On Tuesday 14 December a meeting between took place in Rome regarding a project to update and expand the 18th century work Bibliotheca Carmelitana. Kevin Alban, Giovanni Grosso and Ton van der Gulik received Prof. Dr. Gert Melville and Dr. Coralie Zermatten from the Research Center for the Comparative History of Religious Orders of the University of Dresden, Germany. The joint venture between the Order and the Dresden research centre aims to expand our knowledge of Carmelite history with the help of a database, which will be based on the Bibliotheca Carmelitana of Cosma de Villiers of 1752. The main purpose of “Bibliotheca Carmelitana Nova”, as this project has been named, is to collect, examine and organize all the information that can be found about every single Carmelite author since the 13th century. This database will eventually be an online resource. This project is bein g jointly supported by most of the provinces in the Order and the Carmelite Institute in Rome.

The project began in August 2010 and this meeting provided an occasion for the Carmelite Institute to become acquainted with Dr. Zermatten, who is in charge of the compilation of the database. A consultative committee, which will monitor her work, was also named. It is made up of Frs. Kevin Alban, Giovanni Grosso, Paul Chandler, Ton van der Gulik, a lay Carmelite historian, Dr. Edeltraud Klueting, and Prof. Gert Melville. The first meeting of this committee will take place in March 2011 at the research institute in Dresden.

The Carmelite Order is delighted to announce today, 8th December 2010, that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has nominated bishop of the Territorial Prelature of Itaituba, in Brazil, Fr. Wilmar Santin O.Carm., of the Commissariat of Paraná of the Upper German Province. Fr. Wilmar was born at Paranavaí in Brazil, on 21st October 1952. Following his profession in the Order on 2nd January 1973, he was ordained priest on 8th December 1979. Among his many responsibilities in the Order, from 1990 to 1995 he served as Commissary Provincial, from 1995 to 2001 as General Councillor and from 2005 to 2008 as Prior of the Centro Internazionale S. Alberto (CISA) in Rome. During these past few years he has worked in Parish in Manaus and has taught Church History at the "Instituto de Teologia, Pastoral e Ensino Superior da Amazônia".

To Fr. Wilmar we offer our warmest congratulations on behalf of the whole Carmelite Family.

photo:

On 3rd December last, in the course of a reception given by the Portuguese Embassy to the Holy See, to which various Portuguese clergy present in Rome, the ambassadors of the Portuguese speaking nations, Spain, and Poland, as well as some Carmelites attended, the Postulator General, Fr. Giovanni Grosso, O. Carm., received from the hands of the Portuguese Ambassador to the Holy See, S. E. Manuel Fernandes Pereira, the honor of "Grão Oficial do Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique ("Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry"), which the President of the Portuguese Republic, S.E. Dr. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, wished to grant in recognition and gratitude for his work done on the occasion of the canonization of St. Nuno of St. Mary. Fr. Giovanni graciously recieved the honor, considering it a credit not so much to himself, but to the Order, and in particular to Fr. Felipe Mar ia Amenós Bonet, who worked at length on the cause together with the Vice-Postulator, Fr. Francisco Rodrigues.

Forty-one Carmelite educators from the four O.Carm. schools in the Philippines (Mount Carmel College of Escalante, Negros Occidental; Mount Carmel College of San Francisco, Mount Carmel High School of Rosario and Father Urios High School of Prosperidad) gathered on November 17-20, 2010 for their triennial colloquium at Mount Carmel College in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur in southern Philippines. In a spirit of fellowship and communion the delegates celebrated together as they discerned and listened to the different presentations of the resource speakers and co-delegates. Fr. Artemio Jusayan, the Commissary General who also serves as the Chair of the National Board of Trustees of the Carmelite School System in the Philippines exhorted the educators in their vocation and role as Carmelite educators. Other resource persons were Frs. Gabriel Dolotina, Alaindelon Balasabas and Christian Buenafe who also shared their experiences, insights and learning from the First International Congress of Carmelite schools in Dublin last April. The lay-consultants Noel Valencia and Lisa Clamor also presented to the school heads and principle stakeholders the results of the 10-year summing-up of the O.Carm. school ministry in the country for its validation and further enrichment. The delegates also met the students during their school visit and strengthened the bond among the Carmelites educators and students.

photo