O.Carm
Celebration of the Patronal Feast in Caivano, Naples
Celebration of the Patronal Feast of St. Mary of Campiglione in Caivano, Naples
May is a special month for all of us believers. The reason is very clear: because during this month we are invited to pay special homage to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Caivano, one of the sites served by the Carmelites of the Neapolitan Province, this homage is made even more special by the celebration of the feast of the patron saint, Maria Santissima di Campiglione. This year the solemn celebrations began on May 9. Dominic Praveen Lawrence, O. Carm., prior and rector of the Shrine of Maria Santissima di Campiglione, together with the community of the Carmelites, the members of the Third Order, and all the faithful, kicked off the celebrations with the coronation of Maria Santissima di Campiglione.
In the following days, particularly from May 10 to 14, solemn Masses were celebrated, presided over by Bishop Angelo Lucio Renna, O. Carm., Bishop Emeritus of San Severo; Bishop Angelo Spinillo, Bishop of the Diocese of Aversa; Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop Emeritus of Naples; and Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
One of the most memorable religious events during the days of solemn celebrations is the procession with the statue of Our Lady of Campiglione. As the procession made its way through the city streets, all the faithful joined in solemn prayer and joyful songs of praise. Shortly before the procession returned to the sanctuary, the mayor of Caivano, Dr. Antonio Angelino, presented “the key” to the city into the hands of Mary Most Holy of Campiglione.
This symbolized the entrusting of the city’s protection to her maternal love. Furthermore, there were other events that enlivened the patronal feast, including: pilgrimages from other parishes, traveling marching bands, musical concerts, a cabaret show, and fireworks. All the events were well-organized, beautiful, and engaging thanks to the great collaboration of many.
Our Lady of Campiglione is the mother of all the people of Caivano, and even today, she continues to work many miracles for all her children. Ave Mary!
The Legacy of St. Joaquina de Vedruna
22 May Optional Memorial
The writings of St. Joaquina are foundations for the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, the congregation founded by the saint in February 1826. Assembled into the Epistolario Joaquina de Vedruna, the texts bring together her core spirituality and thoughts. The letters focus on a fervent desire to serve and a complete dedication to the poor: to embrace the needs of the people and to give glory to God.
She believed in removing the obstacles to the pure love of Jesus so that one’s will and faculties are in sync with God’s service. The lives of the followers of St. Joaquina are filled with certainty and confidence that God dwells in each person and “pitched his tent”, especially among those who suffer the most.
Today, the Vedruna Family, formed by women and men, religious and lay, followers of Jesus are ministering on four continents (Europe, Asia, America, and Africe) and continue to respond to the current emergencies of the world, such as migration, youth, promotion of women, education, health, and integral ecology. (Adapted from the Congregation’s website)
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Pope Marks Vatican Publisher’s 100th Anniversary
Pope Celebrates 100 Years of Vatican Publishing House Stressing Importance of Books and Reading
Meeting with members of the Vatican Publishing House, which has served nine popes, Pope Leo XIV thanked them for their 100 years of service and reflected on the importance of emphasizes the importance of reading and books. The Vatican Publishing House became independent from the much older Vatican Printing Press, originally founded in 1587.
Books offer an opportunity to think said the pope. The physical nature of a book, especially in the digital age, reminds people of the importance of thought, reflection, and study.
“Reading,” the Pope said, “nourishes the mind” and “helps cultivate a conscious and well-formed critical sense, guarding against fundamentalism and ideological shortcuts.”
For this reason, Pope Leo encouraged everyone to read books “as an antidote to closed-mindedness, which is reflected in rigid attitudes and reductive visions of reality.”
Books are also an opportunity to encounter others. "When we hold a book in our hands," Pope Leo said, "we encounter its author in an ideal sense. At the same time, we also encounter those who have read it before us, those reading it now, and those who will read it in the future." He noted that writers and readers increasingly have opportunities to come together to speak and listen to one another.
Recalling Pope Francis’ frequent emphasis on a “culture of encounter,” Pope Leo suggested that books serve as bridges toward others, fostering dialogue, enriching understanding, and broadening perspectives.
Finally, Pope Leo underscored that, for Christians, books are also an opportunity to proclaim Christ. “We know well how reading the biography of a saint or a well-presented spiritual reflection can touch the heart,” he said. He also reflected on artistic depictions linking saints and sacred texts.
“The Virgin Mary," he pointed out, "is often depicted, in scenes of the Annunciation, intent on reading the Sacred Scriptures. Saint Anthony of Padua is portrayed holding the open Book of the Gospels, upon which the Child Jesus stands. Saint Augustine is often shown seated at a writing desk before a large book and, at times, holding a heart in his hand: truth and charity.”
Following up with these popular images, the pope said, “In the school of Mary and the Saints, let us nourish ourselves with the Word of God, so that it may shape our way of thinking and acting.”
Celebrating At Home - Pentecost Sunday
Sent to be God’s Love in the World
(John 20:19-23)
Today we do not pray to receive the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us has been affirmed and proclaimed in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Instead, we pray to grow more aware of the Spirit’s presence in our lives and to allow that Spirit to grow within us, gradually re-shaping our minds and hearts in the image of Jesus.
Pentecost brings to a close the fifty days of the Church’s Easter celebrations. Soon we will begin Ordinary Time again. So, our feast today helps us understand that we take the Holy Spirit with us into the ordinary events and tasks of each day. That is how we allow the sacred to touch, heal and transform us and the world around us.
The spiritual search is for the heart of God within our own. When we enter into relationship with Christ through the Spirit, the gifts begin to flow more abundantly. The Spirit is the source of reconciliation with ourselves and with each other. Reconciliation is essential if we are to ‘hold and guard’ each other in the midst of all that life throws at us, especially at the moment.
The Spirit brings gifts of wisdom, courage, understanding, right judgement, knowledge, reverence, wonder and awe in God’s presence. May we be graced by them all as we discern and decide how we can best work together to build up each other and to let God’s love be seen at work in each of us.
St. Simon Stock Relics Journey to Aylesford
16 May Optional Memorial (Obligatory Memorial the province of Great Britain)
The general's secretary did not fail to make a note concerning St. Simon Stock. "The body of St. Simon Stock is contained intact in a painted casket, set in an elevated position in a special chapel. This saint is held in the greatest veneration in the city, and his office is said in our convent on May 16. It is true that because of wars and devastation by heretics of the convent, which was built 500 years ago, first outside the city, then transferred to its present location inside the city, as can be most clearly shown, there are no writings or documents concerning this saint who was our general, and the relics are venerated only by tradition. There are still in this province religious of 85 and 90 years of age who testify that the aforementioned relics were always venerated and held to be those of St. Simon Stock. A duplex office was composed in his honor, as can be proved by the very ancient choral books which contain the proper office of St. Simon, all in chant."
By the 1950s, the Order had purchased back the ancient property of Aylesford. In the post war optimism, the Order gave expression to its devotions through impressive public celebrations. The seventh centenary of the granting of the scapular, the first of these celebrations, was held from July 16, 1950, to July 16, 1951. It was commemorated on a grandiose scale, as the general chapter had ordained. Early in 1948, the prior general already announced the proposed celebration. Together with the Discalced Carmelites a program, projecting scientific studies, publicity, local congresses, lectures, and novenas was drawn up. A listing of all scapular confraternities erected from 1604 to 1948 was composed from archival and other sources. From August 5th to the 9th, fifteen thousand devotees met in Rome in an International Marian Congress to initiate the centenary. Pope Pius XII honored the occasion with his letter on the scapular devotion, Neminem profecto latet, February 11, 1950. Similar meetings were held in the provinces, and bishops sent pastoral letters.
The centennial year concluded at Aylesford, July 14-16, 1951, with the solemn return of the relics of St. Simon Stock from Bordeaux. The Discalced Carmelite, Cardinal Adeodato Piazza, presided over the ceremony attended by bishops, civil authorities, including Eamon de Valera, president of Ireland, and 25,000 faithful. This occasion also elicited a letter of Pius XII. The relics of the saint can be venerated in the Relic Chapel at Aylesford in Kent, England.
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Celebrating At Home - Ascension of the Lord
Called, Chosen & Sent
To Be God’s Heart In The World (Matthew 28:16-20)
The true meaning of our feast today is not found in Jesus’ leaving, but in the way he calls his disciples back together, to re-form them as a new community entrusted with the spread of the Gospel. Jesus sends the disciples out to make disciples of all nations, to baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and to teach them his way. But the disciples are not left to do all that on their own. Jesus promises that he is with them always.
Jesus has called the ragged, group of disciples, scattered after his crucifixion, back to himself to form them, fragile and doubtful as they are, into a community for mission in the name of God. It is comforting to recognise that Jesus doesn’t insist on perfection before he calls us and entrusts us with his mission.
This mission is authorised by God and passed on to us through Jesus. It is not about authority over others. It is actually a call to act as God would act, true to God’s heart as Jesus has taught us.
Ever since Easter, we have been proclaiming that Jesus is alive. The feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost help us to realise that we are part of a long tradition of faithful disciples. We have our faults and failings, but our call is to witness to and teach the way of Jesus by the kind of people we are, the values and attitudes we hold, in thought, word and action - to be the living presence of God in the world today.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - The Ascension Of The Lord [PDF](3.45 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - The Ascension Of The Lord [ePub](2.99 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - El Domingo de la Ascensión(1.01 MB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - L’Ascensione del Signore(935 KB)
- pdf Comemorando em família - Domingo da Ascensão(1021 KB)
Dutch Province Holds Triennial Chapter in May
The Provincial Chapter of the Province of the Netherlands took place from May 5-8, 2026. The chapter participants gathered in the beautiful retreat center at Franciscushuis (Denekamp).
This was a very special chapter. In addition to the members of the Dutch Province, five Carmelite friars from the Province of the Philippines and one Carmelite friar from the Eastern Indonesian Province were also attending the chapter as guests. Both of these Carmelite provinces in Asia have had a long connection with the Netherlands as it was Dutch Carmelites who first brought a Carmelite presence to these countries. At this point in time, the Province of the Netherlands is exploring a greater union with the Province of the Philippines with a view to perhaps even becoming a provincial commissariat of the Philippines Province.
Last February, two Dutch Carmelites attended the Provincial Chapter in the Philippines and made a presentation on the situation of the Dutch Province. This time, Noel Rosas, O. Carm, prior provincial of the Province of the Philippines, travelled to the Netherlands and made a presentation on the history and reality of his province. He expressed enormous gratitude for the work that the Dutch Carmelites had done in beginning the Carmelite presence in the Philippines some 68 years previously.
Presiding at the Eucharist on Thursday morning, the prior general, Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., reminded those present that the mystics insist that ‘flexibility’ is one of the signs of spiritual maturity. He noted that the Carmelite Saint Mary Madalene de’ Pazzi said that the Holy Spirit is the “super glue” that binds us to the love of Jesus for long time even when there is not a time of consolation (cf. John 15:9-11: remain in my love) in periods of “spiritual seismic activity.” The prior general said to the participants, “Don’t be afraid, everything begins and ends with the love of God.”
The recreation on the final night of the chapter was both enjoyable and memorable with a real international flavor. Overall, while many questions and some doubts remain, the participants left the chapter feeling both thankful for the week together and hopeful for the future of Carmel in the Netherlands. As one participant commented, “It was a grace-filled moment.” At the end of the Chapter, the prior general observed that “something new is being born in the Dutch Province.”
In light of this delicate moment and process of transition (alongside the diminishing numbers of the members in the Netherlands), the prior general and general council agreed to the request of the province to have only two provincial councillors for the next three years (alongside the members of the extended council).
During the chapter were elected:
Prior Provincial | Prior Provincial | Priore Provinciale
Huub Welzen, O. Carm.
1st Councilor | 1er Consejero | 1o Consigliere
Ton van der Gulik, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor | 2do Consejero | 2o Consigliere
Simon Taa, O. Carm.
Extended Council Members | Miembros del Consejo Ampliado | Membri del Consiglio Allargato
Anne-Marie Bos, O. Carm.
Minie Pasop, O. Carm.
A Shared Carmelite Life in Florence
One of the oldest Carmelite houses in Europe, the monastery of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (established in 1268), has been home since 1993 to an unusual experiment in shared religious life: a community of friars, married couples, and a consecrated lay woman living together under the same roof.
The initiative grew out of relationships rather than formal planning. Father Agostino Bartolini, O. Carm., the founder, together with some members of the lay movement La Famiglia (“The Family”), made up the group from its earliest days. At its height, more than thirty people lived in the monastery, including several families with young children. Today, three friars, the consecrated lay woman, and three married couples remain in residence, along with four young adults who grew up in the community.
Daily life follows a rhythm shaped by the Liturgy of the Hours. Those present gather for morning prayer, Mass, midday prayer, and evening prayer. Work and ordinary responsibilities fill the rest of the day. Over the years, the families have developed a bakery business that supports the community and connects it with the city of Florence.
Members also participate in the life of the nearby parish through catechesis, and serve as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, while the friars provide spiritual guidance and liturgical ministry at Santa Maria del Carmine church.
The physical structure of the monastery has supported both togetherness and appropriate privacy: families have always had their own living quarters, while the church, dining room, cloister, and kitchen remain shared spaces. Meals regularly include guests, extended family, and friends; moments that have played a significant role in sustaining the bonds of community life over more than three decades.
Similar communities shaped by this experience exist at Castellina and Le Salaiole, both in Tuscany. A new chapter in the shared history of these communities is represented by Klara and Giovanni, who are preparing for marriage this September. Klara grew up at Le Salaiole, while Giovanni grew up in Florence; having known each other through these connected communities from childhood, they now begin a family of their own.
As the founding members grow older and the community becomes smaller, questions about the future remain open. What can be said is that for more than thirty years, friars and families have shared prayer, work, and daily life in this place, a lived expression of the Carmelite charism across different vocations.
Institutum Carmelitanum Leaders Set Agenda
Directorate of the Institutum Carmelitanum Meets to Set Agenda
On Monday, May 4, the directorate of the Institutum Carmelitanum met at Centro Internazionale Sant’Alberto (CISA) in Rome to discuss their programming for the coming years. Participating where Boby Sebastian Tharakkunnel, the president of the Institute, Mario Loya, the Institute’s secretary, Giovanni Grosso, general archivist of the Order, and Augustinus Agung Wahyudianto, librarian.
The director of the Order’s communications office, William J. Harry, was invited to participate and give an update on the status of communications in the Order.
Currently the Institutum is preparing a circular letter to all the Major Superiors and leadership in the Order asking them to identify confreres, sisters, and lay associates who have pursued higher studies and specialized formation in various academic disciplines and fields of expertise. To facilitate responses, a Google Form will be attached to the letter, and it can be forwarded to other members with advanced degrees. Each participant will be able to complete the form online, enabling the information to be received promptly and systematically at the Institute.
Following the collection and organization of this data, there will be a series of meetings among members engaged in the various areas of study and research. Through this collaborative effort, the Institute intends to encourage and strengthen research, advanced specialization, scholarly publications, and high-quality academic conferences within the Order in the coming years.
This initiative will also greatly assist the Order in identifying and coordinating our intellectual and academic resources across different regions, cultures, and language groups. “We believe that such networking and collaboration can contribute significantly to the growth of academic excellence and mutual enrichment within the Carmelite family,” said Boby Tharakkunnel, the president of the Institute.
The Institutum will also coordinate the Scuola Carmelitana which is scheduled for September 14-25. The program is open to all students, sisters, and lay people who are interested.
A variety of topics are scheduled to be discussed including events in the 1st century of Carmel and its development; the evolution of the charism; the Rule; key papal documents and their importance for today; the Carmelite Rite; and essential works early in the history of the Order such as Ignea Sagitta (Fiery Arrow) and Institutio primorum monachorum (Institution of the First Monks).
Major figures in the Order, key to understanding Carmelite life, will also be discussed. These would include Mary, Elijah, and the “Fathers of the Order,” Saints Alberto of Sicily and Angelo of Licata.
The group will visit the churches of San Martino ai Monti and Traspontina as well as have a guided tour of “Carmelite” Trastevere.
At the close of the session, Fr. Boby asked, “We kindly request the cooperation and support of everyone involved so that this endeavor may bear lasting fruit for the good of the Order and its future mission.”
A Carmelite Named to the Pontifical Academy for Life
Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., of the Carmelite NGO Named to the Pontifical Academy for Life
Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., a member of the Dulce Nombre di Maria Carmelite Province and vice president of the Carmelite NGO, has been named as a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life by Pope Leo XIV.
“I accept this appointment with deep gratitude and a sense of responsibility, as a Carmelite friar, vice-president of the Carmelite NGO, director of the Department of Integral Ecology at the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and a researcher in climate variability and change,” responded Eduardo when contacted by the Carmelite Communications Office. “I accept this appointment as a call to serve through integral ecology and the Social Doctrine of the Church, bringing scientific rigor and ethical discernment to address the challenges affecting human life and our common home. My commitment is to translate technical knowledge on climate risks and their socio-ecological impacts into proposals and guidelines that promote justice, the protection of the most vulnerable, and the common good.”
Asked about his specific goals for his time with the Academy, Fr. Eduardo said, “I shall endeavor to foster interdisciplinary dialogue between science, theology and public policy, offer technical and ethical advice, and collaborate on training and advocacy initiatives that integrate sustainability and human dignity.”
Finally, he added, “I am grateful for the trust placed in me and place myself at the service of the Academy’s mission with humility and dedication.”
The Pontifical Academy for Life is made up of the Ordinary Members, Corresponding Members, Honorary Members and Young Researcher Members. The members of the Academy represent the various branches of the biomedical sciences and those that are most closely related to problems concerning the promotion and protection of life. There are 160 members in total. Corresponding Members are selected by the Governing Council and appointed by it for a term of five years, on the basis of their professional integrity and professional expertise and their acknowledged commitment to the promotion and protection of human life.
In the Motu Proprio Vitae Mysterium issued by St. John Paul II on February 11, 1994, the task of the Academy is “to study and provide information and training about the principal problems of law and biomedicine pertaining to the promotion and protection of life, especially in the direct relationship they have with Christian morality and the directives of the Church's Magisterium.”
