Carmel en Terre Sainte — Carmélites

Holy Family Carmel, Nazareth

The tiny village of Nazareth is known throughout the world!

Jesus, Nazareth: these two names are associated for eternity ... Travelling in Galilee, at the last turn of the highway crossing the plain of Esdraelon, Nazareth appears like a cup formed of shimmering walls in the dazzling sunlight. The "town of the ten hills" is like a flower where the heart shelters in the shade of the Basilica the Grotto of the Incarnation : here the Virgin Mary received God into her heart in order to give him her flesh :

"Hic Verbum, de Maria Virgine, Caro factum est"
(Here the Word was made Flesh, from the Virgin Mary)

Origin of the Nazareth Carmel

Its history is a marvellous page of legend gilded by the daughters of St Teresa of Avila.

It all began in Pau Carmel (in France) where, in 1867, a young Palestinian named Mariam Baouardy entered. She was to become Sr Mary of Jesus Crucified. Her life was filled with faith and simplicity, but also with extraordinary graces. At the end of August 1875, she left with some nuns from Pau to found the Bethlehem Carmel. A short time after they arrived, she declared that Our Lord wanted a Carmel in Nazareth and she initiated discussions with Mgr Bracco, Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1877, he himself sought authorisation from the Holy See to purchase a piece of suitable land and in April 1878, Rome gave approval for the planned new foundation. Mariam with her Prioress and Mistress of Novice went to Nazareth to visit the site for the future monastery. The nuns set out on 7th May, passing by Ain Karem, Emmaus and Jaffa, where they took a ship to Haifa and, from there, they reached Nazareth via Shefa-Amar. At that time it was indeed dangerous to journey in Samaria. During the voyage, Mariam had the joy of seeing once again Abellin, where she had been born.

The Carmel of Bethlehem was not entirely achieved when, on 26th August 1878, Mariam rejoined her Lord, "the sole love of her heart".

Despite all the difficulties…

"This is already done in heaven…", remarked Mariam and indeed, with time, the obstacles were to fall one after the other.

1. the financial difficulty : the sum needed to buy the land was offered by Mademoiselle Berthe Dartigaux, the generous donor of the Bethlehem Carmel, then taken over afterwards by the Countess de Noailles.

2. the opposition of the Turkish authorities : they opposed the establishment of European institutions on their territories and constantly refused requests for construction. But, thanks to the providential support of the Countess de Noailles, this opposition ceased in 1903.

The building began on 28th July 1907 with the laying of the foundation stone and took until 1910.

3. lack of nuns to found the monastery : at that time, the Bethlehem community was not sufficiently large enough to found a new monastery.

 

Carmel en construction

Foundation and the beginning of Carmel

Finally in 1910, the Bethlehem Carmel numbered 32 nuns. Eleven young Sisters were chosen to be the foundresses : six French, three Palestinians, one Italian and one German.

On 27th October 1910, they arrived at Nazareth, but it was not until 15th January 1911 that the chapel was inaugurated. Finally, the foundation was a reality.

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Almost four years after their arrival the 1914-1918 war broke out. The French sisters had to leave before the arrival of the Turks, allied with Germany. During the years of exile, the monastery served as a small Pasha army hospital for soldiers ill with cholera.

However, in 1919, the community, enlarged by 3 novices, was able to come back and re-begin Carmelite life on the hill, where the Spirit of the Annunciation always blows.

Carmel, on the principal hill.

The inspiration for the design of the monastery was the Interior Castle of our Holy Mother, St Teresa of Jesus, the great reformer from Avila.

The monastery is built from beautiful white stone of the region, mid-way up the hill, at the foot of which Nazareth is laid out, like a basket of flowers and fruits.

 

From the monastery, as if from a magnificent balcony, the gaze sweeps down upon the Grotto of the Annunciation, guarded over by the new Basilica, then it travels to the tiny houses and lanes of the humble village which still has, at least at its central part, its character of simplicity and joyous activity. Below the city and beyond the encircling hills, lies the Plain of Esdraelon towards the south, with its green grain. Towards the east is the dome of Tabor and, beyond the depression of the lake of Tiberias and the Jordan, the blue-tinged line of the mountains of Galaad. Towards the west lies the rectilinear chain of Mount Carmel, which is dominated by the summit of the Sacrifice of Elijah.

The grace of Nazareth

Nazareth's grace deeply impregnates our Carmel.

Nazareth used to be but a tiny, almost unknown village. Then came the day when the Angel Gabriel came to visit a young maiden called Mary. He entered her house, in this grotto with its rough walls. Her response, "I am the Lord's servant, let his word be accomplished in me" allowed this ineffable mystery to happen : The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

And all of that was accomplished in profound silence — no one was aware of what had happened !

The whole of the Virgin Mary's life remained steeped in this silence : the Gospel tells us how "Mary meditated in her heart upon all the events in Jesus' life".

Jesus, Mary and Joseph : what a community of silence, work, joy in faith and love in sacrifice! Charles de Foucauld discovered this life of the Holy Family while in Nazareth itself and Therese of Lisieux lived it in her cloister and in her heart: in the mystery of Nazareth she discovered "the little way" of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This led her to perform with love's perfection the little things of daily life in child-like faith and surrender to the Father, and with all her heart.

The Carmel today

If our Carmel has taken as its name "Carmel of the Holy Family", it was a good idea since this grace imbues our whole life. Like Mary, by receiving this Word into our heart, the community can once again, in this present age, spread her fruitfulness into our world.

To this is added a universal and ecumenical grace: from the monastery can be seen all the tiles and steeples of the churches of various Christian confessions which, with the synagogue and the minarets, are somewhat like a vision of the world reunited before the grotto of the Annunciation.

Thus, within the convent there is an ecclesial grace. With the aid of a common language, French, sisters from many nationalities form one heart and one soul, united in prayer with their brothers from around the world.

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In an open and joyous atmosphere, they work like their brothers for their daily bread: hosts, stoles and altar cloths to be used at Mass; rosaries, cards decorated with flowers from the Holy Land, pottery, plaster statues, and other pious objects that serve the pilgrims as well as the local people.

If Nazareth, from the excavations, reveals that at the time of Jesus it had at most 25 houses, it has now become a very important town, mainly because of pilgrimages and tourism. It remains a biblical and evangelical shrine dear to the hearts of Christians, and Carmel watches over it to preserve the memory of the first seed of Christianity.

Nazareth Carmel desires to live the spirit of St Teresa in this unbelievable and very moving proximity to

Him who, being Wholly Other, made himself "Wholly Ours".

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