THE HERITAGE OF CARMEL
THE HERITAGE OF CARMEL
"Fidelity to Mary is a guarantee of continuity with the purest tradition of Carmel. It renews the covenant of love which the Virgin has sought to
THE HERITAGE OF CARMEL
THE HERITAGE OF CARMEL
"Fidelity to Mary is a guarantee of continuity with the purest tradition of Carmel. It renews the covenant of love which the Virgin has sought to have with our religious family in the Church."
The Order of Carmel, its roots plunged deep in the Old Testament, has its origin
on the remote and inaccessible heights of Mount Carmel, a prominent landmark
in Palestine. Through the successive centuries, the Order expanded and
has given the Church many mystics, saints, poets, theologians and spiritual writers.
SAINT ELIJAH - FATHER OF THE CARMELITES
The entire recorded history of Mount Carmel is one of a place of worship.
It is on the heights of Mount Carmel that Elijah wages the
great battle for the worship of the people of God, whose hearts had strayed
to Baal. The story of the contest is told with great drama in I Kings
18. Elijah calls the people of God to stop their wavering and dithering,
and to return to the God of the covenant. His prayer is heard and Elijah emerges
from this as a great model of the person of prayer; it is only after this
personal encounter with God in the prayer of silence that Elijah, whose
heart is filled with 'zealous zeal for the Lord, the God of hosts' (I Kings 19:10),
returns to the ministry of proclaiming God's holy word.
A COMMUNITY OF HERMITS - THE FIRST CARMELITES
In the late twelfth century, another group of hermits (ordinary laymen,
most of whom had come to the Holy Land on Crusades) were drawn to seek
God on the holy slopes of Carmel, and in imitation of the holy and solitary
prophet Elijah, lived in solitude in the caves that are to be found there.
Elijah was for them a model of prayer, or standing in God's presence,
and prophetic action. He became the prototype of their life.
Over time, these hermits came together in the desire to share their journey
to God as a community. They sought the approval of the Church, and received
a Rule from Saint Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem. They took Mary, the Mother
of Jesus, for their model. They even dedicated their chapel on Mount Carmel
in her honour. So devoted were they to the Blessed Virgin that their
official name became "The Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel,"
THE RULE OF SAINT ALBERT: A RULE OF LIFE FOR THE CARMELITES
The Rule of the first Carmelites was given in 1209 by Saint Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
According to the Rule, the Carmelites principal work was to 'ponder the law of the Lord by day and night.' The Rule is permeated with the flavor of eastern monasticism. Biblical and evangelical, it is brief and unlegalistic converging towards the contemplation of God. With its insistence on continual prayer, obedience to a superior, solitude and simplicity in every phase of life, its exhortation to manual work and its prescription for silence, perpetual abstinence and fasting, this first Rule has been called a "Rule of Mysticism". This Rule of Saint Albert still guides the Carmelites today.
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL : PATRONESS OF THE CARMELITES
Three key words sum up the origin of the Carmelite relationship with the Virgin Mary which forms part of the charism: Mount Carmel itself, the Marian name of the Order, the explicit mention of the dedication of the Order of Carmel to the service of Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Carmel is wholly Mary's. The Carmelite Constitutions stress this fundamental aspect of the Order's spirituality in all its aspects from the most profound life in communion with Mary and imitating her to the simplest personal and community devotion.
In Mary, Carmelites scattered throughout the world are united in a commitment to serve Christ and his Church. Thus they imitate the Virgin Handmaid of the Lord, who silently walked in the footsteps of her Son and cooperated with him for the salvation of the world, by prayer and a life surrendered to the mystery of salvation.
THE CARMELITES MIGRATE TO THE WEST
After spreading throughout the Holy Land, the Order's own growth and inner vitality indicated migration to Western Europe, origin of many of the first Carmelites. This move was actually made imperative by the constant Saracen uprising in Palestine. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the Crusaders, fell in 1291 and in July of that year the merciless conquerors climbed Mount Carmel, massacred the remaining monks and even destroyed their dwellings. Tradition has it that these devoted Sons of Mary went to their martyrdom chanting the SALVE REGINA. For more than three centuries the Holy Mou