The Order of Carmel…

Without doubt, there are very few religious orders whose “photo album” contains as many internationally well known faces.

To start with there are those well-known faces who don’t really “belong” exclusively to the Carmelite family, but rather are a point of reference for all Christians – people in consecrated life and the many ‘ordinary’ Christians. These well-known faces however, are especially loved by Carmelites worldwide – without them Carmel would not really be Carmel.

Naturally our first attention is to the Virgin Mary, Queen and Beauty of Carmel, whom the first hermits of Mount Carmel referred to as our Mother and Sister.

In second place is the Virgin's life companion, Saint Joseph who the great Teresa of Avila introduced to her sisters as the protector of our Order, the “teacher of prayer” and “the bursar” of all goods belonging to Carmelite monasteries.

And finally, a special link to he whom we lovingly refer to as “our father Saint Elijah”, the man who burned with zeal for the glory of God. Elijah, a man devoted to humble intercessory prayer and to adoration of the Divine Presence which revealed itself to him “in the gentle breeze”.

Next are the well-known faces are of those saints who were ‘born of Carmel’ – those holy women and men who were enamoured of God.   Faces that you have possibly seen but of whom you may not know the names or what they did – the Carmelite nuns and Carmelite fathers:: Saint Teresa of Avila, already mentioned; Saint John of the Cross, one of the greatest Spanish poets; Laurence of the Resurrection (the simple friar who isn't even Blessed), a man who today would be amazed to learn that he had become so celebrated after his death and not only amongst Catholics; Saint Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, also known with her civil name of Edith Stein; Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity whose prayer is recited world-wide and in dozens of languages; the familiar “little flower” Therese of Lisieux who the Pope Pius X  referred to as “the greatest saint of modern times”; ‘the little Arab of Galilee’ Maryam – in religious life known as Mary of Jesus Crucified, who the world is beginning to discover…

We could continue to list other names which are more or less familiar, however, the goal of this website is not to focus on teaching about the Carmelite Order as a whole – there are already a number of good websites for that so just click on one of the following links or click on links in our webpage to discover more.

The official website for the Carmelite Order is: www.ocd.pcn.net

For a link on other French-speaking Carmels and their history click on:

     France -  www.carmel.asso.fr

     Canada – www.lecarmel.org

We would just like to share with you a little about our life, our human and spiritual environment; share with you the beauty that surrounds us, the relationships we have with this country and the different peoples of live here – in other words share with you all those riches we know we have of which we are not owners but only human links and witnesses. Our Carmel is part of a small but very active Association of the Carmels in the Holy Land, we would like to invite you therefore, to discover the Carmelite life and reality by checking out the Association’s website: www.carmelholyland.org