Elemento Chi Siamo: Order

The primary and principal aim of Carmelites, as expressed in our Rule, or norm of life, is to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ day and night. Prayer as our great objective and aim is, in the words of Teresa of Jesus, being friends with God, frequently alone with him, knowing that he loves us. It is from here that we spread our charism throughout the Church with spirituality centres (houses of prayer, deserts, our monasteries …). We assist the various local Churches throughout the world by the parishes given to our pastoral care, in cities and missionary countries. Another aspect of our charism is to spread it by means of writings on spirituality (we have various publishing houses), retreats and spiritual direction …

The Discalced or Teresian Carmelites are spread throughout the world. According to the last statistics (2012) we have 3,994 friars, including those in training. Since its birth, the bulk of the Order has been in Europe, a fact that is gradually changing – Asia, America and Africa are now emerging. Of the almost 4,000 of our friars, more than one thousand come from India. This fact demonstrates that the centre of gravity of the Order is no longer in Western Europe but Asia. In old Europe we are in a process of restructuring, while in Asia it is quite the contrary, a process of expansion.

The Order is divided into fifty-six areas of jurisdiction which are called by various names: Provinces, Semi-provinces, Commissariats and General Delegations. As relevant data reveals, there are twenty Carmelites ordained as Bishops, who carry out their Carmelite mission in the various dioceses given to their care. The Province with most friars is Manjummel with 263 members and the one with the least is Holland with 17 friars. These are figures and names which hide the Teresian Carmelite mission, in love with Christ and his Church and which tries, through its particular charism of prayer and intimacy with God, to make him known wherever the Church needs.

The Discalced Carmelite Nuns, belonging to a religious Institute of strictly contemplative nature, first of all are clear witnesses to the absolute primacy of God in human life. Replying with a willing heart to the gift of their personal vocation, their existence is converted for Him into a type of offering, not only by renouncing family or the liberty of communicating with the world, but above all by subordinating the whole of their life, down to the least detail, to prayer and remaining always in God’s presence. In order to take part in the charism of Saint Teresa of Jesus, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns “are called to contemplation, as much in prayer as in life” (Constitutions 1991, n 10). This contemplation of the living God is the reason for their existence and their principal duty. Everything else is secondary. So, for the purpose of assuring adequate conditions of life and a specific “climate for prayer”, the Discalced Carmelite nuns choose radical separation from the work in the form of papal cloister, solitude and silence. In this way, guarding authentic freedom of spirit and body, they dedicate all their efforts to the nuptial encounter with God, through the daily Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as in meditation. Their deep experience of God is converted into the foundation of their ministry – while it is essentially an apostolate of spiritual commitment to the intentions of the Church and an apostolate of witness, to the exclusion of any form of active ministry.

The community plays a special role in the Teresian Carmel, since it is a space for communion between the sisters. The Discalced Carmelite nuns form a tiny college of Christ, where a strong family atmosphere is found in the valuable Teresian recreation. According to Canon Law, the community is completely autonomous and the Law gives the monastery a sui iuris status (cf. can. 613).

In daily life, the nuns join fervent prayer with manual work. This work includes not only the usual domestic duties, but also work designed to obtain funds for their maintenance: e.g. baking hosts, embroidering liturgical items or painting icons.

The Discalced Carmelite nuns, hidden in the silence of their monasteries and apparently unknown by the world, are present all over the globe. According to the latest statistics, the nuns reach the considerable number of 11,500 (thus being the most important female Cloister Order in the Catholic world). Around 750 monasteries live according to the Constitutions approved in 1991, and 140 according to the Constitutions approved in 1990. These monasteries are found in 98 countries. The great development of the Order is very remarkable in South-East Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. The numerous and new vocations allow them to open new foundations in Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Poland, Croatia and some countries of the ex-Soviet Union. The fact is certainly reassuring that vocations still continue firmly in the west of Europe, especially in Spain, France and Italy. Unfortunately, more and more communities are suffering from the lack of new vocations, including some who cannot continue and must take the painful decision to be suppressed. Joys, just as much as sorrows, are a sign of the times, which invite us to discern God’s will and to fulfil it faithfully in a new situation.

The charism of the Teresian Carmel is present in the Church and the world in various ways. Thus we find in the great family of the Teresian Carmel the Discalced Carmelite Friars, who seek to unite a life of prayer with the apostolate in its many forms; the Discalced Carmelite Nuns who live a contemplative life; and the Laity of the Secular Carmel. The Laity of the Secular Order of the Discalced Carmelites (OCDS) are juridically dependant on the Discalced Carmelite Friars.

The lay members of the OCDS seek to live the Teresian Carmelite charism in the midst of the world, in the family, in their work and the normal circumstances of civil life, by managing temporal affairs and ordering them according to the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels and in conformity with the charism of Saint Teresa of Jesus. They follow Teresa’s guidelines on prayer and try to live it as friendship with God, there where they are, so that “the real lover everywhere loves and remembers the beloved”. But they also live prayer in the liturgy, in listening to God’s Word, in the sacraments and in devotion to Our Lady of Mt Carmel, their model for a life that is Christian and Carmelite.

They seek to live in fraternal friendship in the community to which they belong and attend and which is governed by a council elected every 3 years. This council takes care of their training and admission to the promises. The cultivation of human virtues and the climate of trust in the community allows sharing and fosters growth in charity and friendship with the others. They collaborate in the apostolate by their witness of a Christian life and assist the sanctification of the world, by means of their life of faith, hope and charity and according to the personal talents of each member.

The Secular Order is governed by its own Constitutions (2003) in which are condensed their style of life, their identity, values and commitments in following Christ Jesus and in their search to live in intimacy with God, fraternal communion and apostolic service. At present, secular Carmelites number around 25 thousand members throughout the world. There are 1,736 communities in 75 countries.

We could say that the seculars live the spirit of Carmel in the heart of the world and enrich the religious life of Carmel by their secular state.