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 CARMELITE

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CARMELITE

gustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, 1820-71), a converted Jew of Hamburg, originally a brilliant musician, whose conversion and entrance into a strict order had caused considerable stir in France. He opened a small chapel in Kensington Square, London, 6 August, 1S62, where the new community struggled against many difficulties, not the least of which was their deep poverty. Before long a convenient site was found for a spacious church, designed by Pugin and inaugurated by Cardinal Manning in 1866, and a convent, completed in ISSN. A second house having been founded in a remote country district in Somer- set, the English semi-province was canonically estab- lished in 1885. Father Hermann did not see the completion of his work; having been called to Span- dau to minister to the French prisoners of war, he died of smallpox and was buried in Berlin.

Soon after the English mission a similar undertak- ing was begun in Ireland by Edward of the Kings (Sherlock, 1579-1629) and Paul of St. Ubaldus, both of whom had made their novitiate in Belgium and had in all probability studied at the missionary col- lege at Louvain. Although the persecution in Ireland was, if possible, more brutal than that in England, Catholic missioners had the support of the poorer classes, who clung tenaciously to their Faith, and from among whom they were recruited. Besides a convent at Dublin they founded residences in the ruins of several former Carmelite abbeys (as they were called), viz. at Athboy, Drogheda, Ardee, Kil- kenny, Loughrea, Youghal, and other places. Many of these were but of ephemeral existence. About the same time the Calced Carmelites returned to Ireland, and there arose a dispute as to the ownership of these convents. At the separation of the orders it had been stipulated that the Discalccd Carmelites were not to take away any of the convents of their Calced breth- ren. The Holy See decided in 1640 that the former should retain possession of the four ancient convents they then inhabited, as there still remained twenty- eight houses for the Calced Carmelites to revive. No sooner had this decision reached Ireland than the Cromwell persecution put a stop to any further in- crease and necessitated the dissolution of the com- munities that had been erected. Several friarsearned the crown of martyrdom, viz. Thomas Aquinas of St. Teresa, who was put to death at Ardee in 1642; An- gelus of St. Joseph, cleric (George Halley), an Eng- lishman who was shot 15 August, 1642; and Peter of the Mother of God, lay brother, who was hanged at Dublin, 25 March, 1643. There is reason to believe that others met with a similar fate, but no particulars have been preserved; many, however, suffered im- prisonment. Such events told on the life of the prov- ince. Canonically erected in 1638, it was dissolved in 1653 but re-established during the comparatively quiet time of the Restoration. In 1785 a chapel and convent, were built near the ruins of the Abbey of Loughrea, founded in 1300, and from 1640 in the hands of the Teresian friars, who, nevertheless, were several times obliged to abandon it. Further build- in" operations were carried out in 1829 and again to- wards t lie end of the century. The year 1793 wit- nessed the laying of the foundation stone of Si . Teresa's church, Clarendon Street, Dublin. This church, which also underwent frequent alterations and enlargements, served as a meeting room during Daniel O'Connell's campaign, which ended in the Catholic Emancipation Act. It was felt that in this be interests of the Church were identical with those of the country. A third convent was built at Donny brook near Dublin in 1SS1.

The Calced Carmelites appear to have attempted a mission in England at the beginning of the seven- teenth century when I ieorge R.micr was put to death (e. 1613). No particulars arc known about his life and the missionary project seems to have died with

him. In Ireland, however, they carried on a flourish- ing mission from the early part of the same century, and they have at present six convents and a college which is well attended. Their church in Whitefriars Street, Dublin, is well known to Catholic's and is an architectural curiosity.

Steps were taken about 1635 to make a foundation in America, and a petition was presented to the pope for approbation of the mission founded there, but for some reason or other it does not seem to have had a lasting result. The Dutch province, however, founded houses at Leavenworth (1864) and Scipio, Anderson Co., Kansas (1865); Englewood, Bergen Co., New Jersey (1869); New Baltimore, Somerset Co., Pennsylvania (1870); Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (1875); Niagara Falls, Canada (1875); and St. Cyril's College, Illinois ( 1S99); while the Irish Calced Carmelites settled in 1888 in New York City and at Tarrytown, New York, and the Bavarian Discalced Carmelites at Holy Hill and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (1906).

Daily Life. — The life of a Carmelite is somewhat different according to the branch of the order to which he belongs, and the house in which he lives. The life in a novitiate, for instance, is different even for those who have taken their vows, from that in a college, or in a convent intended for the care of souls. It is also stricter among the Discalced Carmelites, who keep perpetual abstinence (except in case of weakness or illness) and who rise in the night for the recitation of the Divine Office, than among the Calced Carmelites, who have adapted their rule to the needs of the times. Formerly the whole Office was sung every day, but when in the sixteenth century the ex- ercise of mental prayer became more and more uni- versal, particularly through the influence of St. Te- resa and St. John of the Cross, the singing was aban- doned for a recitation in monotone except on certain feasts. The Calced Carmelites still adhere to the liturgy of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jeru- salem, a Gallo-Roman Rite, practically identical with that of Paris in the middle of the twelfth century. It underwent certain changes during the Middle Ages and was completely and sal islactorily revised in 1584. The Discalced Carmelites, for reasons already stated, adopted the new Roman Liturgy in 1586. In all convents a certain time is given to mental prayer, both in the morning and the afternoon. It is gener- ally made in common, in the choir or oratory, and is intended to impress the soul with the presence of God and the everlasting truths. Other religious ex- ercises and private devotions supplement those al- ready mentioned. The rule of fasting, somewhat less severe among the Calced Carmelites, is preserved everywhere, although the Church has in many re- spects mitigated her legislation in this matter. The Discalced Carmelites (Teresians) are generally bare- footed; otherwise the only distinction m the habit of the two branches consists in the fashioning of the various garments. The habit of the lay brothers is like that of the choir religious, except that among the Discalccd Carmelites they wear a brown mantle and no hood: but in the Spanish congregation they use the hood, and, since 1744, a white mantle. The cor- rect colour of the habit has often been made the sub- ject of somewhat animated discussions among the different branches of t he order.

Desert Convents. — A peculiar institution is thai of "deserts". The recollection of Mount Carmel and the purely contemplative life, as well as the wording of the rule, which prescribes thai the brothers should dwell in their cells or near them, meditating day and night on the Law of the Lord, except when other nec- essary occupations call them away, had awakened in many a desire for an exclusively spiritual life. It has been noticed that some of the first generals resigned their oliiees in order to dedicate the remainder of their