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50-765: White friars are members of the Order of Carmelites . Whitefriars may also refer to: Order of Carmelites The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( Latin : Ordo Fratrum Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmelo ; abbreviated OCarm ), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel , is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Historical records about its origin remain uncertain; it

100-561: A centralization of the government of the different provinces while ensuring the training of the religious. In 1499, the Reform of Albi aimed at a return to a more strict observance and in 1513 was approved as a "Congregation of Observance". However, this reform was suppressed in 1584 by Pope Gregory XIII In 1603, Henri Sylvius, Prior General of the Order, went to France at the request of the king Henri IV of France , to undertake with Philippe Thibault

150-573: A few decades, these hermits began to leave the Holy Land as a result of the insecurity linked to the Muslim reconquests which marked the end of the Crusades . They then returned to Europe where they spread this new monastic order. The rule of St. Albert was not approved by a pope until 30 January 1226 in the bull Ut vivendi normam of Honorius III . In 1229 Pope Gregory IX confirmed this rule again and gave it

200-621: A house was built in Vannes to accommodate a first community and on 2 November 1463 nine nuns arrived there from Liège and settled permanently. While the Vannes convent, such as Les Trois Maries , was to suffer suppression in 1792, during the French Revolution, in the meantime convents of Carmelite nuns had spread rapidly, including many in Spain and Italy. John Soreth played an extremely important role in

250-555: A large number of fraternities in many countries. Following the return of the Carmelites of the Old observance to France in 1989, at the request of the laity, fraternities began to be formed. The first fraternity was established in the diocese of Toulon in 1992. A second was in Nantes in 2001. Reform in Spain began in earnest in the 1560s, with the work of Teresa of Ávila , who, together with John of

300-422: A major cause of the decline of the order. The constitutions of the order dating from 1362 were revised and the text approved by the general chapter of Brussels in 1462. They insisted on The divine office, the vow of poverty, silence and solitude, the custody of the convent and the cell, studies, work and the visits of the superiors. The reform took hold in some of the convents, the "observant convents", and

350-536: A multitude of angels and holding in her hand the Scapular of the Order . In his vision, Mary said Receive, my dear son, this scapular of your Order, as the distinctive sign of the mark of the privilege that I have obtained for you and the children of Carmel; it is a sign of salvation, a safeguard in perils and the pledge of peace and special protection until the end of the centuries. Whoever dies in this garment will be preserved from eternal fires. Following this vision, and

400-701: Is centered on prayer and defined the way of life of hermits. The first act of the Order of Brothers of The Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel was to dedicate a chapel to the Virgin Mary under the title of Mary, Star of the Sea (in Latin: Stella Maris ). Elisabeth Steinmann considers it probable that the hermits of Mount Carmel also settled in some cities of Palestine ( Acre, Israel , Tire , Tripoli , Beaulieu in Lebanon), but after

450-515: Is lacking. In the Carmelite rule, reference is made only to "Brother B." (in the introductory sentence of the rule) who asked the patriarch for a rule of life for hermits. Tradition has established that it was Brocard, second prior general of the order, who asked the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem , Albert of Vercelli , to provide the group of hermits with a written rule of life. This rule, dated 1209,

500-662: The Augustinians . The Carmelites, barely spared, had to change their way of life from eremitic to mendicant. Gradually, during the 13th century, Carmelite hermits returning from Mount Carmel resettled throughout Europe, e.g. in Cyprus , Sicily , Italy , England , and southern France . Some dates and locations are known: However, the new settlements of the Carmelites in the European cities were very different from their eremitical life on Mount Carmel . In addition, they faced hostility from

550-621: The Carmelites of the Ancient Observance and very rarely the Calced Carmelites ( discalced being a reference to some religious orders going barefoot or wearing sandals instead of shoes). Historical records about its origin remain uncertain, but the order was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States . Berthold of Calabria , as well as Albert of Vercelli , have traditionally been associated with

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600-949: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus and between the Knights Templar and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia . In 1214 he had been invited to the Fourth Lateran Council , but the Master of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, whom he had rebuked and deposed for immorality, stabbed him to death on 14 September while taking part in a procession on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross . He

650-487: The Third Crusade , a group of hermits led by Berthold of Calabria began to inhabit the caves of Mount Carmel following the prophet Elijah . This first monastery was located in the east–west facing valley located 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south of the current monastery, and east of the "Haifa Sde Yehoshua Cemetery". At the beginning of the 13th century, their leader was supposed to be Brocard , although written evidence

700-407: The "mixed convents". John Soreth hoped that his reform would gradually be imposed in all the houses of the order, but this attempt at reform remained largely unfulfilled since the prior general who followed him favored a return to a mitigation of the rule, and met with the approval of Popes Pius II and Sixtus IV. In 1523 Pope Hadrian VI appointed Nicolas Audet as vicar general. The latter organized

750-480: The Carmelite rule and thus formed communities in the second half of the 15th century. Prior General John Soreth worked to transform these beguinages into Carmelite women's convents. On 7 October 1452, Pope Nicholas V promulgated the bull Cum Nulla introducing the Carmelites in France. Under his protection, Françoise d'Amboise (†1485), Duchess of Brittany, erected the first convent for Carmelite nuns in France. In 1463,

800-404: The Carmelites could then rightly perform their apostolic mission. Nonetheless, a conflict ensued between the Carmelites who desired an eremitic life and those who desired an apostolic life in cities, including preaching. Consequently, two kinds of Carmelite monastery developed, one in the heart of cities and another outside them. Carmelites began to study theology at universities. The mitigation of

850-621: The Cross , established the Discalced Carmelites . Teresa's foundations were welcomed by King Philip II of Spain , who was most anxious for all Orders to be reformed according to the principles of the Council of Trent (1545–1563). But she created practical problems at the grassroots level. The proliferation of new religious houses in towns that were already struggling to cope economically was an unwelcome prospect. Local townspeople resisted direction by

900-704: The Discalced Carmelites had their own superior general styled praepositus general, the first such being Nicholas Doria. Due to the politics of foundation, the Discalced friars in Italy were canonically erected as a separate juridical entity. After the rise of Protestantism and the devastation of the French Wars of Religion , a spirit of reform renewed 16th–17th century France, as well as the Carmelite Order in France. In

950-769: The Holy Land. The Carmelites who had chosen to remain there were massacred by the Mamelukes . Jerg Ratgeb painted a fresco retracing the life of the Carmelites at the beginning of the 16th century, on the walls of the refectory of the Carmelite monastery in Frankfurt. Back in Europe, the hermits of Carmel encountered many difficulties. Their eremitic life did not adapt well to their new settlements, they were scattered in different nations, and they found themselves in "competition" with other mendicant orders . Pope Innocent III wished to bring

1000-568: The Order can no longer observe the rule because of its severity and rigor, both because of the fragility human than by weakness of the body. Two Carmelites were sent to convey this request to the Pope. The Pope responded in 1435 with the bull Romani Pontificis , dated 15 February 1432, the date of the petition. Addressed to the Prior General, Jean Faci, the bull granted the Carmelites permission to freely and lawfully stay and walk "in their churches, and in

1050-531: The Pope confirmed their anteriority. After the General Chapter of the Order of 1287 in Montpellier , France , the Carmelites replaced the white and brown striped, or barred, coat of their habit with a white cloak, because of which cloak they therefore colloquially were denominated "White Friars". The assimilation of the Carmelites as a mendicant order in 1326 by Pope John XXII ended the final hindrances, and

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1100-604: The Rule came after the great epidemic of the Black Death in the middle of the 14th century, which brought about a collapse of the European population accompanied by a decrease of members of monastic orders. During the chapter of Nantes, a majority of Carmelites asked to appeal to Pope Eugene IV for a second mitigation of the Rule of 1209 of Saint Albert; the reform of 1247 was considered the first mitigation. The letter, dated 15 February 1432, indicated that Many professed members of

1150-607: The Touraine Reform, after the Province from which the movement originated. Carmelite nunneries were established in New Spain (Mexico), the first founded in 1604 in Puebla de los Angeles , New Spain's second largest city, followed by one in the capital Mexico City 1616. In all, before Mexican independence in 1821, there were five Carmelite convents among 56 nunneries. Daniel Papebroch

1200-402: The ancient observant rule. The Carmelites of Mantua obtained from Pope Eugene IV the bull Fama laudabilis , in 1442, which allowed them to be a separate congregation, governed by a vicar general and only distantly subject to the prior general. While influential during the 15th century, the "Reform of Mantua" subsequently became of marginal influence. Finally, this mitigation introduced around 1465

1250-526: The bull Dum attendant meditatatione of 28 November 1476, which conceded many advantages to the mendicant orders. However, this mitigation of the Rule was somewhat resisted. Even before its promulgation, there was some protest against "a general relaxation" of the Rule. The advantages of the new rule were sometimes frowned upon in certain monasteries which wished to return to the old rule of 1247. The convents of La Selve (near Florence), Mantua and Géronde (Switzerland) thrived because of their tendency to observe

1300-482: The cloisters of these and in the places adjoining them at the appropriate times", moreover, it granted the faculty to eat meat three days a week, except during Advent and Lent and on other days when this was prohibited by general law. Pope Pius II completed this permission on 5 December 1469 by granting the Prior General the faculty of dispensing from fasting on days when abstinence was lifted. Pope Sixtus IV granted greater freedom, commonly known as Mare magnum , in

1350-508: The communal dimension of their life was clearly emphasized. Pope Innocent IV clarified and corrected some ambiguities and mitigated some severities of the original Rule, and on 1 October 1247 he established the text in the bull Quae honorem conditoris omnium . Thereafter, e.g., the Carmelites no longer ate meals in their cells separately and instead ate in common in a refectory . Thereafter Carmelites also preached and heard confessions in secular (ordinary) churches. The last great uncertainty for

1400-642: The founding of the Third Order of the Carmelites. Pope Nicholas V supported this action in his bull Cum Nulla , too. In France, there were many Carmelite fraternities of the Third Order before the Revolution. Many died during the French Revolution , but a few evolved and organized themselves into a religious congregation of apostolic life. Currently the Third Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel has

1450-484: The founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived. The order of Carmelite nuns was formalised in 1452. The Carmelite Order is one of the few monastic orders, if not the only one, not to refer to a charismatic founder, but to a prophet of the Old Testament : Elijah and his disciple Elisha are considered by the Carmelites as the spiritual fathers of the order. Tradition indicates

1500-556: The general chapter held in Rome, the provincial of Touraine, Léon de Saint-Jean, was appointed a member of a committee to further revise these constitutions with a view to having them adopted by all the reformed convents of the order. From the Middle Ages, women close to the communities of Carmelite friars were drawn to their life of prayer. Thus, in the Low Countries some beguinages adopted

1550-573: The interior life and regular observance as the antidote to the laxity and decadence into which religious life had fallen, in addition, incorporating currents of renewal from the Discalced Reform, the French School , and the Society of Jesus . Thibault is said to have wished to marry the spirit of the society with the Order of Carmelites as far as possible. One of the most renowned figures of the Reform

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1600-582: The late 16th century, Pierre Behourt began an effort to restore the state of the Province of Touraine , which was continued by the practical reforms of Philip Thibault. The Provincial Chapter of 1604 appointed Thibault the prior of the Convent in Rennes, and moved the Novitiate to Rennes, thereby ensuring that new members of the Province would be formed by the reform-minded friars. The Observance of Rennes advocated poverty,

1650-578: The mendicant orders all together under the direction of the Order of Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers . In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council decided to group the existing Mendicant orders under the two primary ones. In 1274 the Second Council of Lyon disestablished all mendicant orders that were founded after 1215; only four remained: the Franciscans , the Order of Preachers , the Carmelites , and

1700-452: The nobility and diocesan clergy. Teresa tried to make her monasteries as self-sufficient as was practicable, and accordingly restricted the number of nuns in each community. The Discalced Carmelites also faced much opposition from unreformed Carmelite houses, as when Carmelites from Toledo arrested and imprisoned John of the Cross in their monastery. Only in the 1580s did the Discalced Carmelites gain official approval of their status. In 1593,

1750-492: The order the "Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel" and asked bishops to kindly accept them in their dioceses. However, the hostility of the secular clergy to the Carmelites was such that it prompted repetition of this recommendation on 4 October later that year. In 1247, the Carmelites asked Pope Innocent IV to modify the Rule of Saint Albert of 1209 to adapt it to their new way of life in cities. In this modification,

1800-474: The presence on Mount Carmel of a series of Jewish and then Christian hermits who lived, prayed and taught in the caves used by Elijah and Elisha. This is how the first Christian hermits (at the origin of the founding of the order) settled in the caves of Mount Carmel to pray to God. The first chapel built within the hermitages and bringing together this community is dedicated to the Virgin Mary . Very quickly,

1850-483: The reform of the province of Touraine. Pierre Behourt, Louis Charpentier, Philippe Thibault and Jean de Saint-Samson were to be the initiators and architects of this reform of the Carmelites of the Old observance. Figures of note in the Catholic Reformation , they were supported by Charles Borromeo , cardinal and archbishop of Milan . On 20 June 1604, at the provincial chapter of Nantes , Henri Sylvius published

1900-442: The ruins of the ancient Byzantine monastery which he rebuilt and renamed Saint Elijah. Tradition indicates that the order was founded in 1185, but that is based on the story of a pilgrim in the Holy Land, the interpretation of which remains questionable. The oldest (and most reliable) written accounts of the presence of Latin hermits on Mount Carmel date back to 1220 and another text from 1263 (See Steinmann 1963 , p. 24). During

1950-476: The secular clergy and even from other mendicant orders, who saw them as competitors. According to tradition, the prior general of the Carmelites, Simon Stock , worried about the very difficult situation of the order, which was still threatened with dissolution by the Catholic Church, intensely prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary to aid the order. In 1251, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to him accompanied by

2000-473: The spirituality of the order turned to Mary who became the queen and mistress of Carmel. Before the presence of the Carmelites, in the 6th century Byzantine monks built a monastery dedicated to Saint Elijah in a valley a few kilometers south of the present monastery. This was destroyed in 614 by the Persians of Khosrow II . Around 1150, a Greek monk from Calabria established a community of about ten members among

2050-467: The spread of the Scapular, the Order of Carmel endured and spread rapidly. The historicity of these events is disputed because of the lack of contemporary written records for the period in question; the earliest extant written records are from approximately 150 years later), and some documents contradict this narrative. In the bull Paganorum incursus of 27 July 1247, Pope Innocent IV officially denominated

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2100-525: The status of Regula bullata . At the end of the first crusade led by Louis IX of France in the Holy Land in 1254 (the Seventh Crusade ), Louis brought six Carmelites back to France who joined with those who since 1238 had started to seek and found houses all over Europe. The fall of Saint-Jean-d'Acre in 1291, and the fall of the Latin state of Outremer led to the destruction of the last Carmelite convents in

2150-463: The statutes of the reform, which intended to promote the interior life and return to the ancient tradition of the order, under the patronage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph . By the middle of the 17th century, most of the French provinces had adopted the reform, which had already won over the convents of Belgium (1624) and Germany. Its constitutions were definitively affirmed in 1635. In 1645, during

2200-510: The survival of the order occurred in 1274. During the sanota vacillationis session of 17 July 1274, the Second Council of Lyon , presided by Pope Gregory X , suppressed all the mendicant orders that lacked regular legal status ( incert mendicita ). The Carmelites defended the anteriority of their foundation, i.e. their institution before 1215, and the pertinent decisions of the Fourth Lateran Council , and emphasized their pontifical approvals. After many Carmelite interventions during this session,

2250-578: The war between Parma and Piacenza . In 1205 he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope Innocent III , whom he also served as papal legate in the Holy Land . As patriarch, Albert helped found the Carmelites around 1209, in particular by his composition of what came to be called the Carmelite Rule of St. Albert . This order was based on Mount Carmel , across the Bay of Haifa from Acre where he resided as patriarch. Additionally, he mediated disputes between

2300-499: Was John of St. Samson , a blind lay brother, highly regarded for his humility and exalted spiritual life. In 1612, Br. John was moved to the Convent at Rennes and, in addition to playing the organ, served as the instructor and spiritual director of the novices. Thus John of St. Samson became known as the "Soul of the Reform." Eventually, the Observance of Rennes spread to priories throughout France, Belgium, and Germany, and became known as

2350-631: Was a member of the Bollandists , a group of Jesuit hagiographers who produced the Acta Sanctorum , which took an analytical approach to the "Lives of the Saints". In his preliminary commentary on Albert of Vercelli , who is credited with the Carmelite Rule, Papebroch said that the tradition universally received by the Carmelites, that the origin of the order dated back to the prophet Elias, as its founder,

2400-621: Was definitively incorporated into the regulation of the Order of the Great Carmelites in 1783 by Pope Pius VI. John Soreth , a friar from the Carmelite Convent of Caen, who served as Prior General in the years 1451–1471, tried to convince his subjects to lead a more rigorous religious life by developing seeds already sown and promoting movements that already existed. His motto was "Return to the Rule of Saint Albert". In his early decrees he protested against privileges and exemptions, seen as

2450-538: Was insufficiently grounded. The Carmelites took exception to this. Albert of Vercelli Born at Castel Gualtieri , Italy , he was educated in theology and law. He entered the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected prior in 1180. He became Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and a year later was appointed Bishop of Vercelli . He served the papacy as a mediator and diplomat between Pope Clement III and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . Albert served as papal legate in 1199 and helped end

2500-412: Was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in what is now Israel . The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel are also known simply as the Carmelites or the Carmelite Order . To differentiate themselves from the Discalced Carmelites (founded in 1562), who grew out of the older order but today have more members, the original Carmelites are sometimes known as

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