News News, News Friars
19 December 2019

Death of Fr Conrad de Meester, ocd

Recently, on the night of December the 5th, Father Conrad de Meester, a Discalced Carmelite of the Flanders Province, died in hospital. He was a great specialist in St. Therese of the Child Jesus and St. Elizabeth of the Trinity and a remarkable spiritual theologian who had studied at the Teresianum, among other centres.

Father Conrad lost consciousness as a result of a severe stroke. Although he was immediately admitted to hospital, his condition worsened and nothing could be done to save his life. Keeping him company in hospital was the provincial of Flanders, Fr. Paul de Bois, along with other friars. His funeral was held on December the 14th, the feast of Saint John of the Cross.

Here we present a few words from Father General upon learning of his death: “Truly, Father Conrad worked hard to deepen and make known the riches of our Carmelite Saints. He possessed both a theological competence and an admirable philological and historical precision. The Order owes much to his work as a specialist in spiritual theology and as a competent sharer of it. We pray that the Lord may grant him the reward of a life generously given to the Order and to the Church.”

Among his numerous publications, we simply highlight the “The Power of Confidence “, a classical study on the doctrine of Therese of Lisieux, translated into various languages, or the recent biography of Elizabeth of the Trinity, of whose complete works Fr Conrad made an excellent critical edition. May he rest in peace.