Mount Carmel is commemorated in Scripture for its beauty, and it was there that the prophet Elijah defended the purity of Israels faith in the living God. Towards the end of the twelfth century A.D., near a spring called after Elijah, a group of hermits established themselves on Mount Carmel and built an oratory in honour of Our Lady, whom they chose as their titular and patroness. They became known as the Brothers of Saint Mary of Mount Carmel. They regarded the Blessed Virgin as their Mother, and their model first of all in leading the contemplative life, and later in sharing the fruits of their contemplation with others. The Solemn Commemoration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was first celebrated in England in the fourteenth century, but was gradually adopted throughout the Order as an occasion of thanksgiving for the countless blessings which Our Lady had bestowed on the Carmelite family.
17 July 2021 - Blessed Teresa of St Augustine And Her Companions
Virgins and Martyrs (Memory)
As soon as the French Revolution became a serious threat to religion the sixteen Discalced Carmelite nuns of Compiegne offered themselves to God as victims of his justice for the peace of the Church. They were imprisoned in June 24 1794, and they inspired their fellow prisoners by their joy and abandonment to God. They were condemned to death for their refusal to betray the Church and their religious vocation, and for their devotion to the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary. Having renewed their profession in the hands of their prioress, Teresa of St Augustine, they went to the scaffold, singing hymns, on July 17 1794.
Scripture presents the prophet Elijah as a man of God, walking continually in Gods presence and fiercely defending the worship of the one true God. He stood up for Gods rights in a solemn contest on Mount Carmel. Later on Mount Horeb he was granted an intimate experience of the living God. The hermits who instituted a form of monastic life in honour of Our Lady on Mount Carmel in the twelfth century, followed monastic tradition in turning also to Elijah as their model.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of the incarnation of the divine Word, to be Mother of God. As decreed by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine Redeemer, his associate, uniquely generous, and the Lords humble servant. She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented him to the Father in the Temple; and was united with him in his suffering as he died on the cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, with our Saviours work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is Mother to us all in the order of grace (Lumen gentium 61).
Mercedes Prat was born on March 6, 1880, in Barcelona, Spain. From her childhood she gave herself completely to God. She displayed a great love for her neighbour and tried to foster this kind of love in others. She entered the noviciate of the Society of St Teresa of Jesus in 1904, in Tortosa, and making her profession in 1907. She was a religious according to the heart of God: prudent and truthful, calm and gentle, but firm in character. God was her one love. In 1920 she was assigned to Barcelona. From there the path to martyrdom began on July 9, 1936, when the community was forced to give up its school and flee. On July 23, because she was a religous, Sr Mercedes was arrested and shot; she died on July 24.
24 July 2021 - Blessed Mary Pilar, Teresa and Mary Angeles
(Optional Memory)
Mary Pilar of St Francis Borgia (born in Tarazona December 30, 1877); Teresa of the Child Jesus and of St John of the Cross (born in Mochales March 5, 1909); and Maria Angeles of St Joseph (born in Getafe March 6, 1905), Discalced (Teresian) Carmelite nuns from the convent of Guadalajara, Spain, were martyred on July 24, 1936, after witnessing to their faith in Christ the King, offering their lives for the Church. They were the first fruits of the countless martyrs of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, and were beatified by John Paul II on March 29, 1987.
Born in Bolsward (The Netherlands) in 1881, Blessed Titus Brandsma joined the Carmelite Order as a young man. Ordained a priest in 1905, he earned a doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He then taught in various schools in Holland and was named professor of philosophy and of the history of mysticism in the Catholic University of Nijmegen, where he also served as Rector Magnificus. He was noted for his constant availability to everyone. He was a professional journalist, and in 1935 was appointed ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists. Both before and during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, remaining faithful to the Gospel, he fought against the spread of Nazi ideology, and for the freedom of Catholic education and the Catholic press. For this he was arrested and sent to a succession of prisons and concentration camps where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow prisoners and did good even to his tormentors; in 1942, after much suffering and humiliation, he was killed in Dachau, Germany. He was beatified by John Paul II on November 3, 1985.
John Soreth was born at Caen in Normandy (France) in 1394. He entered Carmel in his youth, and in due course took the degree of Master in Theology at Paris, where he became Regent of Studies. He later became Provincial. He was Prior General of the Order from 1451 until his death at Angers (France) in 1471. He restored an encouraged religious observance, wrote a well-known commentry on the Rule, issued revised Constitutions in 1462, and supported and promoted the foundation of communities of nuns in the Order.
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St. Luigi and Zelia Martin
