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Province of Lower Germany Ex

from January 2013 the two Provinces of Germany merged into one province called
German Province

The earliest extant Constitutions of the Carmelite Order, those of 1281, already show a German Province, eighth in precedence of ten Provinces. By 1294 it had been divided into the Lower and Upper German Provinces. During the first half of the 14th century the two Provinces were several times reunited and divided, probably because of the differences between Louis of Bavaria and the papacy, but in 1348 the division became definitive. The Province of Lower Germany extended over the Rhineland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The Province with its principal convent in Cologne suffered less from the Reformation than its sister Province, and in Eberhard Billick, its Provincial, it provided the Church with an outstanding champion of the Catholic faith. The Thirty Years War delayed the revival of the Province, but at the cessation of hostilities it became possible to introduce the Stricter Observance, especially through the efforts of Antonin de la Charité, of the province of Touraine. By 1660 the Province had become completely reformed.

The sixteen convents of this flourishing province vanished without a trace in the Napoleonic suppression of 1803 and subsequently. Only in 1924, when the Province of The Netherlands repossessed our ancient church in Mainz, did a Carmelite presence return to these regions. Other foundations followed, and in 1969 the Lower Germany Province again became a reality. It has a mission in Camerun.

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