CARMELITES (FEMALE). – The feminine branch of the Carmelite Order. Around 1400, some beguines from Guelders, Holland, gathered to live a monastic life, and in 1452 they petitioned Blessed John Soreth to be admitted into the Carmelite Order. Nicholas V approved and granted them the privileges of mendicant orders on 7 October of the same year. Thus arose the Second Order, which followed the Rule of St Albert of Vercelli and the mitigations of Eugene IV. Development was rapid, and Carmelite monasteries soon arose in France, Holland, Belgium, and Italy, living under the jurisdiction of the Order. On these Carmelites, St Teresa exerted a powerful reforming influence, and indeed in 1562 in Avila the first reformed monastery came into being. Of those who did not follow this reform and remained under the mitigations of Eugene IV, only a few monasteries survive today in Italy, Holland, Spain, and America.
The reform carried out by St Teresa spread rapidly throughout Spain, and after her death (1582) it soon extended to Italy, France, the Low Countries, Germany, and other regions. Today, the number of Discalced Carmelites, in more than six hundred monasteries spread across various continents including mission lands and still growing, amounts to about 13,000.
St Teresa established observance of the Rule of St Albert without the mitigations granted by Eugene IV to convents and monasteries of the Order. She herself wrote the constitutions, which were approved in 1581. A Teresian monastery, by rule, consists of no more than twenty-one nuns, of whom three are lay sisters, and is subject to strict enclosure. Abstinence from meat admits no exceptions except for reasons of illness. Frequent and strict fasting is particularly observed from 14 September, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, to Easter. Each day, two hours of mental prayer and the choral recitation of the Divine Office are prescribed. The remainder of the day is spent in silence and retreat within one’s cell, ordinarily occupied with manual work. The monasteries, independent of one another, are governed by a prioress assisted by her council; with regard to jurisdiction, they depend on the superiors of the Order or on the diocesan ordinary.
Their habit consists of a tunic girded at the waist with a leather belt, and a scapular of brown wool; a white mantle with a black veil for professed choir sisters, white for novices or lay sisters; they wear sandals made of hemp, called *alpargatas*.
Many of the nuns have died in the odor of sanctity. Besides the Mother Foundress, the following have been raised to the honors of the altar: St Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (Redi), the Blessed Mary of the Incarnation, Mary of the Angels, the sixteen martyrs of Compiègne, and Anne of St Bartholomew.
CONGREGATIONS OF CARMELITES. – Alongside the female Carmelites forming the Second Order, which lead a contemplative life, other congregations have arisen that, while inspired by Carmelite spirituality, also embrace an active life, engaging in schools, hospitals, charitable works, etc. These are:
1. **CARMELITES OF THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS**. – Congregation founded in 1891 in Berlin by Mother Mary Teresa of St Joseph (Mary Tauscher van den Bosch, daughter of a Protestant pastor, converted from Protestantism), to gather and educate orphaned and abandoned children in the Christian faith, and which was approved in 1930. Having spread to Germany, Holland, England, and Italy, the Institute observes the constitutions of St Teresa, except for fasting and enclosure, and is divided into 9 provinces with 58 houses (called “Houses of St Joseph”) and about 1,000 sisters.
2. **CARMELITES OF CHARITY**. – Congregation founded in 1826 by Blessed Joaquina de Vedruna, widow of Mas, in Vich, to care for the sick and to educate young women in the Christian faith. After the founder’s death, the Institute spread rapidly and was approved in 1880. Today it has 5 provinces, with 164 houses (schools, kindergartens, hospitals) and 2,268 sisters.
3. **CARMELITES OF LUXEMBOURG**. – Founded in 1872 by Canon Nicholas Wies in Luxembourg, the Institute has 15 houses with 160 sisters for the training of young women in domestic service, and the care of the sick and elderly.
4. **CARMELITES OF ST TERESA**. – Institute founded in 1889 in Santiago de Chile by Sister Magdalene of Jesus Mary and Sister Carmela of Jesus, with the aim of providing free education to poor girls.
5. **DISCALCED CARMELITES OF GRACIA**. – Religious congregation founded in 1860 in Barcelona by Fr Francis Palau y Quer. It has 43 houses in Spain, 8 in Argentina, and 4 in Colombia, with 614 sisters. The purpose of the Institute is the education of girls and charitable service in hospitals, prisons, asylums, etc.
6. **DISCALCED CARMELITES OF ST TERESA**. – Institute founded in 1903 by Monsignor Prospero M. Alarcón, Archbishop of Mexico City, with the aim of gathering poor girls and instructing them in the Catholic faith in public and private schools. It also runs kindergartens, workshops for unemployed young women, and cares for the sick in convalescent homes. It was approved in 1938 and today has 12 houses with 161 sisters.