 St. Teresa of Avila |
Founder of the Discalced Carmelite nuns and friars and the first woman Doctor of the Catholic Church. |
Who are the Discalced Carmelites?
 St. John of the Cross |
First member of the Discalced Carmelite Order and a Doctor of the Catholic Church. |
The Carmelite Order first began as a single community of hermits who chose to live according to the example of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel in Palestine in the early days of the thirteenth century. Carmelites have always regarded themselves as children of the Blessed Mother and of St. Elijah, whom the Bible associates so closely with Mount Carmel. In about 1238, the hermits from Mount Carmel began to establish other communities in different parts of Europe.
Circumstances led the Carmelites even further from their hermit origins; and they became a mendicant order, though the old hermit way of life was never forgotten or completely wiped out. It is still ever-present to them in their rule.
In 1562 a Spanish Carmelite nun, known to us as St. Teresa of Avila, assisted by another great Carmelite, St. John of the Cross, established what was to become a new branch of the Carmelite Order, the Discalced Carmelites. "Discalced" comes from the Latin word meaning "unshod." They were so called because the most distinctive thing about their appearance was the fact that, because of their more austere way of life, they wore rope sandals of the poor in place of leather shoes. The Discalced Carmelites, both friars and nuns, aim at a more retired and contemplative form of life. The Carmelite Order today has two branches of their family: the Ancient Observance (O.Carm.) and the Discalced (OCD).
Discalced Carmelite Friars
The Discalced Carmelite friars, as members of the Teresian Carmel and by the word and example of Christ, are taught how to pray to the Father in solitude and silence, and with one another in community. Prayer deepens their friendship with God and makes them aware of his loving presence in the world. Prayer, the source of their lives as Carmelites, is nourished by the liturgy of the Church and time spent in silence with God.
A vocation as a Discalced Carmelite friar unites one as a brother in a family modeled on the community of Christ and the apostles. A fraternal sharing is evident in the life of prayer together in an apostolic ministry and in the loving concern shown by the friars by sharing everything they have with one another. Through their lives lived in community, the friars experience the presence of Christ as they nourish and enhance it by the gift of his Spirit.
The friars, in their friendship with Christ, are brought to the fullness of life and become more deeply involved in the life of the Church and of the world we live in. They seek to respond to Christ’s call to bring the Gospel message to their brothers and sisters throughout the world. As Carmelite brothers and priests, they serve the Church in various ministries, especially in spirituality.
If you feel you are being called to follow Christ as a Discalced Carmelite, a religious order of priests and brothers dedicated to prayer and spiritual ministry, you can receive more information by contacting the vocation director at one of the following addresses.
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PO Box 3420 5151 Marylake Dr. 2131 Lincoln Rd NE |
Canadian Foundation Polish Foundation |
Discalced Carmelite Nuns
The Discalced Carmelites nuns were founded by the great Spanish mystic, St. Teresa of Avila, who reformed the Order of Carmel in the 16th century (1562) setting up very much the same lifestyle the communities follow today, together with about 60 Carmels in the United States and more than 800 throughout the world. St. Teresa blended this hermit way of life with the element of community in a unique balance that was her special gift to contemplative life, totally given to prayer, silence, sacrifice, and manual labor.
The Discalced Carmelite nuns are a contemplative order of nuns who imitate Our Lord through the solemn vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty by living in desert solitude within a Papal enclosure. Prayer is their apostolate. They are like hermits, but they live in the context of community, praying together, taking meals in common, and recreating together each day in a true spirit of sisterly joy. They work in silence, striving to make everything an act of love and service, so as to live faithfully the Gospel, for Him and in union with Him.
By solemn profession, the nuns belong to the Blessed Virgin in a special way. Her presence permeates their houses of prayer; she is their Queen and the patroness of the Carmelite Order. Therefore, the Discalced Carmelite nuns take her as the model of their lives, rejoicing that they are able to wear her scapular as part of their religious habit.
The Discalced Carmelite nuns are in Carmel for the service of the Church and the world. Their whole lives are dedicated to prayer. The Mass is the focal point of each day, and they gather in choir seven times each day to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. It is the task of Carmel today to adapt its life in accordance with the directives of Vatican II, returning to its roots, and deepening the essential prayer life.
Those who think they may have a calling to the Discalced Carmelite nuns must have qualities necessary for living that way of life and growing toward the fullness of the Carmelite vocation: the desire and determination to give oneself wholeheartedly to God and to others in a life of prayer, willingness to let go of all things in order to respond to the call of Christ, the ability to get along with others in community life, sound judgment and common sense, and good health.
A candidate interested in joining a Discalced Carmelite community must go through several stages of discernment. Live-in: where the candidate lives in the cloister for a period of up to three months in order to discern her vocation and come to a better understanding of this way of life; Postulancy: where the postulant tests her vocation as she gradually adapts herself to the Carmelite way of life under the direction of the mistress of novices – a candidate must ordinarily be at least seventeen years old and have completed high school; Novitiate: where the novice receives the habit of the Order and comes to understand and experience the demands of following Christ as a Teresian Carmelite; and Temporary Vows: during these three years, the young professed further develops the understanding and experience begun in the novitiate becoming more fully integrated into community life and preparing herself for the definitive consecration of solemn vows.
If you are interested in learning more about a vocation to the Teresian Discalced Carmelite nuns, click on the following website: http://www.ocd.pcn.net, which will bring you onto the Carmelite website in Rome. Click on the “English” button that will bring you onto another page; and under “Addresses,” choose “Discalced Carmelite Nuns.” Under “Nuns by Nation,” click on” United States.” You will see a complete listing of the Discalced Carmelite monasteries. Once you find a monastery in the area in which you are interested, you may contact them by phone, e-mail, regular mail, or by whatever means they have listed.