CARMELITES. - Female branch of the Carmelite Order. Around 1400 some Beguines of Guelders, Holland, came together for monastic life, and in 1452 they asked Bl. John Soreth to be admitted into the Carmelite Order. Nicholas V approved them on 7 October of the same year and granted them the privileges of the mendicant Orders. Thus arose the Second Order, which followed the rule of St. Albert of Vercelli and the mitigations of Eugene IV. The development was rapid and Carmelite monasteries soon arose in France, Holland, Belgium and Italy: they lived under the dependence of the Order. On these Carmelites St. Teresa made her powerful reforming influence felt, and indeed in 1562 the first reformed monastery came to life at Avila. Of those that did not follow the said reform and remained with the mitigations of Eugene IV, today only a few monasteries remain in Italy, Holland, Spain and America.

The reform carried out by St. Teresa spread rapidly throughout Spain, whence, after her death (1582), it soon spread to Italy, France, the Low Countries, Germany and other regions. In our days the number of the Discalced Carmelites, in more than six hundred monasteries scattered across the various continents, including the mission lands and in continuous increase, rises to about 13,000.

St. Teresa established the observance of the rule of St. Albert, without the mitigations granted by Eugene IV to the convents and monasteries of the Order. She wrote the constitutions with her own hand, approved in 1581. The Teresian monastery, as a rule, is composed of no more than twenty-one religious, of whom three are converse sisters, and is subject to strict enclosure. Abstinence from meat admits no exceptions except for reasons of illness. Frequent and prolonged fasting is particularly observed in the period from 14 September, 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 retirement of one's own cell, ordinarily occupied in 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 even on the diocesan Ordinary.

CARMELITES - Carmel of Lafayette (U.S.A.), founded in 1936.(by courtesy of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers - Ibam)

Their habit: a tunic drawn tight at the waist by a leather belt, and a scapular, of brown wool; the white mantle, with the black veil if they are professed choir sisters, white if they are novices or converse sisters; they wear sandals made of hemp, called alpargate.

Numerous are the c. religious who died in the odor of sanctity. Besides the Mother, St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (Redi), Bl. Mary of the Incarnation, Mary of the Angels, sixteen martyrs of Compiègne, Anne of St. Bartholomew reached the honors of the altars.

Bibliography2 works

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

Giovanni di Gesù e Maria

CARMELITE CONGREGATIONS

Alongside the Carmelite nuns, who form the Second Order and lead a contemplative life, other congregations arose which, while drawing inspiration from the spirituality of Carmel, also directly embrace the active life, devoting themselves to schools, hospitals, charitable works, etc. They are:

1. CARMELITES OF THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS

A congregation founded in 1891 in Berlin by Sister Maria Teresa of St. Joseph (Maria Tauscher van den Bosch, daughter of a Protestant pastor, converted from Protestantism), to gather in and educate in a Christian manner orphaned and abandoned children, and which was approved in 1930. Having spread through 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 1000 nuns.

2. CARMELITES OF CHARITY

A congregation founded in 1826 by the b. Joaquina de Vedruna, widow de Mas, at Vic, to assist the sick and to educate young women in a Christian manner. After the death of the foundress the Institute spread rapidly and was approved in 1880. Today it has 5 provinces, with 164 houses (colleges, nurseries, hospitals) and 2268 nuns.

3. CARMELITES OF LUXEMBOURG

Founded in 1872 by Canon Nicolas Wies at Luxembourg, the Institute has 15 houses with 160 Sisters for the training of young women in domestic service, and the assistance of the sick and the elderly.

4. CARMELITES OF ST. TERESA

An Institute founded in 1889 in Santiago de Chile by Sister Magdalena of Jesus Mary and Sister Carmela of Jesus, for the purpose of instructing poor girls free of charge.

5. DISCALCED CARMELITES OF GRACIA

A religious congregation founded by Fr. Francisco 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 instruction of little girls and charitable service in hospitals, prisons, asylums, etc.

6. DISCALCED CARMELITES OF ST. TERESA

An Institute founded in 1903 by Msgr. Prospero M. Alarcón, archbishop of Mexico City, for the purpose of gathering in poor girls and instructing them in the Catholic religion, in public and private schools. It also has infant nurseries, workshops for unemployed young women, and assists the sick in nursing homes. It was approved in 1938 and today has 12 houses with 161 nuns.

Bibliography

BIBL.: M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen, II, 3rd ed., Paderborn 1934, pp. 92-93.

Ambrogio di Santa Teresa

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