At 12.05 of September 21st, in the Consistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the participants in the General Chapter of the Order of Brothers of
the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Carmelites), taking place in Rome from 10 to 27 September 2019, on the theme: “«You are my witnesses» (Is 43: 10); from one generation to the next: called to be faithful...
“You are to fast every day, except Sunday, from the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross until Easter Day, unless bodily sickness or feebleness, or some other good reason, demand a dispensation from the fast; for necessity overrides every law” (Rule of St. Albert).
In the writings of the Carmelite saints, we read of the great fast, which has been kept in Carmelite monasteries for centuries....
Six years ago, something happened! A small group of Discalced Carmelite nuns arrived in Malta from Morristown New Jersey to start a new foundation. Respecting their vocation, they came in silence. They did not make any noise. No trumpets were played.
And they started living their life in silence and prayer.
On September 12th 2019, these holy souls made a step forward. One of them, Sister...
From the start, Mariam was "a miracle child ". Having lost twelve children at birth, her parents went to a pilgrimage on foot to the grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a distance of 170 km away from home. Nine months later she was born in Abellin. She was baptized and confirmed according to her family's Greek-Catholic custom.
When she was three, both her parents died within a few days...
August 26
Bl. Jacques Retouret was born at Limoges in France on 15th September 1746 to a merchant family. He was a serious young man, a lover of books and greatly gifted.
At fifteen years of age, he entered the Carmelite house in his native city. After ordination, his zeal and learning were widely admired and large crowds of people were attracted by his way of preaching.
Unfortunately, he was often...
August 20
Häfner was born in Würzburg in 1900. From the time he was an altar boy, he was very close to the Carmelite nuns in Würzburg, where he joined the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), taking the name of Aloysius of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
He sang his first Mass on 21st April 1924, having been ordained on 13th April of the same year.
After having carried out pastoral...
Birthday to Heaven: August 24, 1942
Anita Cantieri was born in Lucca, Italy, March 30, 1910, and died August 24, 1942, about the same age as her Lord. Her life was one of innocence, love and suffering. She attained an extraordinary spiritual beauty. Anita was greatly loved in life and now she is prayed to by countless people. The Holy See has accepted her as a candidate for sainthood.
Anita...
Bl. Isidore Bakanja, a member of the Boangi tribe, was born in Bokendela (Congo) between 1880 and 1890. In order to survive, even as a boy, he had to work as bricklayer or in farms. He was converted to Christianity in 1906. He was working in a plantation run by a colonialist in Ikili and was forbidden by the owner to spread Christianity among his fellow-workers. On 22 April 1909, the superintendent...
Martyr (Co-Patroness of Europe)
St. Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family at Breslau on 12th October 1891. Through her passionate study of philosophy she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Jesus.
In 1922 she was baptized a Catholic and in 1933 she entered the Carmel of Cologne where she took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was gassed...
Legends are a type of folklore that are not strictly historical but still express the basic simple faith of generations. Here are the history and some legends of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Elijah. Very enlightening.
Scripture :
I Kings 18:42b-45a
42b Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, crouched down to the earth, and
put his head between his knees.
43 "Climb up and look out to sea,"...
