Today the entire General Chapter had an audience with Pope Francis. It was arranged for 11.00. The friars made their way to the Vatican either on foot or using public transport. They had to be at the Bronze door by 10.15 in order to be conducted to the Sala Clementina. When the Holy Father arrived […]
At the beginning of the morning, Fathers Francisco Javier Mena Lima, of the Caribbean Commissariat, and Fabio Silvestri, Provincial of Venice, presented the working method adopted for the revision of our Norms: the members of the commission, the reasons for integrating or not the observations put forward by the Chapter members. After these explanations the […]
On the 2nd of June, 2021, the Memorial to Fr Jacques was inaugurated in the Avon monastery (Paris, France). The day began with Mass, at which presided Monsignor Nahmias, Bishop of Meaux. Also present were our Father General and Monsignor Follo, permanent observer of the Holy See at UNESCO. Afterwards, an outdoor meal was shared […]
The meeting of the Federation of Carmelite nuns of French-speaking Africa was held in Kinshasa from May 3 to May 20, 2021. The federation consists of 11 monasteries located in 6 countries (Cameroon, Burundi, R.D.C, Congo Brazza, Ivory Coast, Rwanda). Twenty-one nuns were able to travel, defying all obstacles (only the Carmel in Guitega, Burundi, […]
On February 24, Fr. Francisco Javier Jaramillo died in our monastery in Manrique (Medellin, Colombia). He was a member of our Colombian Province of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. Born on the 5th of December 1939, on the same date of 1957 he made his religious profession. After completing his studies in Colombia and […]
With great joy, we are sending the news which has reached us of our brothers and sisters in this Asian country. Despite the difficulties imposed due to the pandemic and keeping the security measures indicated by the authorities, the communities of friars, nuns and seculars in Malaysia celebrated a three-fold festival on the ocasión of […]
The convent of The Saint (the family home of St. Teresa of Jesus) in Avila, Spain, was the location of the ordination to the diaconate of Avila’s native son, Luís Carlos Muñoz on Saturday, June 27. The same day in Lebanon, our brothers Marcos, Jorge (of the Semi-province of Lebanon), Juan, y Zacarías (of the […]
Through a happy coincidence, this Sunday falls on 16 July, the day when the liturgy commemorates Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The slopes of Carmel, a high ridge that runs down the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea at the altitude of Galilee, are dotted with numerous natural caves, beloved by hermits. The most famous […]
6 monasteries of Kerala (Thiruvalla, Kottiyam, Makayattoor, Eramallor, Kolayad and Trivandrum) and 3 from Srilanka (Colombo, Galle and Kandy) joined together to form a new federation under the patronage of St. John of the Cross. After receiving the decree of approval from the Holy See they celebrated their first general assembly from 24-26 January 2020 at Bangalore. […]
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 […]
You will be given a copy of the text I prepared, so that you can read and ponder it quietly. But right now I would like to speak to you from the heart. The reading from the First Book of Kings (2:2b-3) was addressed to Joshua. It begins with an appeal to be courageous: “Be […]
In the Carmel of Our Lady of the Smile and Saint Therese, in Natal (Brazil), the first General assembly began on the 26th of March last of the Federation of Saint Teresa of los Andes of Discalced Carmelite nuns -Brazil-FeSTA, under the protection of Mary Mother, Queen and Beauty of Carmel. The meeting began with […]
This morning we rose earlier than usual, to go on foot to the Basilica called ‘Bom Jesus’ in Old Goa. The body of St. Francis Xavier, the great evangelizer of the East, co-patron of the missions with St. Thérèse of Lisieux, is kept in this magnificent Jesuit church, consecrated in 1605. At 7 o’clock in […]
Between the 15th to the 18th of November, there gathered together in the City of Aparecida, the Brazilian Capital of Marian devotion, some 500 people from throughout Brazil, laity, religious and priests, for the commemorative Forum for the 100 years of the Secular Carmel in Brazil. . Organized by the OCDS Provincial Council of the […]
From April 16 to 20, the German Province OCD met at the retreat house Birkenwerder for their annual ongoing formation week. As it has become an appreciated tradition by now, this yearly event is dedicated to fraternal encounters and the presentation and discussion of a topic relevant to Carmelite religious life. For some years already, […]
