The Vow of Poverty

Brothers, let us imitate the poverty of Saint Francis of Assisi, because of this " No religious is to call anything his own." but let everything be in common and the prior or the religious appointed by him, shall distribute to each one..."(Primitive Rule of Carmel)

My sons and brothers, remember, we have given up everything to Jesus therefore let us trust in His Divine providence, whatever we receive comes from Our Lord and He gave it through you for the community, For as the prior is the Vicar of Christ in the monastery you also represent the whole community. Let not the spirit of greed invade the community for it will cause the weakening of brotherhood in a community. Sharing is charity an act of love and true sign of holiness. For love itself is holiness because God is Holy He is also love.

Let us express radically imitating the poverty of the Lord by wearing simple habit made of sack cloth or catcha. Let our habit serves as a penitential garment. Let our habit have an inner tunic  made of catcha cloth or sack cloth and the proper habit the outer tunic with the scapular of ponjie cloth, with the color of earth.
Let this be for every religious the garment of grace along with the scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

We also have  working habit to be worn during manual work with apron. We must not remove the habit, we just protect it with our working habit, it depends upon the approval of the prior. the working habit must be in black color.

Saint Teresa of Jesus of Avila said: Wearing the Carmelite habit remind us that we must be in contemplation even when in work. Let us meditate on the life of our Lord and contemplate His Holy Face.

VOW OF OBEDIENCE

The Prior is the paternal image of God, just as the Pope is the Vicar of Christ in the Universal Church, in the monastery the prior is the vicar of Christ in the community, thus even if we are brothers we must address the Prior reverently  as "FATHER".
First Precept of the Rule state thus: " We ordain in the first place that once you be prior, who shall be elected to that office by unanimous consent of all or the greater and wiser part; to this prior all the others shall promise obedience; and having promised, endeavor to practice it faithfully, together with Chastity and Poverty.

The above statement of the rule stresses that the social unity of the order by centralizing it; and it places obedience as the center gravity of the religious life we must be mindful of the passages of the rule that says; " And everything shall be done according to his will and direction (of the prior)."

THE THIRD STAGE THE PROFESSION

In the Third stage which is the true solitary is to direct all your faculties towards the inmost recesses of dessert in your hearts, this  consist if the most interior exercises, the highest and the most spiritual performed up to perpetual vow. You are to begin now to strive for an intimate union with and transformation of your soul into God."
Brothers, the Holy Rule of Carmel helps us to discover a very intimate union with Jesus, a union that will captivate our soul and transfigure us to Himself.

My sons and brothers, please when you read these lessons do not think that I am perfect for I too will get along reading my notes as to keep me on the path and to make His Majesty happy. Here I tried to explain the Holy Rule and the way of life as I experienced it. I ask you to strive hard to follow every letter of the rule so that our path to perfection will culminate us all to become saints.

LET US ALWAYS LOOK AND CONTEMPLATE TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS

Though we are hermits we also have indeed the virtue of this cenobitic spirit, the rule units the subjects, not  only by offering us a common ideal and imposing on them the personal use of the same means. but above all grouping us in a living society, where an interior bond of brotherhood is manifested by obedience and the commin life, becomes the fundamental means of perfection."

THE NOVITIATE FORMATION

After the first period, similar in some respects to hermitic novitiate, follows.

Novitiate, in which mortification and self denial of the passions of the soul together with knowledge and love of Christ will work progressive purification of the heart, the end toward which all the exercises of this period is directed. In this stage we will do battle to ourselves. For me this is the moment when the soul is purified painfully with the fire of Divine Love. Be on guard brothers for the devil will try to put off the flame of God's love burning in you; this love burns with our vocation and not only that he will do all he can to test you, and even made you give up your calling and leave the monastery. Believe me in this for I too have experienced this kind of struggle, mostly in novitiate stage when we are almost in the climax of self battling many will not survive. Saint Therese of the Child has also experienced this before her profession, that she run to the Mother Prioress, asking her profession be cancelled for a while for she will extend her retreat or leave the monastery. (From the Story of the Soul, Saint Therese biography) That is why brothers as your union with our Lord in this mystical marriage approaches I ask you to deepen your prayer and allow the flame of the Sacred Heart to consume our souls, Always contemplate on the Holy Face of Jesus so that we will overcome all the attacks of the Devil. My brothers this is the reason that every Tuesday after our Divine office we pray the reparation prayer to the Holy Face of Jesus.

Let us look only in the eyes of Jesus, let us gaze His Holy face and we will be saved. As the psalmist once say: "SHOW US YOUR FACE LORD AND WE SHALL BE SAVED." Let us hold on to this devotion for by contemplating the Holy Face of Jesus Saint Therese of the Child Jesus becomes victorious and becomes the greatest Saint of the modern times and the youngest doctor of the Church.
The Bible teaches us to seek God first and everything will be added to us.

Jesus said: Be faithful to me and I will be faithful to you.

The Spiritual Obligation of the Hermits

First of all, we must know that the Carmelite in the dessert is not considered as a religious who has already aquired monastic perfection. Rather, the contrary, we must then under take the task of our perfection with thorough and incessant labor in order to achieve the fullness of our exalted vocation.

Blessed. Francisco Palau, founder of the 

Brothers and Sisters Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Brothers as you step inside the monastery begins your journey of formation, you must know that Carmel is prophetic in the sence we become  witnesses of the Divine Life within us as the Prophet Elijah was aware of it  first and become a witness of the living God. Thus Brothers in the First Stage: That is POSTULANCY in the first two months more or less of hermit life, we should exercise with all diligence " in self-knowledge and also in conrinuous compuntcion, in meditation on sin and the passion of Christ, in Divine Psalmody; he is to endeavor  " to seclude himself in his own cell with great care, to occupy himself excessively absorbed, unless used as a means of relaxing the soul. Because of this we prepare ourselves  before the Divine encounter with God.

Our Holy Father the Prophet Elijah before his encounter with God has to first experience fully the depths of his weakness and helplessness as part of the purification process. In this two months of being alone with God as mentioned above, let our  weakness draws God to us just as a helpless infant draws attention of all adults around him, The parents run to the child most in need. All the practices and others, in which you are to occupy yourselves, will be protected and assured of success carried out as they are with fidelity and openness towards the superior.

How did the Devotion of the Holy Face reach the Philippines?

Victorina Laxamana Vicente, nicknamed Turing, was born on March 23, 1921 and was the 7^th child among the 11 siblings of Maximo Vicente Sr., a known sculptor, and Crispina Laxamana, a landed principalia in San Luis, Pampanga. Thirteen years and six infant deaths passed before she was born and being the eldest and an only girl, she was truly pampered from birth.  She was a frail child and cannot walk even at 2 years old and so her pious parents prayed hard for her health. At the Cradle of Colegio de Sta. Rosa “At the age of four, I had a very high fever which they said could have killed me.  A celadora of Lourdes Church gave me Lourdes water, and this saved my life. I was enrolled at Colegio de Sta. Rosa, and my yaya always brought a basketful of medicine – the Madres said – because I was so thin and pale, and never smiled…The sisters gave me extra merienda, and I was the pet of the kitchen Madre. The sisters at Sta. Rosa loved me and often joked: “What are you a statue?”  Then I answered silently by tapping on my lap to show that I am not a statue but a living creature.” (Memoirs of Mo. Therese on her childhood)

Ligion of Mary
Despite the perils (war) she zealously promoted the Legion in both Quiapo and San Miguel.  “She had no qualms entering squatter and shanties—even if she was the daughter of the Don Maximo Vicente.” “I was made the next Curia President (in 1942)… This made me travel all the way walking from Quiapo, Binondo, Sta. Cruz – in spite of Japanese. Several times we felt the hand of God saving us from them, especially when I organized the Inter Parish Catechetical Convention, I was called to Fort Santiago to report… Another special incident was my extending the Legion in Pampanga.  I rode the truck with Huks but they never molested me as I spoke Pampango.  The first Praesidia in the land of the Huks was established thanks to Mama Mary.” (Memoirs, March 10, 1980)
At the same time that Victorina was involved in these apostolic endeavors during the war, she was discerning her calling.  She sensed that she was meant to follow St. Therese, her favorite saint, as a Carmelite nun but  in 1937, however, Fr. Francis Cosgrave, CSsR (Redemptorist SD) counseled her to enter the Canonesses of St. Augustine (ICM sisters now) who was running St. Theresa’s College because of her active disposition.  It was not realized though due to war and tragedy that befell Fr. Cosgrave in 1945.  Several months after the war, her new SD, Fr. Artemio Casas changed the future of her vocation. Mo. Theresa of Jesus, OCD (1882-1958), affectionately called Ma Mere, Foundress of the discalced Carmelite nuns in the Philippines.  It was to her that Victorina frequented at the Carmelite Monastery at Gilmore Avenue, San Juan and to her that she revealed her desire to follow St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Carmel.  She entered Carmel of St. Therese in Quezon City (Gilmore) on May 30, 1946 and received her religious habit. But on the following day, she, along with 4 others, were flown by an army plane to Batangas to establish the Carmel in Lipa. She received the name Sr. Mary Therese of the Sacred Heart during her clothing day. (In the picture, conspicuously absent from those who accompanied her was her mother who could not accept her daughter’s decision to enter the Monastery).

In 1965 Sr. Therese began to discern a powerful “interior urge to make Mary known as Mother and to preserve the pristine beauty of religious life.”  It was during the holy retreat, on January 1966, that she opened this interior urge to Bishop Xavier Labayen, OCD, who in turn attested that there was nothing against the spirit and she could pray for God’s will.  “I am now between two roads, not knowing which she (our Blessed Mother) truly prefers – CARMEL OR THE LAND OF THE UNKNOWN.”  After much prayer, reflection and consultation with the community confessor, Fr. John Mary Chin, OCD, Bishop Labayen and Msgr. Casas, Sr. Therese became thoroughly convinced that it was the will of God for her. They told about it to Archbishop Emilio Cinense of San Fernando; and she was asked to write Rome for a three-year period of exclaustration to try this mission. Her superior consented and assured her that in the event that she failed, she could come back to Carmel. Recognizing an insatiable call to proclaim Mary as “Mother,” Sr. Mary Therese consulted Bishops Casas and Julio Xavier Labayen, and her confessor Fr. John Mary Chin, OCD, who unanimously agreed that she was being called to found a congregation of her own.  After receiving the permission of the Father General of the Discalced Carmelites in Rome and of the Archbishop of San Fernando, Sr. Mary Therese left the cloisters on July 1966. Foundation of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of the Church  “I arrived Naga on August 5 with my brother and his wife…I was brought to Colegio de Sta. Isabel where I was immediately given shelter by a former teacher of mine in Sta. Rosa College…I consulted Archbishop Alberto as to the name of the congregation, telling him what I have in mind was “Daughters of Mary, Mother of God and Mother of Men.”  He said that he finds it too long a title.  He instructed me to see him after a week…I returned to him on August 15 and he said: “You will be called Daughters of Mary, Mother of the Church.”  Thus was born a new congregation of religious women…We were formally established on October 11, 1966.”

It was in 1963 when the Archbishop had the idea of putting up a congregation that would teach religion particularly in public schools and Providence sent him Sr. Mary Therese.  As his Excellency reiterated, “I was the one who conceived the congregation with the help of Sr. Therese. This is how the Daughters of Mary came to be.”  

The Daughters of Mary as a congregation of women felt the motherly role of Mary and lived it out through the catechetical works and formation of Basic Ecclesial Communities wherever they may be. 

Sr. Therese was appointed the first superior general on October 11, 1966 which she occupied until May 1977.

While assigned at Quiapo, Manila, Mo. Therese encountered the Zaragozas who introduced her to the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.  She was just asked to help in spreading the devotion but it led her to be attracted to it herself because many people were led to conversion.  She studied about the devotion and consulted Fr. Solh Saez whom she met in Naga.  She learned a lot from him since, providentially, he had been already making a research on the Holy Face for almost ten years then. As they met again in January 1977 in Naga City, Mo. Therese revealed again the interior happenings in her life. They both agreed to put all things in God’s hands as it might just be a temptation.  The conversation with Fr. Solh made possible the following:  in thinking of a name for the foundation, Sr. Mary Therese was choosing between the Veronicas of the Holy Face, and Crusaders or Missionaries of the Holy Face. Fr. Solh had another book from Philadelphia – “Devotion to the Holy Face” which mentioned Mo. Pierina de Micheli as Missionary of the Holy Face and sponsor of the Holy Face medal.  So the name of the new foundation would be MISSIONARIES OF THE HOLY FACE. It became clear to Mo. Therese that there would be three groups to be put up for the association of reparation which were interiorly revealed to her, and these were:

1. A contemplative group
2. Active sisters to be called Missionary Sisters of the Holy Face of Jesus
3. Lay group auxiliaries to be called Crusaders of the Holy Face of  Jesus (auxiliaries to the religious group); or anyone who wishes to wear the medal would be one of the Devotees of the Holy Face of Jesus

She died a Holy  death sharing the passion of the Lords wound around her body the scourging of the pillar, she suffered from diabetes which complicate her heart and this leads her home to the Eternal Father. she bore every pain in silent and in love to Jesus.

The Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli

The Blessed Maria Pierina de Micheli, a holy nun who died in 1945, was urged in many visions by the Blessed Mother and Jesus Himself to spread the devotion to the Holy Face, in reparation for the many insults Jesus suffered in His Passion, such as to be slapped, spit upon and kissed by Judas, as well as now being dishonoured in many ways in the Blessed Sacrament by neglect, sacrileges and profanations.

She was given a medal, which on one side bore a replica of the Holy Shroud and the inscription: “Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos”. - Ps. 4:6 “May, O Lord, the light of Thy countenance shine upon us”.) On the reverse side was a radiant Host, with the words, “Mane nobiscum, Domine”. – “Stay with us, O Lord” Luke 24:29.

After great difficulties, Sister Pierina obtained permission to the have the medal cast.  Even the expenses for the casting were miraculously met when she found on her desk an envelope with the exact amount of the bill – 11,2000 lire. The evil spirit showed his chagrin and rage at the medals by flinging them down and burning the pictures of the Sacred Face, and beating Sister Pierina savagely.

In 1940, when the Second World War had the world in turmoil, Italy saw a wide distribution of this medal. Relatives and friends saw that their soldiers, sailors and aviators were provided with the replica of the Holy Face of Jesus since the medal was already famous for its miracles and countless spiritual and temporal favours. 

In the words of Our Lord to Sister Pierina:

“By My Holy Face you will obtain the conversion of numberless sinners. Nothing that you ask in making this offering will be refused you. According to the care you take in making reparation To My Face, disfigured by blasphemers, I will take care of yours, which has been disfigured by sin. I will reprint on it My Image, and render it as beautiful as it was on leaving the Baptismal Font. I promise personal and spiritual protection to all who venerate this medal.”

Sister Pierina was beatified on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome - the first beatification ever held within its walls. Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, celebrated the ceremony, in representation of Pope Benedict XVI.

Prayer of Mother Maria Pierina

O Blessed Face of my kind Savior, by the tender love and piercing sorrow of Our Lady as she beheld you in your cruel Passion, grant us to share in this intense sorrow and love so as to fulfill the holy will of God to the utmost of our ability. Amen.

THE HOLY FACE DEVOTION OF THE CARMELITE HERMITS

Gazing upon the face of Christ crucified unites us with all His sorrows, love and total abandonment.

"Every time My Face is contemplated I will pour out My Love into the hearts of those persons, and by means of My Holy Face the salvation of many souls will be obtained."

(Our Lord Jesus Christ to Sister Pierina)

Our Lord, in visions to Sister Marie of Saint Peter, requested that a devotion to His Holy Face be established.  He gave her the Golden Arrow prayer as a remedy to the "poisoned arrows" of blasphemy.  Later, Sister Pierina, was urged to spread the devotion, and to have a medal cast.

The Feast of the Holy Face was established by Pope Pius XII upon Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent).  A beautiful novena in honour of the Holy Face may be said on the nine previous days, culminating on the feast day.
Two miraculous images are associated with the Holy Face Devotion - Veronica's Veil, said to be the cloth used by Saint Veronica to wipe the face of Jesus during his passion; and the Holy Shroud of Turin, believed by the faithful to be burial cloth of Christ, which despite being the most scientifically studied object ever, still baffles scientists.

Sister Marie of St. Peter and the Golden Arrow

In Tours, France during the 1840's a young Carmelite nun, Sister Marie of St Peter, received a series of revelations from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide - the devotion to his Holy Face.  The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of 'Revolutionary men' (the Communists), as well as for the blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians.  This devotion is also an instrument given to the individual devotee as a seemingly unfailing method of appealing to God in prayer - through adoration of His Holy Face and Name.

The following prayer was dictated by our Lord Himself to Sister Marie of St Peter.  Opening His Heart to her, our Saviour complained of blasphemy, saying that this frightful sin wounds His divine Heart more grievously than all other sins, for it was like a "poisoned arrow".

After that, our Saviour dictated the following prayer, which he called "The Golden Arrow", saying that those who would recite this prayer would pierce Him delightfully, and also heal those other wounds inflicted on Him by the malice of sinners.  This prayer is regarded as the very basis of the Work of Reparation. 

PRAYER OF REPARATION IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY NAME OF GOD ENTITLED "THE GOLDEN ARROW"

May the most Holy, most Sacred, most Adorable,
Most Incomprehensible and Ineffable Name of God
Be always Praised, Blessed, Loved, Adored and Glorified,
In Heaven, on Earth and under the Earth,
By all the Creatures of God,
And by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
In the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Amen.

THE KIND OF LIFE OF THE HERMITS

My Sons, and Brothers, our Kind of life as a Carmelite is entirely contemplative, our days are composed exclusively  of prayer psalmody, spiritual reading, vigils and work, with the minimum of rest and nourishment necessary for life."

We live in "Perpetual silence which can only be interrupted by the necessary relationship with the Superior, and the conference or spiritual discussion which takes place every two weeks, presided over by the superior.

Therefore brothers it is necessary that outside the choir and the refectory, the retirement in the cell is continues. In addition, during advent and at least on the days preceding Pentecost, in this moment some of us monks  go out to live in different hermitages scattered within the walls of the monastery, in order that being in deeper solitude and living as perfect anchorites, they alone may give themselves completely to God alone. Being united in the community only by the sound of the bell which crowns the Sanctuary of their contemplative solitude.

The Monastery Structure base from the Constitution of Sta. Teresa de Jesus de Avila

In the constitution of Our Holy Mother Sta. Teresa de Jesus de Avila given to the Discalced Carmelites is that " In the Monastery there shall be ground enough to build some hermitages so that the religious,a after the apostolic activity of Carmel as an Order, the Spirit of the Holy rule, which ought to animate the members was and continues to be eremitic with an essential interior hermitism.

Once the religious completes his apostolic activities he will retire to his hermitage cottage to be with God alone and this observance we call hermit day. He is to stay there fore three days with out disturbance and will only join the community prayer during matins, louds, complin, the rest of the liturgy of the hour he will say it alone in his hermitage.
The hermitage must have an altar, a comfort room, a turn where the food is placed from the outside for the brother to receive from the outside without exposing himself, a small garden. The Lay brother upon placing the food in the turn must knock three times to give signal to the religious in prayer that his food is ready. while observing hermit day, he can do what he pleases to do that does not endanger his contemplation, he can make rosaries and other arts that is in connection to prayer.

Brothers as long as we are in the state of meditation and prayer, let us  remember that the Holy Rule of Carmel is called the rule of perfection which tends to form within us religious the creation of saint." The Carmelite Rule is not rich in concrete adherence to many circumstances of life but( except in few cases) it move in an atmosphere beyond the earth, the atmosphere of a world almost exclusively spiritual.

The Way of life of the Hermits by Fra. Francis Gregory of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart

I dedicate this writing on the foundation to His Holiness Pope Francis and to all the Brothers and Sisters of the Hermits of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and of the Holy Face.

The Hermits of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and of the Holy Face contemplates daily the suffering face of Jesus which we see in the face of the poor. As the primitive rule of Saint Albert states; We "Brothers must remain in our cell or near it." We must try to remain in the state of contemplation both in the physical cell or spiritual cell (our soul) let us remember that the apostles recommends silence, since they command us to observe it while working. Our Holy Father the Prophet Elijah testifies that silence in the service is justice and where our hope and strength be.
The rule also state that though we are not obliged to observe silence so rigorously at other times, it is better that we should be careful of talking to much, "For in the multitude of words there are mistakes and sin. We must observe silence with great diligence and care. The Holy Rule states;" it makes an express reference," extremely  heavy to the danger of sins of the tongue.
We must remember that spoken words tears man away from his spiritual solitude.

Dear brothers as Carmelite hermits and as the Holy Rule states we are nourished essentially by silence."
The Holy Rule has ordained us to observe silence from the end of Complin to the end of Prime in the  following day. And since we follow the way of perfection of Our Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus of Avila, we too must follow the Teresian desserts that impose perpetual silence and embodies the spirit of the rule properly and perfectly stating: " The higher the hermit rise towards the peak of virtues, having left below earthly thoughts and desires, the fewer be their words, and since it is well known to spiritual men how great is the interior dissipation which freedom of tongue brings it ." Brothers, in this part I admit I too struggle for human as I am, the devil will try his best to destruct us of the path we admire much to accomplish to be holy and become saints.
As Carmelite Hermits of the Holy Face, our hermitism lays down in such an exact manner is an interior hermitism which coincides essentially with the Carmelite way of living contained in the primitive rule, Further more, as it is for our instruction that one and the same law. in its text joins the eremitic form of life with the exercise of a moderate apostolate, which is our charities and evangelical Holy Face promotion as our moderate apostolate, as our Holy Rule states so that our community be balanced. Let not the door of the convent be closed to those came to us to ask for help; for helping them and opening our doors to them is like opening our doors to Jesus. Having a service to the poor is the perfect way of contemplating the Holy Face of Jesus. Brothers let our charities be a reparation to the bleeding Holy Face of Jesus, and let our acts of mercy be the balm for His wounded face whom we see in the eyes of the poor.
An act of love dear brothers assist us to reach holiness in due time. For Holiness itself is Divine love and God is love. This is our mission that the Gospel of love be preached to the poor.
The manner of life which we live to carry out is not only that of being monastic but hermits. Let us remember our first fathers the Carmelites who settle in the Holy Mountain of Carmel whose lives we intend to imitate.
(To be Continued)

The Carmelite Origin

The Carmelites have a very unique background. Unlike most Religious Orders, we have no founder. Earliest historical accounts find the first Carmelites already settled as Christian hermits on Mount Carmel  - a mountainous ridge in Israel-Palestine - around the year 1200 (i.e. some 800 years ago). The hermits lived by the fountain or well of the prophet Elijah (whose exploits on Carmel are described in the Bible's Books of the Kings).
The chapel which stood in the midst of the hermits' cells was dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The process of change from a small band of hermits to a world wide family did not happen overnight. The present (1995) Constitutions of the Carmelite Order outline the basic progression from hermits to friars:

At the time of the Crusades to the Holy Land, hermits settled in various places throughout Palestine. Some of these, "following the example of Elijah, a holy man and a lover of solitude, adopted a solitary life-style on Mount Carmel, near a spring called Elijah's Fountain. In small cells, similar to the cells of a beehive, they lived as God's bees, gathering the divine honey of spiritual consolation."

Later, St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem brought the hermits together, at their request, into a single "collegium"; he gave them a formula for living which expressed their own eremetical ideals ("propositum") and reflected the spirit of the so-called pilgrimage to the Holy Land and of the early community of Jerusalem. Moved by "their love of the Holy Land", these hermits consecrated themselves in this Land to the One who had paid for it by the shedding of his blood, in order that they might serve him, clothed in the habit of religious poverty," persevering "in holy penance" and forming a fraternal community.

This way of life was approved successively by Honorius III in 1226, by Gregory IX in 1229, and by Innocent IV in 1245. In 1247, Innocent IV approved it definitively as an authentic rule of life, amending it to suit Western conditions. These adaptations became necessary when the Carmelites began to migrate to the West to escape persecution, and expressed a desire to lead a life "in which, with the help of God, they would have the joy of working for their own salvation and that of their neighbour."

As a result of the approval of the Rule by Innocent IV, the Carmelites placed themselves at the service of the Church, according to the common ideal of the Mendicant Orders...
So, we have no Francis or Dominic or Benedict (or even a Teresa as have the Discalced Carmelites) to whom we can look as a founder. This means that God's founding gift to the Order (the 'Charism') is not found in a person or a particular book but in a community of people. Being without a founder, the Carmelites have continually looked to the great figures of Elijah and Mary for inspiration - remember we settled by the Well of Elijah on Carmel and dedicated the first chapel to the Mother of God. Throughout our history, these key figures have helped us clarify our identity and renew our spirit. They provide a wonderful integration of the two streams of the contemplative Carmelite tradition: prayer blended with active service; meditation combined with prophecy; reflection informed by and informing apostolic work.

As human models, Elijah and Mary provide Carmelites with an example to imitate. Not unlike Carmelites of any era, they struggled with fear, stood in the face of very difficult questions, and felt deeply the pains of human life. Being human, they appear like us, as fragile and vulnerable. Yet they were filled with a deep conviction. It is a conviction that lies at the heart of the Carmelite spirit: God is alive! God is present! God is with us! - in the words of the Prophet Elijah "God lives, in whose presence I stand".

Between the years 1206 and 1214, the community on Mount Carmel petitioned Albert, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem for a rule of life. His response became the "formula for living" that Carmelites follow to this day as the Rule of Saint Albert. This short but profound document inspires all branches of the Carmelite Family to this day.

Hospitality was no doubt one of the original values for the early Carmelites. Mount Carmel served as a place of rest for pilgrims in the Holy Land. Some of them were so impressed by the beauty of Carmel and the simple lifestyle of the community of hermits who lived there that they stayed.The first hermits lived on Mount Carmel in Israel in the time of Elijah the Prophet, hundreds of years before Christ. Later, many Crusaders went to the Holy Land to free such holy places as Bethlehem, Nazareth and many other sites associated with the Life of The Lord Jesus, from the Moslems. After they achieved their task of freeing the Holy Land, many of them stayed on Mount Carmel; a mountain range which juts out into the Mediterranean Sea near the present city of Haifa, along the southern border of present-day Lebanon.

We can read about the Prophet Elijah in the First and Second Books of Kings. There were also Jews and Moslem Hermits on Mount Carmel dedicated to the life of Elijah the Prophet. This all took place between 1190 and 1206. The first written document of the Carmelites, our RULE, dates to 1206. The Christian Hermits from Mount Carmel went to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, St. Albert, (not of Trapani) and asked for a Rule of Life. That was the official beginning of the Carmelites. In 1245, the Moslems recaptured much of the Holy Land. They massacred most of the Carmelites. Those who escaped returned to their home countries of Italy, France, England and Germany. It is from these 4 countries in Europe that the Order spread throughout the world. Today, there are 5200 Carmelites of all Branches of the Order, male and female, throughout the world.