Carmelites

CARMELITES. - Religious order that takes its name from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, where in the 12th century the existence of a group of ascetics is historically attested, to whom Albert of Vercelli (v.), Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1208-1209 gave the rule that the Order still professes.

I. CARMELITES OF THE ANCIENT OBSERVANCE

The rule was approved by Honorius III in 1226, and, with some mitigation especially regarding abstinence from meat, by Innocent IV in 1248. Further mitigations came from Pius II, Eugene IV, and Sixtus IV.

A pious tradition would trace the Order back to the prophet Elijah, whose mission was continued by his disciple Elisha and by the "sons of the prophets" until the advent of Christianity, to which they would have adhered, becoming also cooperators in the preaching of the Gospel and cultivating on Carmel the most choice forms of asceticism together with the cult of the Virgin Mother, to whom they would have raised a temple near the spring of Elijah. They lived an eremitical life in various groupings or "laure," and were gravely tried by the Persian invasion in the 7th century and by the subsequent Muslim conquest. Their institute survived on Carmel thanks to the Muslims' veneration for the prophet Elijah: and in the time of the Crusades it grew through the influx of Western pilgrims and knights. This Carmelite tradition was strongly opposed in the 1600s by the Bollandist Fr. Papebroch (Acta SS. Aprilis, II, Antwerp 1668, pp. 764-99). It should be noted, however, that further studies have helped to lend it credit at least in its broad outlines, enriching the polemical literature of the 1600s, in which the Jesuit Fr. Raynaud was also a defender of the C. There are even those who have attempted a full vindication of the tradition itself (Fr. Fiorenzo del Bambin Gesù: Il monte Carmelo, Cremona 1930). More recent criticism (B. Zimmermann, G. Wessels, B. Xiberis) has studied the problem by adopting a realistic criterion in the Order's incontestable Elian consciousness, namely that of a moral paternity of the prophet, inasmuch as the religious, living on the mountain that was the theater of his lofty spirituality, modeled their life on his example.

After the approval of Honorius III in 1226, the Order spread along the Mediterranean and into the interior of Syria; but it did not have a tranquil existence because of the frequent conflicts between Christians and Muslims, who, after their victory, attacked Carmel and killed the religious. Palestine was then definitively abandoned; and indeed from the beginning of the 13th century we find the C. in various countries of Europe. In 1240 the first general Chapter of the West was held at Aylesford, from which Alan the Breton was elected prior. In 1245 St. Simon Stock (v.) succeeded him, to whom the foundation of convents in the major university centers is due: Cambridge, Oxford, Bologna, Paris. The contemplative life was enriched by the initiatives of the active life; but this displeased those who saw the eremitical spirit declining in the urban foundations. This attitude would persist for some centuries still, giving rise to various reforms, such as the Mantuan (15th century), the Turonian (17th century), that of S. Maria della Scala (18th century) and other lesser ones: so many nurseries of holiness, upon which the reform of St. Teresa of Jesus (v.) vigorously asserted itself, aided by St. John of the Cross (v.) and which in 1593 constituted itself as an autonomous Order (v. below: C. scalzi).

In their studies the c. found already established the great schools whose most distinguished representative they followed, one or the other: Henry of Ghent at Oxford, Godfrey of Fontaines at Paris. Great fame was attained by Gerard of Bologna (1317), Sibert of Beek (1332), Guido Terrena (1342), John Baconthorp (1346), Michael of Bologna (1416). Famous controversialists were John Cunningham and Thomas Netter (the Waldensian) against the Wycliffites; Everard Billich, Andrew Stoss, Paul Elijah, Lorenzo Laureto, against the Protestants. In the 1600s Paolo Foscarini upheld the orthodoxy of Galileo; in the 1700s Elijah Astorino, apologist and scholar, distinguished himself; in the 1800s Agostino Molin, Fr. Perricone, Fr. Mazzetti. Illustrious saints were Angelo of Licata (13th century), Albert of Sicily (14th century), Andrew Corsini (14th century), the bl. Agostino Mazzinghi (15th century), the bl. John Soreth (15th century), St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi. The great number of religious who died in the reputation of holiness, among them Michael of St. Augustine, John of St. Samson, Angelo de Paolis, Jerome Terzo, Andrew Statella, testify to the mystical fervor of the Order, which in the time of the Protestant Reformation suffered grave damages. The religious provinces of Bohemia, Saxony, Dacia, Ireland and Scotland were devastated; in England, under Henry VIII, 50 convents were suppressed and 1500 religious were tortured, dispersed or killed; very many were the martyrs of Calvinist fury in France and of the Red fury in Spain in 1936. In compensation Italy was enriched in that period with 40 convents. The prior generals Andeth and De Rossi, with a good number of able theologians, took part in the works of the Council of Trent. At present (1949) the Order numbers 2734 religious. Reorganization has happily resumed in the last fifty years, with very encouraging results. The nuns, or Second Order, instituted under Nicholas V, soon had great growth and today number about a thousand. The Third Order was instituted under St. Simon Stock, and has many affiliates.

It has also assumed a regular form with female institutes of active life: 2 in Spain, 3 in Italy, 2 in North America. A characteristic devotion is that of the scapular, which is asserted to have been given to St. Simon Stock by the Virgin as a sign of her particular protection for those who would wear it. The feast of Carmel is celebrated everywhere with popular solemnities in a beneficial climate of joy, like that of the "Madonna de noantri" in Rome (Trastevere) and that of Naples with the phantasmagorical "fire" of the classic bell tower. In the liturgy the c. follow the rite of the Holy Sepulchre, and their most ancient ceremonial is the Ordinal of Sibert of Beek.

Alberto Grammatico

II. CARMELITES SCALZI

They owe their origin to the reform of the Carmelite Order, carried out by St. Teresa of Jesus together with St. John of the Cross.

The first convent was opened at Duruelo in 1568, a second at Pastrana (1569). From these the reform spread in a short time throughout all of Spain, so that at the death of St. Teresa (1582) there existed 17 monasteries of reformed nuns and 15 convents of friars (called Fratres primitivae observantiae, and later Fratres Discalceati), all placed under the jurisdiction of the general of the Carmelite Order, but forming (since 1580) a province of their own. As the number of convents increased, in 1593 they obtained complete autonomy with the right to elect their own general.

Subsequently, when some of these religious moved to Italy and founded the first convents in Genoa (1584) and Rome (1597), they were, by apostolic authority, on 13 Nov. 1600, separated from the Spanish branch and constituted as their own Congregation, called the Congregation of Italy, or of St. Elias, with its own general and constitutions. While the Congregation of Spain (called of St. Joseph) was formed only by Spain, Portugal and Mexico, while that of Italy comprised France, Belgium, Germany and Poland.

The Congregation of Italy had missionaries almost from the beginning in Persia (as early as 1608), in India: in the Great Mogul and Sindh (1619) and in Malabar (1663), in Mesopotamia (1623), in Syria (1627), in England (1614), in Holland (1648), in the Morea (1685), in China (1720).

In the great storm that scattered all the religious Orders, at the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, first all the convents of the Italian Congregation were suppressed, then, in 1835, also those of the Spanish Congregation. When the latter rose again, in 1875 it was united with the restored Italian Congregation, so that from that time there exists only a single Order of Discalced Carmelites, which currently numbers 23 provinces and 4 quasi-provinces with 295 convents of friars and about 3000 religious; 640 convents of nuns with 13,000 sisters. The Discalced Carmelites currently have missions in Syria, in Iraq, in the East Indies, in South America: more than 100 priests, about fifty lay brothers, and a great number of Carmelite tertiaries work there.

The Order of the Discalced Carmelites observes the same rule of St. Albert, but without the mitigations introduced by Pope Eugene IV (1432), with its own constitutions: those of the Congregation of Spain were drawn up in 1593, those of the Congregation of Italy in 1599. The current ones, common to the whole Order, are those of Italy, approved by the Holy See on 10 January 1928. The spirit of the Order is predominantly contemplative; nevertheless the Discalced Carmelites also devote themselves to the works of the sacred ministry. Their rite is that of the Roman Church.

The holiness of the reformed Carmel, both in its male and in its female branch, is manifested in its saints and blesseds, such as: St. Teresa of Jesus (v.), St. John of the Cross (v.), St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (v.), St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (v.) and the blessed martyrs Dionysius of the Nativity and Redemptus of the Cross (v.), the blessed Anna of St. Bartholomew (v.), the blessed 16 martyr nuns of Compiègne (v.), the blessed Mary of the Incarnation, the blessed Mary of the Angels (v.) and numerous others whose cause of beatification is under discussion or who died in the odour of sanctity.

In the sciences too the Discalced Carmelites have made a strong contribution with works of high value. In philosophy the authors of the famous Cursus Complutensis stand out first of all, that is, of the philosophical college of Alcalá de Henares, which is followed by another even more grandiose one, the Cursus Theologicus Salmanticensis in 12 folio volumes, whose authors, Discalced Carmelites of the theological college of Salamanca, are the most faithful commentators of St. Thomas Aquinas. Besides this celebrated course, the fathers of the college of Salamanca also published a Cursus Theologiae Moralis, esteemed by the competent. Among the philosophers and theologians of the reformed Carmel, those especially worthy of mention are: Alessio di S. Aquilino, Eisentraut, scripture scholar (1732-85), Antonio della Madre di Dio, theologian (d. 1641), Antonio dello Spirito Santo, Carraca, theologian and bishop (1618-74), Biagio della Concezione, Riguet, philosopher (1603-94), Cassiano di S. Elia, Pallavicini, theologian (1629-1714), Domenico della S.ma Trinità, Tardy, theologian (1616-1687), Federico di Gesù, Schellhorn, theologian (1721-88), Filippo della S.ma Trinità, Julien, philosopher, theologian and mystic (1603-71), Gabriele di S. Vincenzo, Beonio, theologian (1609-71), Giovanni dell'Annunziata, Llanes-Campomanes, theologian and philosopher (1633-1701), Ilario di S. Anastasio, Vochet, controversialist (1589-1656), and the other famous controversialist Liberio di Gesù (1646-1719), Onorato di S. Maria, Vauzelle, scripture scholar and critic (1651-1729), Paolo della Concezione, Ximénez Navarro, theologian (1666-1734), Taddeo di S. Adamo, Dereser, scripture scholar (1757-1827). There are then among the missionaries of the Order several who, with their grammars and dictionaries of various Oriental languages, occupy a not negligible place among Orientalists, such as Fr. Clemente di Gesù, Peano (1731-82), Celestino di S. Lidvina, van Gool (1597-1676), Geminiano di S. Ottavia (1702-63), Stefano dei SS. Pietro e Paolo, Ruffi (1692-1767), as well as the famous Fr. Paolino di S. Bartolomeo, Weszdin (1748-1806), who published the first grammar of Sanskrit in Europe, and many other works of the kind. But more than in all this, the Discalced Carmelites emerged in mystical theology, in which they can cite the most celebrated writers of all times: St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, whose immortal works are not only true jewels of Spanish national literature, but indeed the principal source of mystical doctrine. These two mystics are followed by the venerable Giovanni di Gesù Maria (1564-1615), Tommaso di Gesù, Sánchez Davila (1564-1627), Filippo della S.ma Trinità (1603-71), the two Giuseppe dello Spirito Santo, that is, the Portuguese (1609-74) and the Spaniard (1667-1736), the latter the author of the great Cursus theologiae mysticae and many others.

Ambrogio di Santa Teresa