III.
Carmel and the Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance one associates with painting, sculpture, literature, and philosophy. North of the Alps philological and religious preoccupations prevail. The Renaissance spirit of the Carmelites shows that same divisions. The Carmine of Florence (Italy) was a center of artistic rebirth its Brancacci Chapel with paintings of Masolino and Filippino Lippi. Fra Filippo Lippi became the Carmine’s most illustrious son with paintings in various churches of Italy, some of which are now in museums. Blessed Baptist Spagnoli of Mantua became a major literary figure—a “second Virgil” according to some. A Belgian Carmelite, Arnold Bostius, became known for his correspondence with the wider humanist circle, including Erasmus, is remember also for his defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Carmel and the Council of Trent
Although the role of Carmel in the ecumenical Council of Trent was modest, the Order was represented at all twenty-five sessions minus one. Although Nicholas Audet was prior general, fifteen Carmelite theologians, although never more than five or six at a time, also contributed to the discussions of the Council. Most of these were Italians. By the third and final session of Trent, Audet was 80 years old and not in good health. John Stephen Facini was appointed his representative, including the right of a definitive vote. Three Carmelites signed the final documents.
Movement to Europe
Following the victory of Saladin against the Christians at Hattin in 1187 in the Second Crusade, the eremitical life in the open countryside became difficult. Although Carmel stayed relatively peaceful, by 1229, a number of hermits decided to return or migrate to the West. Foundations were made in Messina (Sicily), Aylesford (England), Hulne (England), and Les Aygalades (France). Foundations were also made in Nicosia (Cyprus), then in Frankish hands.
The move to Europe did not afford the Carmelites the opportunity to continue to live only in remote areas. Europe required a more communal, active lifestyle. Pope Innocent IV, then residing in Lyon (France), was asked by the Carmelites to “clarify and correct certain doubts and mitigate certain severities” in the formula or Rule given by St. Albert of Jerusalem. In 1247, in his papal bull Quae honorem, Innocent, modified the Carmelite Rule. This is the oldest copy of the Rule that we have today.
Almost immediately, concerns were raised about the fervor of the life being lived by the Carmelites. The prior general, Nicholas of France, produced an account of his visitations, commonly known as The Fiery Arrow (1270), which is an indictment of the Order’s observance and a call to return to the desert. This struggle between active life and contemplative life continues within the Order to this day.
During the Second Council of Lyon in 1274, voices arose against the proliferating new moments of religious life known as “medicants.” The Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 had forbid the founding of new orders and prospective founders were to adopt one of the existing rules. The founding of the Carmelites, because it occurred in the Holy Land, were allowed to continue until the Holy See could determine their legitimacy. The restrictions continued until they were removed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298. In 1326, Pope John XXII extended to the Carmelites all the privileges and exemptions of the Franciscans and Dominicans.
Our Foundation on Mount Carmel
The only existing religious order, founded in the land where Jesus lived, the Carmelites have neither individual founder nor date of foundation. The Order appears to be founded more as an ideal of growing closer to God, in the hermit tradition, in the land where Jesus had walked and from inspiration of two major figures in Sacred Scripture, the fiery Prophet Elijah and Mary, the Mother of God.
To establish some structure to the men who had settled on Carmel “next to the font of Elijah,” an ideal place for reflection, Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was approached and provided the Carmelites with a formula vitae or style of life which contained practical steps which assisted the Carmelites in their “walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.”
A Prayer to Saint Thérèse during COVID-19
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
On the eve of the liberation of France
You were proclaimed on the 3rd May 1944,
Secondary patron of France just like Saint Joan of Ark
Following the path of the Virgin Mary.
Today our country, France and the whole world
Is experiencing the plight of the Coronavirus which is decimating and worrying the people.
Saint Thérèse, we are asking you to intercede with Jesus
So that this illness is eradicated.
We pray to you Thérèse for the caregivers and for those people
Who, relentlessly, take care of those who are ill.
We pray to you Thérèse for the politicians and those who hold responsibilities
Who must make crucial decisions.
We pray to you Thérèse for the companies which are in difficulty
And for all of those people who are unable to go to work.
We pray to you Thérèse for all of the families who have been affected
By this illness, death and confinement.
With you Saint Thérèse we would like to give thanks
For the gestures of solidarity kindled during this ordeal.
Saint Thérèse, you who promised to let fall a shower of roses,
Keep us in faith and in peace,
Welcome into Heaven the numerous deceased
Obtain for us from Jesus resurrected from the dead,
The fall and end of this pandemic
As a gift of love from the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Together with you Thérèse, I say: Our Father
Together with you Thérèse, I say: Hail Mary
Glory be to the Father and to Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen.
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face pray for us.
A prayer of those accompanying dying loved ones
Death is approaching.
It may come very soon.
Life slips away, because of a virus
I look around and see so much care,
In the hospital and at home.
I long for this suffering to end.
Let love be our strength
Our love for one another
And God’s love for all of us
Let this time remind us again
Of how helpless we can be,
How helpless we are,
Unless we allow God to help us.
I turn to him,
and ask for protection, and life and healing.
Lord, I see your mother and our mother,
in the midst of all of this,
accompanying some on their journey home to you,
taking others by the hand and restoring them to their families.
She can do this because she is full of your love.
I see Mary, pondering all that is happening
And I hear her saying for all of us, let your will be done.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
A Prayer for Priests during COVID-19
Eternal God,
Be with our priests this day as they seek
to minister to your people.
May you be a guiding and protective presence with them
as they bring the consolation and hope of Your word
and the grace and nourishment of Eucharist
to those entrusted into their care.
Grant them the strength of mind and body,
keep them safe to do your will,
And give them the courage and peace
to face each day with trust and confidence in You.
Into your hands O God, we commend them;
fill them with your grace and healing. Amen.
(from the Irish Bishops’ Conference)
A Prayer for Healthcare Workers during COVID-19
Loving God,
we place into your care
all our doctors, nurses and healthcare workers.
Give them courage of heart
and strength of mind and body.
Keep them safe from harm.
May they know our deep gratitude
for all they are doing
to heal and help those affected by
the coronavirus.
God of all consolation
may they know your protection and peace.
Bless them in these challenging days
and bless their families.
Amen.
(from the Irish Bishops’ Conference)
A Carmelite Prayer during COVID-19
Eternal God,
calm the fear in our hearts.
Help us to work together to protect
and look after each other.
May your healing spirit be with
those suffering from this disease,
and those caring for them,
all healthcare professionals
and researchers.
Be with those who mourn
the loss of their loved ones.
Be with all of us in our fear and uncertainty.
Save us from panic and distress.
May we continue to be your strong, calm,
loving and compassionate presence
to one another.
This we ask in the name of Jesus,
healer of the sick
and friend of the forgotten ones.
AMEN
'The light shines in the darkness, a light that darkness could not overpower.' (John 1:5)
A Prayer to Mary during COVID-19
O Mary,
you always shine on our path
as a sign of salvation and of hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm.
You, Salvation of the Roman People,
know what we need,
and we are sure you will provide
so that, as in Cana of Galilee,
we may return to joy and to feasting
after this time of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform to the will of the Father
and to do as we are told by Jesus,
who has taken upon himself our sufferings
and carried our sorrows
to lead us, through the cross,
to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.
Under your protection, we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God.
Do not disdain the entreaties of we who are in trial,
but deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Pope Francis