Carmel in the Holy Land — Saints of Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

"The Glory of Lebanon has been given her, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon." (Isaiah 35 :2)

When Isaiah wrote these words, he was thinking of Jerusalem, the City of the Lord.

Today when a Carmelite, and at times an ordinary Christian, hears them, immediately he attributes them to the Virgin Mary. Such is the force of tradition…

Furthermore, if you question average Christians on the subject of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, they will surely reply : "She is the Virgin of the Scapular".

All Carmelites, particularly those who live in the country, in the places of the Order's origin, know that the reality is something else.

That the Virgin is the Patroness of Carmel, there is no doubt whatsoever ! Already in 1227, in a Brief of Gregory IX, dated 5th April, the Carmelites are called "Hermits of Holy Mary"

A document at the beginning of the XIII century, explains the reason for this title :

"On the slopes of this mountain itself, in a very beautiful and gracious site, live the Latin hermits who are called the brothers of Carmel. They have built there a really beautiful church to Our Lady."

For us this is a precious note ! A canonical law of that period laid down that each monastery, church, sanctuary, must have a "titulus", a title of consecration to a saint. Ipso facto, those in charge of the sanctuary are themselves vowed in some manner to the holy patron.

Thus, in consecrating their church to Our Lady, the hermit friars of Mount Carmel vowed themselves on purpose to her, to her service, to her devotion.

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But we are in the Middle-Ages, the era when courtly love was born with its precise rules, when the tournaments were in full swing… The knights entered the lists carrying the colours of their "Lady", and it was to her they paid homage should they win.

The report attributed to "William of Sanvic" sets down exactly the desire that the friars of Carmel had to live "in permanent service of the Divine Master and the Virgin his Mother".

The Order was born, as we recalled (cf. History) during the crusades. The crusaders had the idea of giving back to Christ the Lord (Dominus) what they considered as his domain (dominium) the Holy Land. It is in this context that the Mother, the Virgin Mary, the "Domina", was chosen by the Carmelites to be their Patroness, their Lady.

The hermits of Mt Carmel had a heightened awareness of belonging to her; they counted on her protection, they attributed to her, in part, the decision to set out for Europe, just in time moreover, that the young Order not perish under the attacks of the "Sarrasins".

Once in Europe, they had to fight to have their belonging to the Virgin officially recognised in the Church, and they won their cause, despite all.

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Who was Our Lady for the Carmelites at this time of the infancy of the Order ?

First of all she was Mother, the Mother of Jesus certainly, but also Mother of the Order !

A Provincial Chapter, in Lombardy, (1333) had within its acts : "in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi et gloriosae Virginis matris nostri Ordine de Carmelo" (In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the glorious Virgin, mother of our Order of Carmel).

The 1369 Constitutions definitively consecrated this formula : "Constitutionem Fratrum Ordinis B.M. Genitricis de Monte Carmeli" (Constitutions of the Brothers of the Order of the Blessed Mary Mother of Mount Carmel), points out the title, then further on : "Ad Laudem Dei et Beate Mariae Virginis Dei Genitricis et matris nostre" (to the praise of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God and our mother).

Later, the favoured title was the Immaculate Virgin. In fact, the feast of the Immaculate Conception is found in the Ordinal of Silver de Beka, in 1312. For a while, it seems, this was the patronal feast of the Order.

Finally, in so far that she is the inspiration and model for Carmelite life (and even more so for virginity and poverty) she became our Sister.

From the XV century, Carmelites had the official title of "Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel"

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Where did the scapular come from ? It became part of Carmel's history after the Order's arrival in Europe.

Regarding the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel on 16th July, it appeared only towards the end of XIV century in England. Most probably it commemorated the great victory of the Carmelites (in 1374) who had to defend publicly their title of "Brothers of the Virgin" : a victory sanctioned by Cambridge University and confirmed in 1379 by Pope Urban VI.

The scapular, enriched by numerous privileges and indulgences by several popes, a devotion within the Order from its beginning, rapidly became the devoutly treasured "property" of all Christians. In the sanctuary of the Carmelite Friars on Mount Carmel, Our Lady has also the title of Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) and throughout the world she is considered as the "Virgin of the Scapular" par excellence…

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