The History of the Carmelite Order
The story of Carmel is a story of love, of prayer and of sacrifice. It is a story of courageous men and women who responded to a call from God – a call into the desert, to the place where heaven meets earth, where time meets eternity. It is a story of people who, like the merchant in the Gospel, sell all they possess in search of the pearl of great price – union with God. Some of these people have been recognized for the holiness of their lives and are now venerated as saints and blessed by the Catholic Church. Others, unknown to the world, have poured out their lives in hidden prayer and sacrifice. One and all have lived in silence and hope, one and all have sought to model their response to the Lord on that of Mary of Nazareth at the moment of the Annunciation, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to Your word.”
The Carmelite Order traces its origin to Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. Sometime in the twelfth century a group of Europeans settled there near the fountain of Elijah. They may have been pilgrims or former crusaders. They wanted to be hermits in imitation of Christ in the solitary aspects of His earthly life. Eventually desiring a stable form of religious life approved by the Church, they asked Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, for a rule of life. His response, a simple collection of monastic regulations and counsels, has come to be known as The Rule of St. Albert. The main emphasis is on a life in allegiance to Jesus Christ, sustained by continual communion with God. This document continues to inspire Carmelites today.
Frequent wars and plagues, especially the Black Death that claimed untold lives in the mid-fifteenth century, had disastrous effects on all forms of religious life. A general climate of decline seemed to prevail, in spite of the sincere efforts of many to return to a more fervent and generous lifestyle. Blessed John Soreth, the Father General of the Carmelite Order, was zealous for reform. In 1452 he accepted the first group of women into the Order.
In 1562, Teresa founded her first monastery, that of St. Joseph, in Avila, and changed her name to Teresa of Jesus. With Our Lord and his twelve apostles as model, she stressed a family atmosphere and a generous response to God’s call. She restored the “spiritual desert” of silence, solitude, poverty and prayer of the earlier Carmelite tradition. She also rekindled the Marian and prophetic spirit of the Carmelite vocation. Infusing into the Carmelite life a fresh apostolic impetus, she directed the entire life of the nuns to the service of the Church and of mankind. With the help of St. John of the Cross she established as similar renewal among the Carmelite friars. Both St. Teresa and St. John had much to suffer in accomplishing the work Our Lord had given them to do. With the help of His grace they persevered unswervingly and brought many souls closer to God. Both are now Doctors of the Church because of their eminent teaching on the life of prayer.
When St. Teresa died in 1582, there were seventeen convents of nuns (all but two of them personally founded by her), and fifteen of friars. Two years later, the Discalced became a separate province within the Order. In 1590, they became an independent Order.
Over the next few years, the Spanish mothers opened several more monasteries in France. Then, invited by the Spanish rulers of the Low Countries, they proceeded northward and continued to established monasteries. In 1612, Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, who had been St. Teresa’s devoted nurse and secretary, established a monastery in Antwerp. In 1619, she arranged for the founding of a monastery for English-speaking women. At that time, because of religious persecution in the British Isles it was necessary for these women to leave their homeland if they wished to receive a Catholic education or become nuns. This Carmel, dedicated to St. Joseph and St. Anne, contributed greatly to the spread of the Order in central Europe. It is also from this monastery and from its foundation in Hoogstraeten (founded in 1678), that, in 1790, the Carmelite Nuns would come to the United States.
The Carmelite Nuns were the first community of religious women to be established in the original thirteen states. Many young women joined them in the following years. However, financial difficulties forced the Carmelites to relocate to Baltimore in 1831. Beginning in 1863, the Discalced Carmelites slowly spread across the United States. In that year, in the midst of the American Civil War, nuns from the Carmel of Baltimore traveled to Saint Louis to begin the second Carmel in the country. Saint Louis Carmel, in its turn, made several foundations. In 1923, nuns from Saint Louis opened a Carmel in Cleveland, Ohio. It was from the Carmel of the Holy Family in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, that the foundresses of our Carmel left for Kitchener, Ontario, on October 22, 1952.
In 1952, Bishop Joseph F. Ryan of Hamilton, Ontario, wrote to the Carmel of the Holy Family in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, urgently asking for a Carmelite community to be established in his diocese. The community had recently sent six nuns to reinforce the Carmel of Nairobi, Kenya. However, seeing the will of God in this request, they went ahead. From among those who volunteered four were chosen – three nuns and a novice.
On January 22, 1953, the Carmelites moved into their new home at 2 Lancaster Street East in Kitchener. The following day, the First Mass was celebrated. The first English-speaking Carmel in Canada was now a reality.
Where early pioneers had laboriously cleared the land, the young sisters now planted trees – evergreens to form the future enclosure, fruit trees and berry bushes. In another part of the property they established a garden. Little by little love transformed all.
The original building could easily accommodate 12 sisters. As the community grew it became necessary to expand. Expansion began in 1974 and continued until the completion of the monastery in 1989.
The Discalced Carmelite nuns have been present in Canada for over 125 years. The first foundation was established in Montreal, Quebec, in 1875. In a way, the inspiration for this monastery can be traced back to the Carmel of Baltimore.
Like a grain of wheat buried in the ground, Hermine’s sacrifice brought forth abundant fruit. Family and friends rallied to support the foundation of a Carmel in Canada. One by one the obstacles were overcome. In 1874, Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal formally invited the Carmelites of Reims to establish a monastery in his diocese. Five sisters were chosen from the Carmel of Reims and one from the Carmel of Dijon. Mother Seraphine of the Divine Heart of Jesus from Reims was appointed Prioress of the new community.