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Part of a Carmelite monastery in Germany.
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Teresa of Avila
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Edith Stein, also known as Teresa Benedict of the Cross
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When they left Mount Carmel and the Holy Land, the early Carmelites exchanged expansive desert scenes for crowded city noises, hermitage for active ministry. While many of the first immigrants tried to maintain their hermit stance, settling in remote spots and less populated areas, younger members were inspired by the active preaching role of the young Franciscan friars and the Dominicans. These Mendicant orders spread rapidly throughout Europe, preaching the Word of God and doing good works.
Brother Simon, a member of the Mount Carmel community, was the elected leader of a now widely scattered group. Listening to the call for change, in 1247 he petitioned Pope Innocent IV to have the original Rule modified, allowing the Carmelite community to settle in and near cities and begin a pastoral role among the people.
In 1281, the community set up a house of studies in Paris and each province was to send two men to study theology. Carmelites were also studying at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In 1287, the community was divided into nine provinces because it was growing so quickly in so many areas of Europe. By 1362, there were 12,000 members of Carmelite houses.
During the fourteenth century, the Carmelites were affected, as was all of Europe, by the Plague, the Hundred Years War between England and France, and the schism in the Church between the two popes -- one in Rome and one in Avignon. Some houses were entirely closed, while others had only a few survivors to carry on and train new members.
In 1432, the Carmelite regulations were adjusted a bit more. Friars were allowed to eat meat three days a week and fasting and abstinence were further modified. This caused a division in the order, with some wanting to adopt the new regulations and others seeking a stricter adherence to the original Rule. In 1462, some of these "Barefooted" or "Observants" opened their own houses.
A great influence on the development of the Carmelite Order and spirituality was Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada, better known as Teresa of Avila, who joined the Convent of the Incarnation in Avila, Spain in 1535 when she was 20 years old. When she was 39, influenced by her natural inclination for a simpler life, her study and reading of the Confessions of St. Augustine, felt a closer, more personal relationship to God. In 1562, she opened the Convent of St. Joseph in Avila, which was to have only 13 nuns and closely imitate the life of the hermits of Mount Carmel. She later founded 14 more of these reformed convents. For Teresa, Carmelite communities were to have no divisions, hierarchies, or special privilege. "All must be friends, all must be loved, all must be held dear, all must be helped," she wrote.
Another 16th century Carmelite influence was John de Yepes, who joined the Carmelite friars in Medina del Campo, Spain, in 1563. After studying at Salamanca and ordination, John of the Cross joined some members of his convent in Durelo in 1568 to minister to the nuns of Teresa's reformed order. They wore a habit of rough undyed wool and discarded their shoes. As a spiritual director and writer, he earned a reputation for deep holiness and for leading people into mystical experiences of prayer.
During her short 24 years of life from 1873 to 1897, a Carmelite nun from Normandy, Thérèse of Lisieux, expressed amazing insights into life and a simple recipe for holiness. Her meditations on being a "little one" of God and putting all her trust in God led to an abandonment of her own way and desires, an emptying process that allowed space to be filled with God's gifts.
The year after Thérèse died, Anno Brandsma joined the Carmelites in his home province of Friesland, Holland. Taking the name Titus, he delved into Carmelite history and brought his deep prayer practice to his studies at the Gregorian University in Rome and later, teaching assignments. In 1923, he helped Dutch bishops found a Catholic University in Nijmegen, Holland, where he later became rector. Titus was also a journalist and leader in the Catholic press. In 1940, German troops invaded Holland. By 1941, they had made it illegal for any priest or religious to direct a school or university; they were also placing severe limits on publishers. Titus remained an outspoken advocate for the Catholic press and religious freedom, and as a result was arrested in January 1942. He died in July that same year in Dachau. He was made Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1985.
Edith Stein, another martyr of the Holocaust, was an unlikely Carmelite. She grew up in an observant Jewish family in Wroclaw, Poland, but during her college years she could not believe in a personal God and called herself an atheist. Her studies included philosophy, psychology, and medieval Christian writers. She also read St. Teresa of Avila's autobiography, which touched her deeply. In 1922, she was baptized in St. Martin Church, Bergzabern. In 1933, she joined the Carmel of Cologne and took the name Teresa Benedict of the Cross. Edith and her sister, Rosa, were both killed at Auschwitz in 1942. Edith was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
Today throughout the world there are about 2,200 Carmelite friars on five continents. There are
72 communities of cloistered nuns, 13 Congregations of sisters, a Lay Missionary Family, a Secular Institute, three communities of hermits, and numerous Third Order Lay members and Confraternities of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
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