Displaying items by tag: Calendar of Feasts and Memorials

January 9th | Feast

Born in Florence at the beginning of the 14th century, St. Andrew Corsini  entered religious life in the Carmelite house in his native city. He was appointed Provincial of Tuscany in 1348 by the General Chapter meeting in Metz and the following year he was named bishop of Fiesole, near Florence. He governed his diocese well, becoming a model of charity and an eloquent preacher. 

He was distinguished by his zeal for the apostolate, his wise judgement and his love for the poor.

Read more on St. Andrew Corsini here

The Chapel of St. Andrew Corsini in the Lateran Basilica

January 8th | Feast

Peter Thomas was a true Carmelite, not only in his relationship to Mary as the Queen and Decor Carmeli, but also in the way he lived his life according to the customs of the Order. However, his special commitment and concern was primarily for the unity of Christians. He constantly strove for reconciliation between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Christians who had separated from the See of Peter in 1054. He developed an intensive apostolic activity as a peacemaker and defender of the popes. He always preached reconciliation. Miracles and extraordinary signs accompanied his eventful life.

A fresco created in 1880 by the Munich painter Max Fürst in the Carmelite church in Straubing shows St. Peter Thomas surrounded by confreres caring for the needy and giving communion to the sick. However, the painting also points to an essential characteristic of the saint's piety: his fervent devotion to Mary, who appears to him with the infant Jesus in her arms, accompanied by angels, and assures him of her protection and blessing. Tradition also credits him with writing a treatise on the Immaculate Conception of Mary (De Immaculata Conceptione BMV). Four volumes of his sermons have also been preserved.

In 1366, his chancellor and friend Philippe di Mézières, of whom he was also a spiritual director, wrote the biography of Petrus Thomas. Noted Carmelite historian, Joachim Smet, edited the Latin text from hitherto unpublished manuscripts. (The introduction and notes are in English.) 

For more on St. Peter Thomas and his work, click here

Books Available from Edizioni Carmelitane:

The Life of Saint Peter Thomas by Philippe de Mézieres (Latin)
     Introduction and Notes by Joachim Smet, O. Carm.

The Bollandist Dossier (1643) on St. Peter Thomas, O. Carm.
     Edited and translated by Patrick Mullins, O. Carm.

The Revised Bollandist Dossier (1659) on St. Peter Thomas, O. Carm.
     Edited and translated by Patrick Mullins, O. Carm.

14 December Feast

Saint John was born, probably in 1540, in Fontiveros, near Avila in Spain. His father died when he was very young and he had to move with his mother from one place to another, while he tried as best he could to continue his education and, at the same time, to earn a living. In Medina in 1563 he was clothed in the Carmelite habit and, after a year's novitiate, was given permission to follow the unmitigated Carmelite Rule. 

He was ordained priest in 1567, after studying philosophy and theology at Salamanca, and, in the same year, he met Saint Teresa of Jesus who, a little while before, had obtained permission from the Prior General Rossi to found two communities of contemplative Carmelite Friars (later called the Discalced) in order that they might help the communities of nuns that she had established. A year later - during which he travelled with Teresa - on the 28th November 1568, John became part of the first group of Reformed Carmelites at Duruelo, changing his name from John of St. Matthias to John of the Cross.

To read more on the life of St. John of the Cross ...

For more on John of the Cross and His Eucharistic Spirituality ...

To watch the interview from 2022 with Dr. John D. Love, S.T.D., on the relevance of St. John's today, click here ...

Publications by Edizioni Carmelitane available at the Webstore 

5 December Optional Memorial

A native of Mantua, Italy, he was a Carmelite in the Mantuan Congregation and already ordained priest by 1452. For 35 years in the Carmelite church of his city, he was the spiritual director and rector of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for whom he wrote a rule and a set of statutes.

Humble and gentle, he gave an example to everyone of a life of prayer, of generosity and of faithful service of the Lord. He was outstanding for his love of the Eucharist which was the centre of his apostolic life and for his devotion to Mary. He died in 1495.

29 November Optional Memorial

Peter Berthelot was born at Honfleur (Calvados, France) on Dec. 12, 1600, and as a young man went to sea, visiting Spain, England and America. In 1619 he went to India, where, as cosmographer and first pilot of the kings of France and of Portugal, he distinguished himself by his valor and genius. Proof of the latter are his Maritime Tables, sketched with great ability and preserved in the British Museum (Ms. Sloan 197). In 1635, while in Goa, he took counsel with his spiritual director, Father Philip of the Most Trinity, and consequently joined the Discalced Carmelites. He made his profession on Dec. 25, 1636, with the name of Dionysius of the Nativity. He was ordained a priest on Aug. 24, 1638. According to the testimony of the same Father Philip, he was an example of virtue to all the religious, both in the novitiate and after his profession. He was graced with the gift of contemplation; and more than once during prayer he appeared surrounded by heavenly splendors.

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19 November Optional Memorial in the province of Poland

Raphael of St. Joseph (in lay life: Joseph Kalinowski) was born at Vilna to a Polish family on 1st September 1835 and died at Wadowice on 15th November 1907. Graduating in engineering at the Academy of Military Sciences at St. Petersburgh, he was appointed to the fortress at Brest Litowski and later promoted to be Chief of Staff in the Russian Army.

In spite of his desire to leave the military life, he took part in the rising against the Czarist occupying forces in Poland, accepting the position of Minister of War in Vilna. The night of the 24th March 1864, he was arrested and put in prison where he was condemned to death but the sentence was later commuted to ten years forced labour in Siberia. He was freed in 1874 and returned to Poland. Being forbidden to live in any of the main Polish cities, he took up a post as tutor to the young Prince Augusto Czartoryski who spent most of his time in Paris.

In 1877, Raphael joined the Carmelites. He was ordained priest in 1882 and began an apostolate centred on the confessional, in the giving of spiritual direction and being full of enthusiasm for ecumenism, he worked strongly for unity in the Church. A great devotee of Our Lady, he revived the Discalced Carmelite Order in Poland. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 17th November 1991.

15 November Optional Memorial

by Fr. Emiel Abalahin, O.Carm.

The homes of most people do not consist of a mere wooden frame or a cement foundation; rather, they are constructed from a great variety of materials, and more often than not, the result of the participation of more than one or two people.  So, too, the Order of Carmel continues to grow and develop today because of the presence and contributions of all those who built upon its spiritual foundations, and not just its great saints. 

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November 14 | Feast

The Heavenly Bliss of Paradise
From De Patientia of Bl. Battista Mantovano, Carmelite

The blessed will hear resounding from all sides the highest praises of God, according to the word of the Prophet: blessed is he who dwells in your house: always sing your praises. They will see the heavens and taste all their harmony, they will see Christ and His Mother and all the glorious bodies of the blessed. These, now incorruptible and clothed in incomparable beauty, will be such a sweet spectacle to the beholders that they will not know what better to desire.

Read the complete article

Read more about the Feast of All Carmelite Saints

Some Observations on the Spirituality of Mother Scrilli

From childhood she showed signs of extraordinary piety and, thanks to the positive influence of her teachers, cultivated her spiritual life through assiduous attendance at the sacraments and readings from the lives of the saints, especially St. Mary Magdalena de'Pazzi. Her mother’s lack of love for having a second daughter and her own long serious illness at the age of 15 drew her ever closer to the suffering of Christ and his Cross. Suffering experienced as an act of love made her delve more and more into the mystery of the Cross. “Patire per amore” (To Suffer for Love) was her motto.

In addition to devotion to Christ’s passion and the Eucharist, she had a tender love for Mary whom she considered her “dear mother.”

When she attempted to live as a cloistered nun at the monastery of St Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, who she had a devotion to as well, she found that God had other plans for her. She and some friends started teaching. But that too did not work out because of the anti-Church attitudes in Florence at the time. Years later, in 1875, they restarted the Istituto di Nostra Signora del Carmelo knowing that this was God’s will.

To her intense activity, Mother Scrilli united a profound and continuous life of prayer. She knew how to harmonize prayer and work, contemplation and action, self-giving to God and service to her brothers and sisters. This became the goal of the Institute.

While she endured many constant physical sufferings, she also endured moral one with a spirit of faith and conformity to Divine Will. Her whole desire, in fact, was to fulfill God’s will. The “fiat” was the constant that accompanied her throughout her life.

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To learn more about the life of Mother Maria Teresa and her work and legacy, we suggest reading The Autobiography of Maria Teresa Scrilli, Foundress of the Institute of Our Lady of Mount Carmel published by Edizioni Carmelitane

From: Dizionario Carmelitano, 2008

8 November Optional Memorial

Elizabeth of the Trinity is one of the best-known figures in contemporary spirituality. Through her example and her teaching, she has exerted an ever-growing influence for many years, due above all to her Trinitarian experience and her short writings (spiritual notes, correspondence) rich in doctrine and echoing her communion with the Three Divine Persons.

Humble and pure, rich in intelligence and open to all the beauties of grace, nature, and art, she learned the lesson of love for the “Three”—according to the expression she loved—and at the same time the laws of correspondence to that love from St. Paul, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross. Silence and recollection, enlightened contemplation of the Trinitarian mystery and Christological dogma, generous docility to the slightest inspirations, unconditional fidelity to the divine will in her Carmelite vocation, formed her to a life of dedication that soon reached high perfection.

Adhering to the soul of Christ, “her favorite book,” in him and with him she rose to the Trinity, of which she wanted to be laudem gloriae, that is, a soul “who always adores and, so to speak, is wholly transformed in praise and love, in the passion of the glory of her God.” Such praise and such love were directed essentially to the Three Divine Persons present in her soul: this is the center of her spirituality and her message. In fact, she wrote: “I am Elizabeth of the Trinity, that is, Elizabeth who disappears, who loses herself, who allows herself to be invaded by the Three.” And she added, "Love dwells in us: therefore, the exercise is to enter into my interior and lose myself in Those who are there.

This spiritual orientation, based on the conviction of faith in the divine indwelling, was the grace of her life. Faithful to the progressive inner enlightenment that came to her, above all, from her contemplative study of the texts of the Gospel and St. Paul, she was able to achieve remarkable experiences, such as that of the Ascensions of 1906: "This morning I heard this word deep in my soul: ‘If anyone loves me, my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’, and at that very moment I saw how this was really happening. I cannot say how the Three Divine Persons revealed themselves, but I saw them holding their council of love within me, and I still seem to see them like that." The grace of an almost uninterrupted awareness of the indwelling of the Trinity accompanied her during the last months of her life, strengthening and sustaining her during the period of martyrdom that was to “configure her to the death of Jesus, transform her into him crucified” for the glory of the Father and for the Church.

Already on November 21, 1904, in her famous Elevation to the Trinity: O mon Dieu, Trinité que j'adore, she had asked the Holy Spirit: “Descend into me, so that in my soul there may be another incarnation of the Word: that I may be an added humanity (”une humanité de surcroit“) in which he renews his mystery,” understanding that this aspiration could only be realized on the cross. God answered her prayer. The year 1906 was a succession of sufferings endured with fortitude in union with Christ, with her gaze turned to the Church and to souls. After a violent crisis, she was heard to exclaim: "O Love, Love! Consume all my substance for your glory. May it be distilled drop by drop for your Church! It was the ideal that sustained her and made her write to her mother: "The Father has predestined me to be conformed to his crucified Son; my Spouse wants me to be an added humanity in which He can suffer again for the glory of the Father and to help the Church: this thought does me so much good. He has chosen your daughter to associate her with the great work of Redemption, he has marked her with the seal of the Cross, and she suffers on it as an extension of the Passion."

Animated by these certainties, sustained by an ever more lively and theological love for the Immaculate Virgin, Ianua coeli, “the great praise of glory of the Trinity,” as Our Lady defined her, enjoying even in pain the intimacy with the “Three,” died, murmuring almost in a singing tone: “I am going to the light, to love, to life.”

Some time before, she had written: “The Trinity: this is our dwelling place, our home, our father's house from which we must never leave.” And two weeks before her death: “I believe that in heaven my mission will be to draw souls to interior recollection, helping them to come out of themselves to adhere to God with a very simple, loving movement, keeping them in that great interior silence that allows God to imprint Himself on them and transform them into Himself.” The invitation and the promise did not remain a dead letter: many souls, as evidenced by the documentation collected for the beginning of the cause of beatification, follow her path and her example in reliving her grace, the full grace of baptism that configures us to Christ and fixes in the depths of our being the loving presence of the Trinity, the source and end of all perfection.

On July 12, 1982, in the presence of the Holy Father John Paul II, the Decree on Virtues was promulgated. On February 17, 1984, the Decree on the miracle for beatification was promulgated (the Process had been conducted in Dijon in 1964-1965), and on November 25, 1984, the solemn Beatification took place in St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Francis canonized Elizabeth as a saint on October 16, 2016.

[Adapted from Valentino Macca, "Elizabeth of the Trinity" in Dizionario carmelitano, published by Edizioni Carmelitane]

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