The Carmelites Celebrate 80th Anniversary of Presence in Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwe Commissariat celebrated the launch of their Oak Jubilee and diaconate ordination of Br Lloyd Champiruka on Saturday, October 25, 2025, in St. Simon Stock Parish, Rusape. The occasion was graced by his Carmelite Bishop Paul Horan, O. Carm., and the Irish provincial, Simon Nolan, O. Carm. 

The Zimbabwe Commissariat was established by the Irish Carmelites in November 1946. Three Carmelites—Donal Lamon, Anselm Corbett, and Luke Flynn—arrived in what was then called Rhodesia. Five additional Carmelites came to assist in 1947. In early 1953, the Prefecture of Umtali was entrusted to the care of the Irish Carmelites with Donal Lamont as Apostolic Prefect. Four years later, the Prefecture was raised to become the Diocese of Umtali, now Mutare, with Lamont as the first bishop. Along the 80-year journey, friars from the USA, Australia, and Britain contributed to the Commissariat.

The Commissariat currently has nine communities with a variety of ministries being served. The novitiate serves not only Zimbabwe but Kenya and Mozambique.

Interview with Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., Elected Prior General in September 

During a recent stay in Rome, the recently elected prior general, Fr. Desiderio García Martinéz, was kind enough to sit with members of the Carmelite Communications office and answer a few questions.

The interview is in Spanish with English subtitles.

We hope you enjoy!

View the Interview ...

In his Saturday, November 8, 2025 catechesis for Jubilee year pilgrims, Pope Leo XIV spoke about Blessed Isidore Bakanja, the Congolese martyr who refused to remove his Carmelite scapular when ordered to by his Belgian boss. The pope’s reflection was entitled To Hope Is to Bear Witness. Isidore Bakanja

Here is what the pope said:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, as we continue our Jubilee catechesis, let us reflect today on the life of Blessed Isidore Bakanja, a Congolese martyr who lived out his faith with joy and authenticity, even in hostile environments such as his workplace. The supervisor of the European-owned plantation where Isidore worked despised the Catholic missionaries who defended the rights of the indigenous, and unleashed his anger upon Isidore.

This courageous young man continued to manifest his faith, expressing his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by wearing his brown scapular. While close to death due to the abuse he suffered, Isidore declared that he would pray for his aggressors from heaven. His testimony reminds us that we have much to learn from our persecuted brothers and sisters in Africa. Let us strive to follow his example of perseverance in the faith despite any persecution or rejection we may face. Blessed Isidore, pray for us, so that we too can give witness to our faith with courage and enthusiasm!

A video from TikTok is available with the pope’s words.

Carmelite Monastery of the St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Allentown, USA Celebrates Elective Chapter

The Carmelite nuns of the monastery of St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Allentown, Pennsylvania (USA) held their triennial chapter on September 25, 2025.

The monastery of St. Thérèse in Allentown was the first monastery of the Order established in the United States of America. In 1931 the prior general at the time, Elias Magennis, sent two sisters, Rev. Mother Therese of Jesus and Sr. Clement Mary of the Guardian Angel, from the monastery of Santa Croce di Lucca in Naples to establish a monastery in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia dedicated to St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

A number of candidates presented themselves and before long the community numbered eleven. Four additional nuns from Naples were sent to help out for two years. This monastery flourished and was able to found new monasteries in Hudson (Wisconsin) and Wahpeton (North Dakota) as well as two other monasteries that have closed.

The monastery's website is www.carmelite-nuns.com

Those elected to leadership are:

Prioress | Priora | Priora:
Mother M. Veronica Korb

1st Councilor | 1ª Consejera | 1ª Consigliera:
Sister M. Grace Erl

2nd Councilor | 2ª Consejera | 2ª Consigliera:
Sister M. Michael Nerlonger

Treasurer | Ecónoma | Economa
Sister M. Elijah Guingon

Formator | Formadora | Formatrice
Sister M. Michael Nerlinger

Sacristan | Sacristana | Sacrestana:
Sister M. Elijah Guingon

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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November 7 | Optional Memorial in the Provinces of Spain

The Efficacy of Prayer in Favor of the Church
From the writings of Blessed Francesco Palau, OCD

In his providence God has disposed that our evils should not be remedied and that his graces should not be granted to us except through prayer, and that through the prayer of some others should be saved (cf. Jas 5:16 ff). If the heavens dripped from on high and the clouds made the righteous rain, if the earth opened and the Savior sprang forth (cf. Is 45:8), God willed that the cries and supplications of the holy Fathers and especially of that singular Virgin who persuaded the heavens by the fragrance of her virtues and drew the uncreated Word into her bosom should precede his coming. 

The Redeemer came and through continuous prayer reconciled the world to his Father. For the prayer of Jesus Christ and the fruits of his redemption to be applied to some nation or people, for there to be those who enlighten them with the preaching of the Gospel and administer the sacraments to them, it is indispensable that there be someone or many who by groanings and supplications, by prayers and sacrifices have won over that people and reconciled them with God.

Read the complete article ...

Read about the life of Bl Francesco ...

A Living Temple
(John 2:13-22)

Today’s feast celebrates the dedication of the Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist in Rome. This cathedral is often referred to as the ‘Lateran’ because it is built on the site of a palace once belonging to the Laterani family. This palace served as the official residence of the Popes from the 4th to the 14th centuries. It is the cathedral church of the diocese of Rome of which the Pope is the local bishop.
We celebrate the dedication of this cathedral as the mother church of the whole Catholic community. Cathedrals, like all churches, are physical signs of God’s presence and the gathering place of the people of Christ. It is the living Body of Christ, which gathers to celebrate and witness, which becomes the living temple of God’s presence on earth.
The readings take up these themes. The first reading is taken from Ezekiel’s vision of a new Temple in Jerusalem. The old one had been totally destroyed. Interestingly, the reading does not focus on the glory of the building, but on the ‘life-giving water’ which flows out of the building.
In the second reading, St Paul makes the point that we are God’s building among whom the Spirit of God is living.
The Gospel is the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem. This passage always reminds us of the need not to be distracted from our true purpose to be the living Church of God. It also reminds us that the new and true temple is Jesus.
We, who are baptised in Christ, are the living stones in the Temple of God.
Our feast is a celebration of Christ, the one in whom we are built into the true temple of God on earth; the ones through whom the living water of God’s Spirit finds its way into the world to bring growth, goodness and healing.

• pdf Celebrating At Home - Dedication of the Lateran Basilica [PDF](2.87 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - Dedication of the Lateran Basilica [ePub](2.63 MB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - La Dedicación de la Basílica de Letrán(485 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - Dedicazione della Basilica Lateranense(481 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em família - A dedicação da Basílica de Latrão(479 KB)

6 November Memorial

43. The evangelical counsels of chastity dedicated to God, poverty and obedience are based upon the words and examples of the Lord. They were further commanded by the apostles and Fathers of the Church, as well as by the doctors and pastors of souls. The counsels are a divine gift, which the Church received from its Lord and which it always safeguards with the help of His grace. Church authority has the duty, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of interpreting these evangelical counsels, of regulating their practice and finally to build on them stable forms of living. Thus it has come about, that, as if on a tree which has grown in the field of the Lord, various forms of solidarity and community life, as well as various religious families have branched out in a marvelous and multiple way from this divinely given seed. Such a multiple and miraculous growth augments both the progress of the members of these various religious families themselves and the welfare of the entire Body of Christ.(1*) These religious families give their members the support of a more firm stability in their way of life and a proven doctrine of acquiring perfection. They further offer their members the support of fraternal association in the militia of Christ and of liberty strengthened by obedience. Thus these religious are able to tranquilly fulfill and faithfully observe their religious profession and so spiritually rejoicing make progress on the road of charity.(2*)

From the point of view of the divine and hierarchical structure of the Church, the religious state of life is not an intermediate state between the clerical and lay states. But, rather, the faithful of Christ are called by God from both these states of life so that they might enjoy this particular gift in the life of the Church and thus each in one's own way, may be of some advantage to the salvific mission of the Church.(3*)

44. The faithful of Christ bind themselves to the three aforesaid counsels either by vows, or by other sacred bonds, which are like vows in their purpose. By such a bond, a person is totally dedicated to God, loved beyond all things. In this way, that person is ordained to the honor and service of God under a new and special title. Indeed through Baptism a person dies to sin and is consecrated to God. However, in order that he may be capable of deriving more abundant fruit from this baptismal grace, he intends, by the profession of the evangelical counsels in the Church, to free himself from those obstacles, which might draw him away from the fervor of charity and the perfection of divine worship. By his profession of the evangelical counsels, then, he is more intimately consecrated to divine service.(4*) This consecration will be the more perfect, in as much as the indissoluble bond of the union of Christ and His bride, the Church, is represented by firm and more stable bonds.

The evangelical counsels which lead to charity (5*) join their followers to the Church and its mystery in a special way. Since this is so, the spiritual life of these people should then be devoted to the welfare of the whole Church. From this arises their duty of working to implant and strengthen the Kingdom of Christ in souls and to extend that Kingdom to every clime. This duty is to be undertaken to the extent of their capacities and in keeping with the proper type of their own vocation. This can be realized through prayer or active works of the apostolate. It is for this reason that the Church preserves and fosters the special character of her various religious institutes.

The profession of the evangelical counsels, then, appears as a sign which can and ought to attract all the members of the Church to an effective and prompt fulfillment of the duties of their Christian vocation. The people of God have no lasting city here below, but look forward to one that is to come. Since this is so, the religious state, whose purpose is to free its members from earthly cares, more fully manifests to all believers the presence of heavenly goods already possessed here below. Furthermore, it not only witnesses to the fact of a new and eternal life acquired by the redemption of Christ, but it foretells the future resurrection and the glory of the heavenly kingdom. Christ proposed to His disciples this form of life, which He, as the Son of God, accepted in entering this world to do the will of the Father. This same state of life is accurately exemplified and perpetually made present in the Church. The religious state clearly manifests that the Kingdom of God and its needs, in a very special way, are raised above all earthly considerations. Finally, it clearly shows all men both the unsurpassed breadth of the strength of Christ the King and the infinite power of the Holy Spirit marvelously working in the Church.

Thus, the state which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, though it is not the hierarchical structure of the Church, nevertheless, undeniably belongs to its life and holiness.

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5 November Optional Memorial

Frances was probably born in Thouars on September 28, 1427, to Louis, Viscount of Thouars, and Marie de Rieux, Baroness of Encenis. Promised in marriage at the age of four to Peter, second son of the Duke of Brittany, she spent the rest of her youth with her future mother-in-law Joan, sister of Charles VII, King of France, who instilled in her the deeply Christian spirit she had received from the teachings of St. Vincent Ferrer. Peter, whose father and older brother had died before him, ascended the ducal throne of Brittany and was crowned together with Frances in Rennes Cathedral in 1450. She had a profound beneficial influence on her husband, the duke, on the running of the court and on affairs of state, and the seven years of his reign are remembered by the people as “the times of the blessed duchess.”

Widowed in 1457, despite pressure from her father and the King of France, she not only opposed remarriage but turned towards religious life. After repeated discussions with Blessed John Soreth, prior general of the Carmelites, she decided to join the Carmelite Order, making her possessions available for the foundation of the first Carmelite convent in France. It was established in Bondon, near Vannes, in 1463, with the nuns whom Blessed Soreth had transferred from the monastery in Liège. On March 25, 1468, Frances joined them. Wanting to bridge the social gap with her sisters, she asked them to replace the title of duchess with that of “handmaid of Christ.”

In 1477, under the protection of Our Lady of Couëts (de Scotiis), she founded a second monastery in Nantes, which two years later welcomed the remaining nuns from the former monastery in Bondon. For these foundations and for her influence on the legislation adopted in her and other French Carmelite monasteries, Frances is recognized as the founder of the Carmelites in France. She was responsible for introducing the practice of frequent Communion (and even daily Communion for the sick) and imposing, under penalty of excommunication, the strictest enclosure, which prevented both access to the monastery by all outsiders (including women) and the nuns from leaving the cloistered enclosure. With this vow, she anticipated the legislation of St. Pius V by a century and preserved her religious sisters from the damage that the lack of enclosure caused in other places.

She died in Nantes on November 4, 1485. During the French Revolution, the nuns were forced to abandon the convent, the memories of the blessed were scattered, and her body was desecrated. She is credited with some cloistered instructions, the manuscript of which has been lost, and some meditations published by Christophe Le Roy. Her cult was recognized by Pius IX on July 16, 1863. She is usually depicted with her eyes turned toward the crucifix she holds in her hands; on her Carmelite habit she wears an ermine cape (instead of wool) to recall her rank as a duchess.

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Photos of the International Carmelite Congress for the Laity 2024
Fotos del Congreso Internacional para Laicos Carmelitas 2024
Immagini del Congresso Internazionale dei Laici Carmelitani 2024
Imagens do Congresso Internacional dos Leigos Carmelitas 2024

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