ocd web master, Autore presso DISCALCED CARMELITES

“Silverio of Saint Teresa is the religious name of Julián Gómez Fernández, a Discalced Carmelite friar, born in Escóbados de Arriba (Burgos), on the 8^th of March 1875 and died in Mazatlán (México), on the 11^th of March 1954. He was General Historian, editor of the works of Carmelite saints and Superior General of the Order. One of his greatest contributions to Carmelite studies was the annotated edition of the works of Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross”.

Thus, begins the entry on Fr Silverio inserted, 140 years after his birth, in the famous digital encyclopedia “Wikipedia”, through the initiative of the General Curia of the Discalced Carmelite friars and the Teresianum in Rome. The drawing up of the note and business of having it inserted in “Wikipedia” was given to Brother María José Pérez, from the Puçol Carmel in Valencia, Spain. Without his help it would have been absolutely impossible to achieve this initiative. We heartily thank our brother for his patient and persevering dedication to this task.

Manjummel’s Provincial, Very Rev. Dr. Augustine Mulloor OCD received KCBC media commission’s Daarsanika Vynjnanika Award 2017 on 15th July 2018 at POC, Palarivattom. The award was presented by the famous Malayalam actor and Member of Parliament Innocent. The Daarsanika Vynjanika Award is the commendation of Kerala Catholic Church to the catholic dignitaries who have imprinted their signature in various media fields of arts, literature, culture and philosophy. Rev. Dr. Augustine Mulloor OCD has carved out his own niche in the biblical world for his unique interpretation of the scripture in the contemporary context. The award is the official recognition for his unparalleled intellectual and pastoral contributions to the Catholic Church. We congratulate him on this great achievement.

The disaster in the state of Kerala is due to enormous rainfall, long weeks of continuous rain, consequently, the landslide on the high mountainous areas and the filled reservoirs. In these past days, the rainfall has increased enormously all over Kerala and all the reservoirs were full to the brim. There was no choice than opening the shutters of all the dams, and the heavy rainfall continued without any pause… the rivers could not contain the water and so overflowing to the extent of reaching one and a half kilometer from the middle point. Hundreds of thousands of people living around the river banks have seen an over the flow of water which they have never seen in their lifetime. Within a short time, all the houses were filled with the overflowing water, heavy rainfall at the same time. The rest of the disaster can be seen in the pictures. Hundreds died, thousands homeless and in the rescue camps, many more stranded in the waters, homes, difficult to say now what the real situation is.

How did it affect our fathers and sisters and brothers in Kerala:

Many of our houses in Kerala are on the riverbanks especially of the River Periyar which was overflowing these days.
Mount Carmel Novitiate, Kalady (Malabar Province): They had to be on the second floor of the house for three days without electricity and little food. They have also provided refuge to a few families. They all are safe and today the waters have subsided…but great disaster all around.
Sacred Heart Philosophy College, Alwaye, Atmadarshan, a spirituality center (Manjummel Province): Both the buildings are underwater. Philosophy brothers were evacuated and were taken to Manjummel.. however, the damage to the property is enormous.
Jyothirbhavan, Kalamassery (Manjummel): also under the water. No damage to the lives of the members. But great damage to the property.
St. Joseph’s Novitiate, Annamanda (Manjummel): Whole building underwater, novices were evacuated.
The monastery at Varapoly (Manjummel): the Whole building was under the water.
Theology Study house of the South Kerala Province at Ayroor. Brothers and fathers were caught up in the building for many days. The water reached up to the first floor… in the midst of their own difficult situation, they had the courage to rescue neighboring families, give them food, and shelter them in the monastery. Many of our other monasteries were opened for the flood victims to accommodate and to console them. Fr. Provincial, fathers and brothers of South Kerala Province are continuing their rescue operation in different flood affected areas of Kerala.
Malayattoor Carmel: Our Sisters were also affected and the water entered the monastery.

All these houses were very vulnerable and were on the banks of the river. So they were hit directly by the flood. Somehow, most of the friars managed to survive and protect many other neighboring families. Although the water subsided, the real hardship begins now. Most of the building would be in bad conditions. It would be difficult to estimate and see the real damage…
I do not know exactly what the situation in each place is. However, I know that these houses are affected and our friars are in difficult situations. As I heard our friars have opened emergency rescue centers to thousands of people in our structures at Manjummel and other places…
I hear also about the disaster in Thiruvalla, Ranni, Alapuzha… am sure that our fathers and brothers are caught up in the floods.
This is just to give you a flash news on the situation. We shall collect the exact details at a later period and inform you in what way we can help our brothers and sisters.

CITeS-University of Mysticism, will host for the second consecutive year a congress concerning St John of the Cross. On this occasion, The Dark Night of St John of the Cross will be the focus of the Congress, which will be celebrated from the 3^rd to the 9^th of September, 2018. Registrations to be present, or for online, are still possible from the following website:

https://www.mistica.es/sanjuanista/

The Dark Night is one of his most read Works throughout the world, not only for its literary and poetic wealth, but also for its content. Doctrinally, this book unfolds a profound vision of the way of liberation for persons and their progressive drawing closer to God, who transforms them. It is a process in which God communicates himself to people and at the same time there occurs in them a transition for the senses to the spirit. Saint John of the Cross wrote this book for the many souls to whom God gives a talent and grace to advance much further on the way to Union, but get lost through not knowing how to correspond to this grace, or there is no one to direct them

The following is a preview of the program:

Structure of the work
Meaning of the Night. Conceptual design of the spiritual process
Biblical background
Doctrine
Interreligious approach
Pastoral approach

In the recent month of July, Fr Saverio Cannistrà ocd, Superior General, paid a fraternal visit to the friars and nuns in Hungary. Later on he took part in an international meeting in Brazil with the nuns of Latin America, as we have already informed you.

At the end of this month, it is planned to make a brief fraternal visit to Portugal and Spain. During this time he will take part in the European meeting of students in Fatima and afterwards he will go to Alba de Tormes and Avila, where they will be celebrating the Teresian jubilee year. On his return to Rome he will preside at the ordinary meeting of the General Definitory.

At the end of September, God willing, he will travel to Mexico, to take part in a congress for the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of the Nuns’ Federation in that country and, as we have already informed you, during October he will also take part in the Synod of Bishops.

(Photos: Fr Saverio in Hungría. ©Erzsébet Persson, OCDS).

A few weeks ago, we read interesting news in the blog titled, “Teresa, de la rueca a la pluma” (Teresa: from the spinning wheel to the pen), written by María José Pérez, Discalced Carmelite from Puçol, Valencia (Spain):

“Last June 6th, on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of Father Gracián, we once again shared on our social networks an entry in this blog in which we questioned, in a rational way, the commentary of the Prado Museum regarding one of his works. We refer to the October 2016 publication titled, ‘Jerome Gracián in the Prado Museum?’

“We understood that one of the figures in the painting by Benito Mercadé y Fábregas, for historical reasons, could not be Father Jerome Gracián, as stated in the information about the work of art provided in the Museum’s website, but instead was Father Ángel de Salazar. To our surprise, early the next day we received a tweet from the national gallery announcing the correction:

“‘Good morning. Thank you very much for the post. We have modified the description of the work of art. Once updated, the text will read as follows: “Saint Teresa of Jesus (1515-1582) gives an account of her reform to Father Ángel de Salazar (c. 1518 – c. 1596), provincial of the Order of Carmel.

‘—Prado Museum (@museodelprado) June 7, 2018’

“We are very happy that our blog influences such a prestigious institution, and we hold that we are happy to have contributed to the improvement of the information that is offered on its magnificent website.”

The link to the original source: https://delaruecaalapluma.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/el-museo-de-prado-rectifica-sobre-gracian/

The house of spirituality of the Discalced Carmelites of the Province of Lombardy in Cassano Valcuvia (Varese, Italy), hosted a beautiful event June 9th and 10th. It can be characterized as historic, being the first time that members from different OCDS communities met in one place to celebrate ceremonies of admittance or promises, temporary and definitive, in the Secular Order. The communities that met in Cassano hailed from Bologna, Concesa, Lodi, Monza, and Parma.
It was a festival for the entire province, and a moment of formation was not lacking; Father Giorgio Rossi, ocd, was in charge of it, and he helped the brothers and sisters in attendance to reflect on the meaning and value of the secular life in Carmel and in the Church. He called us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, following the advice of Teresa of Jesus, in order that He may obtain for us the gift of having his own sentiments.

Video:

Photo:

http://www.ocds.it/home/index.php/foto-gallery/category/19-week-end-dei-formandi-9-10-giugno-2018

Resources (in Italian):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YQFHMK7qEO1RJghF_MasYd9r2YJhBok_

Invited by the Latin American nuns, Fr General went to Brazil to have a meeting, from the 26^th to the 29^th July, with 160 Discalced Carmelite nuns and 20 friars from Latin America and the Caribbean. Accompanying Fr Saverio was his personal secretary, Fr Rafal Willkowski, who is also the secretary for the nuns.

In an atmosphere of communion and listening, Fr Saverio shared with the assembly his impressions of the Instruction Cor Orans, which was recently issued by CICLSAL, and he gave some lectures on the current experience of the Teresian charism.

For his part, Fr Rafal gave practical suggestions of a juridical nature, necessary for the development of the contemplative life in monasteries, taking also into account Cor Orans.

Young nuns from the Italian “Mater Carmeli” Federation of monasteries began a meeting on June 9th in the spirituality house of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers in Nënshat, Albania. Professed nuns together with those under formation numbered 23 religious, who were also able to share some moments with the community of Discalced Carmelite nuns in the monastery near the spirituality house / community of the friars.

The topic of formation was primarily Carmelite and centered on Father Marcell, Hungarian Discalced Carmelite. It was presented by a brother of the same nationality, Father Rafael Bakos, who highlighted the characteristics of the witness of God founded on the experience transmitted by Father Marcell, which has a particular Marian accent.

The second part of the meeting was of a psychological nature, thanks to conferences given by Ursuline sister Bruna Zaltron. It dealt with wounds of the personality, crises, and strategies to manage disenchantments or fraternal life, among other subjects.

There was also time to visit with the Poor Clares in Scutari and see the “place of the memory,” a museum adjacent to the monastery that memorializes the martyrdom of the Albanian Church at the hands of the communist regime.

The local prelate, Bishop Simon Kulli, presided over the closing Eucharist and thanked the nuns for their presence. The nuns returned to Italy full of happiness over the joyful fraternity shared among the religious of the different monasteries as well as with the Albanian Discalced Carmelite friars and nuns.

On the morning of July, the 27^th, Father Tomás Álvarez Fernández (Thomas of the Cross) died after a few days stay in hospital. He was born on the 17^th of May1923 in Acebedo, (León), and was a Discalced Carmelite friar since the 6^th of August 1939, the day of his first profession. He was ordained a priest of Christ on the 23^rd of June 1946. He was one of the greatest specialists of Teresian studies of recent decades.

His life has been very fruitful, of intense study, teaching and research, but above all of living intensely the Teresian charism and fraternity, as the best service to the Order and to the Church.

He is a figure who overflowed the borders of Carmel, open to the broad horizons of the Church and culture. His broad and intense career made of him an obligatory reference to Teresian studies and for the scholars of our present culture.

His life covered a wide space of time and geographical areas: Europe, America and, more specifically, Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, thanks to his taking part in congresses and the translation of his writings into the principal modern languages. Among these translations stands out the critical edition of the work of St Teresa of Jesus into French and Italian. Likewise, the quite recent translation of the Saint Teresa Dictionary, published by the Burgos Mount Carmel publishing house and translated by Ed. Du Cerf and Edizioni OCD.

This immense work was prepared at the beginning in Rome (1948-1978) and then in Burgos (1979-2018). His studies at the Angelicum brought him in touch with Karol Wojitla, whose doctoral thesis on St John of the Cross was first published, thanks to him, in the Burgos Monte Carmel magazine in 1948.

But his studies were focussed for many years at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of the Carmelites in Rome (the Teresianum). This was the great platform for his profound teaching. It was from here he directed the Positio for St Teresa’s doctorate, proclaimed by Paul VI in 1970, and accomplished a theological reading of Teresian studies in the light of the Second Vatican Council, which provided nourishment for following generations.

Besides his great contributions from the Teresianum in Rome, there was his restoration and critical edition of St Teresa’s manuscripts: The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle. There followed after, in Burgos, the facsimile edition of the rest of Teresa’s works, together with a thorough historical and critical system.

In the year of the V Centenary of the birth of Saint Teresa (2015) he published a commentary on each one of her works and accomplished an exhaustive investigation of her letters and all of her autograph manuscripts, which are preserved in the Escorial (more than 1,000 pages).

Personally, I have always felt great admiration for Father Tomás. As librarian of the Teresianum since 2011, I have had the honour of making known his immense work to the students and researchers. I was fortunate to be like the witness and spokesman of his mastery in the field of letters, a quality so praised by Mother Teresa, which he cultivated with such dedication and such love. He mentioned this a few days before becoming ill and he replied to me, humbly and wisely, that it was all the work of the Lord and of his great love for Teresa of Jesus.

Ciro García, ocd (Librarian of the Teresianum, Rome)

On June 10th, our sisters in Bologna received a fraternal visit from the Cardinal Prefect of the CIVCSVA, João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, who was traveling to nearby Pontecchio Marconi to participate in a day of the General Chapter of Father Kolbe’s Missionaries of the Immaculata.

During his brief visit, Cardinal Bráz de Aviz prayed with the sisters and had a spontaneous dialogue with them, covering topics specific to the nuns’ life, their simple and joyful witness, and the spirit of communion amongst themselves and with the Church that they convey, which he bid them to continue cultivating.

Likewise, our sisters shared some initial impressions about the Cor Orans instructions for the Contemplative Life of Women.

A more detailed account of the visit can be found on the Italian version of the Web page in that language.

Between the 11^th and the 15^th of June past, a meeting of novices and their Masters from the Italian Provinces, took place in the Teresianum. Taking part were Fathers Marco Cabula (Liguria), Leonardo Cuccurullo (Naples), Gianni Bracchi (Venice) and Attilio Viganò (Lombardy), accompanied by the novices: Giuseppe Ginefra, Andrea Palmentura, Michele Piperis, Francesco Cotta, Francesco de March, Francesco Alloisio, Alessandro Futia and Arthur Randriamampionona.

During the meeting, Masters and novices were able to share fraternally how they were living in the various novice houses, as well as twice setting aside time for matters relating more to formation: once on Carmelite matters (the Rule, the prophet Elijah and the tradition of Carmel) and the other with religious-cultural content at a theoretical and practical level, by visiting places in Rome connected with the history of the primitive Church or the Teresian Carmel. For this second task they counted on the help of Professor Gianfrancesco Solferino.

The young novices were able to share also among themselves and with their Masters their hopes and their preoccupations with regard to the Teresian Carmel of the future.

On the 10^th of December 2016, the Iberian Conference of Provincials, made up of the Provinces of Portugal, Navarre and Iberia, began a mission in East Timor.

Despite all the efforts made, for the moment it has not been possible to consolidate a solid presence which would assure the implanting of the Order in this territory.

As a result of a petition from this same Conference, the General Definitory sent a letter recently on the 11^th of June to the Provincials of the three Circumscriptions, thanking them for the work carried out by the missionaries who had remained there all this time, and accepting the proposal of temporarily suspending the mission.

God willing, in the future, as the General Definitory expressed, a presence of the Teresian Carmel can be re-established in East Timor, which fulfils the requirements for a renewed presence that would be oriented towards the reception of vocations and training them”.

Towards the end of June, Fr Saverio Cannistrà, ocd, Superior General, visited our Carmelite brothers and sisters in Holland, accompanied by his secretary, Fr Rafal Willkowski. He was able to meet all the friars of the Semiprovince and to visit, among others, the nuns’ monasteries of Echt, Maastricht and Oirschot, fraternally sharing the life of the friars and the nuns in this area of jurisdiction of the Order, who are suffering the difficulties arising from the lack of vocations and the passing of years, with the consequent ageing. In Echt, he was also able to visit the parish where there are preserved objects tied to Sr Teresa Benedicta of the Cross who, as it is known, was taken from here, together with her sister Rosa, to the Westerbork camp and then to Auschwitz, where they suffered martyrdom.

Our OCD Mission Regional Vicariate of West Bengal & North East India has completed 20 years on 6^th June 2018. With the permission of our General Superiors, the North East Indian Mission started in Kolkata (where lived St. Teresa of Calcutta) on 6^th June 1998 through the efforts of Fr. Wilfred Miranda, OCD, as Major Superior of South Kerala Commissariate; the first seminary at Burdwan was opened by Fr. Bernardine M. Louis, OCD as Provincial in 2003 and it became a Regional Vicariate on 2^nd September 2008. Now we have 10 presences including 3 seminaries in this mission region: PUSHPIKALAYA, Kolkata (1998), Stella Maris Ashram, Dhupguri(2001). Flos Carmeli Ashram, Burdwan(2003), Lum Karmel Monastery, Shillong (2006), San Juan Monastery, Kumari(2009), St. Teresa’s Monastery, Koilamati (2009), St. Joseph’s Monastery, Khetri (2013), Mount Carmel Monastery, Khawlailung(2013), Bl. Marie Eugene Seminary, Dhupguri(2016) and Carmel Hill Monastery, Rengdim (2017). We thank all our General and Provincial Superiors especially Fr. Jaison Kaimathuruthil, OCD, Fr. Marcel Fernandez, OCD who had been the Mission Superior for many years and all the friars who have been working for its growth. Our Regional House is at Dhupguri in West Bengal, c. 700 kms north of Kolkata. Now we are 23 Priests in this Vicariate, 18 theology students, 2 Regents, 7 Philosophy Students, 6 Novices and 5 Postulants and many aspirants. We are running 5 Mission Parishes, 5 Schools, 6 boys’ and girls’ Homes and tailoring centre. God will accomplish His plans in the due time.

On 6^th June 2018 Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta Archdiocese came to our First Monastery PUSHPIKALAYA, Kolkata and offered a THANKSGIVING MASS at 5.00 p.m to mark 20 years of our growth as a Mission Vicariate along with our Friars in the Mission, Rev. Sisters of different Congregations and our neighbours and wellwishers.

Very Rev. Fr. Johannes Gorantla, OCD the Definitor and General Visitator has recorded in the Visitation Report of October 2017,“The North East Mission started in 1998 has grown so fast.. In the coming 5 years there will be another 20 priests from the mission and for the mission. This is a great achievement of the Province of South Kerala. They have joyfully worked and still working for the growth and expansion of the Order in the North East. They all need a special appreciation for this missionary commitment”. Again, “Majority of members (of the Province) have the missionary experience in the North East ..In my opinion, this missionary spirit is a great asset to the Province”(p.7 ). “ Our Holy Mother St. Teresa wrote in the Book of Foundations on what we have to do in the years to come, “ We must have the holy audacity to aspire with God’s help to be like them (Carmelite saints). The struggle will not last long, but the outcome will be eternal”. May our Mother of Carmel protect us under her mantle and the saints of Carmel accompany us in our onward journey to be aflame with their spirit.