Carmelites (CARMELITANE) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 528

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

CARMELITANE. – The female branch of the Carmelite Order. Around 1400, some béguines of Gueldres, Holland, came together for monastic life, and in 1452 they asked the blessed Giovanni Soreth to be admitted into the Carmelite Order. On 7 October of that same year, Niccolò V approved them and granted them the privileges of the mendicant Orders. Thus the Second Order came into being, following the rule of s. Alberto da Vercelli and the mitigations of Eugenio IV. Its development was rapid, and Carmelite monasteries soon arose in France, Holland, Belgium, and Italy: they lived under the authority of the Order. Among these Carmelites, s. Teresa exerted her powerful reforming influence, and indeed in 1562 the first reformed monastery was established at Avila. Of those who did not follow this reform and remained subject to the mitigations of Eugenio IV, only a few monasteries now remain in Italy, Holland, Spain, and America.

The reform instituted by s. Teresa spread rapidly throughout Spain, whence, after her death (1582), it soon spread to Italy, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and other regions. Today the number of Discalced Carmelites, in more than six hundred monasteries scattered throughout the various continents, including the mission territories, and continually increasing, amounts to approximately 13,000.

S. Teresa established observance of the rule of s. Alberto, without the mitigations granted by Eugenio IV to the convents and monasteries of the Order. She drafted the constitutions in her own hand, and they were approved in 1581. The monastery of Tere-

Article illustration — (courtesy of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers – Ibam) CARMELITANE - Carmel of Lafayette (U.S.A.), founded in 1936.

is, as a rule, composed of no more than twenty-one religious, three of whom are lay sisters, and is subject to strict enclosure. Abstinence from meat admits no exceptions except for reasons of illness. Frequent and prolonged fasting is observed particularly during the period from 14 Sept., the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, to Easter. Every day, two hours of mental prayer and the choral recitation of the Divine Office are prescribed. The rest of the day is spent in silence and in the seclusion of one’s cell, ordinarily occupied with manual work. The monasteries, independent of one another, are governed by a prioress assisted by her Council; as regards jurisdiction, they depend on the superiors of the Order or also on the diocesan Ordinary.

Their habit consists of a tunic drawn tight at the waist by a leather belt, and a scapular of brown wool; a white cape, with a black veil for choir nuns professed, and a white one for novices or lay sisters; they wear sandals made of hemp, called alpargates.

Numerous are the Carmelite religious who have died in the odor of sanctity. Besides the Mother, the following attained the honors of the altars: s. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, s. Teresa del Bambin Gesù, s. Teresa Margherita del Sacro Cuore (Redi), the b. Maria dell'Incarnazione, Maria degli Angeli, the sixteen martyrs of Compiègne, and Anna di S. Bartolomeo.

BIBL.: M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen, II, 3ª ed., Paderborn 1934, pp. 85-90; Carmel d'Avon, Carmelites, in Catholicisme, II (1949), cols. 563-66.

Giovanni di Gesù e Maria
CARMELITE CONGREGATIONS. — Alongside the C., forming the Second Order and leading a contemplative life, other congregations arose which, while also drawing their inspiration from the spirituality of Carmel, directly embrace the active life, engaging in schools, hospitals, charitable works, etc. They are:

1. C. OF THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS. — Congregation founded in 1891 in Berlin by Sister Maria Teresa di S. Giuseppe (Maria Tauscher van den Bosch, daughter of a Protestant pastor, converted from Protestantism), to gather and provide a Christian education for orphaned and abandoned children; it was approved in 1930. Having spread through Germany, Holland, England, and Italy, the Institute observes the constitutions of s. Teresa, except for fasting and enclosure, and is divided into 9 provinces with 58 houses (called “houses of S. Joseph”) and approximately 1,000 sisters.

2. C. OF CHARITY. — Congregation founded in 1826 by the b. Gioacchina de Vedruna, widow of de Mas, at Vich, to care for the sick and to provide a Christian education for young women. After the founder’s death, the Institute spread rapidly and was approved in 1880. It now has 5 provinces, with 164 houses (colleges, kindergartens, hospitals) and 2,268 sisters.

3. C. OF LUXEMBURG. — Founded in 1872 by Canon Nicola Wies at Luxemburg, the Institute has 15 houses with 160 sisters, for training young women in domestic service and caring for the sick and the elderly.

4. C. OF S. TERESA. — Institute founded in 1889 in Santiago del Cile by Sister Maddalena di Gesù Maria and Sister Carmela di Gesù, with the aim of providing free instruction to poor girls.

5. BAREFOOT C. DE GRACIA. — Religious congregation founded by Fr. Francesco Palau y Quer in 1860 in Barcelona. 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, mental institutions, etc.

6. BAREFOOT C. OF S. TERESA. — Institute founded in 1903 by Msgr. Prospero M. Alarcón, archbishop of Città del Messico, with the aim of taking in poor girls and instructing them in the Catholic religion, in public and private schools. It also has kindergartens and workshops for unemployed young women, and cares for sick women in hospitals. It was approved in 1938 and now has 12 houses with 161 sisters.

BIBL.: M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen, II, 3ª ed., Paderborn 1934, pp. 92-93. Ambrogio di Santa Teresa