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Saint Teresa of Jesus - Founder
Virgin and Doctor of the Church - Solemnity
Teresa was born at Avila (Spain) in 1515. As a member of the Carmelite Order she made great progress in perfection and received mystical revelations. As reformer of her Order she underwent many trials which she intrepidly overcame. She also wrote books of the greatest spiritual value which reflect her own experiences. She died at Alba in 1582. "Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid. All things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough." - St. Teresa |
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Saint John of the Cross- FounderPriest and Doctor of the Church - Solemnity
John de Yepes was born at Fontiveros in Spain in 1542. He entered the Carmelites in 1563 and with the permission of his superiors began to live a stricter life. Afterwards he was persuaded by Saint Teresa to begin, together with some others, the Discalced reform within the Order; this cost him much hard work and many trials. He died in Ubeda in 1591, outstanding in holiness and wisdom, to which his many spiritual writings give eloquent witness. "Live in the world, as if God and your soul only were in it; so shall your heart be never made captive by any earthly thing." - St. John of the Cross |
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
Virgin and Doctor of the Church - Feast
Thérèse Martin was born at Alencon in France in 1873. While still young she entered the Carmel of Lisieux, where she lived in the greatest humility, evangelical simplicity and confidence in God. By her words and example she taught the novices these same virtues. Offering her life for the salvation of souls and the spread of the Church, she died on September 30, 1897. "My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death, I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will send a shower of roses." - St. Thérèse |
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Saint Teresa Benedicta of the CrossMartyr & Co-Patron of Europe - Memory
Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family at Breslau on October 12, 1891. Through her passionate study of philosophy she searched after the truth and found it in reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Jesus. In 1922 she was baptised a Catholic and in 1933 she entered the Carmel of Cologne where she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was gassed and cremated at Auschwitz on August 9, 1942 during the Nazi persecution and died a martyr for the Christian faith after having offered her holocaust for the people of Israel. A women of singular intelligence and learning, she left behind a body of writing notable for its doctrinal richness and profound spirituality. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Cologne on May 1, 1987, and canonized in Rome in 1998. "O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace. " - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross |
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Saint Teresa of Jesus of Los AndesVirgin - Optional Memory
Juanita Fernandez Solar was born at Santiago, Chile, on 13 July 1900. From her adolescence she was devoted to Christ. She entered the monastery of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns at Los Andes on May 7, 1919, where she was given the name of Teresa of Jesus. She died on April 12 of the following year after having made her religious profession. She was canonised on March 21, 1993, by Pope John Paul II and proposed as a model for young people. "A Carmelite sanctifies herself in order to make all the Church's members holy ... Let's live intimately united with Him, since one who loves tends to be united with the one loved. The fusing of two souls is done through love." - St. Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes |
Saint Peter Thomas8 January
Bishop - Optional Memory Born about 1305, in southern Perigord in France, Peter Thomas entered the Carmelite Order when he was twenty one. He was chosen by the Order as its procurator general to the Papal Court at Avignon in 1345. After being made bishop of Patti and Lipari in 1354, he was entrusted with many papal missions to promote peace and unity with the Eastern Churches. He was transferred to the see of Corone in the Peloponnesus in 1359 and made Papal Legate for the East. In 1363 he was appointed Archbishop of Crete and in 1364 Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He won a reputation as an apostle of church unity before he died at Famagosta in Cyprus in 1366. |
Saint Andrew Corsini9 January
Bishop - Optional Memory Andrew was born at the beginning of the fourteenth century in Florence in Italy and entered the Carmelite Order there. He was elected provincial of Tuscany at the general chapter of Metz in 1348. He was made bishop of Fiesole on 13th October 1349, and gave the Church a wonderful example of love, apostolic zeal, prudence, and love for the poor. He died on 6th January 1374. |
Saint Henry De Osso y Cervello27 January
Priest - Optional Memory Henry was born at Vinebre, Catalonia, Spain, on the 16th October 1840 and was ordained priest on September 21, 1867. He was an apostle to young people in teaching them about their faith and inspired various movements for the teaching of the Gospel. As a spiritual director he was fascinated by St Teresa of Jesus, the great teacher in the ways of prayer and Daughter of the Church who is better known in the English speaking world as St Teresa of Avila. In the light of her teaching, he founded the Company of St Teresa (1876) dedicated to educating women in the school of the Gospel and following the example of St Teresa. He gave himself to preaching and the apostolate through the printing press. He underwent many severe trials and sufferings. He died at Gilet, Valencia, Spain, on the January 27, 1896. He was canonized on July 16, 1993, in Madrid, by Pope John Paul II. |
Saint Nuno Alvares Pereira1 April
Religious - Optional Memory Nuno was born in 1360 and for many years pursued a military career, becoming the champion of Portuguese independence. After the death of his wife, he joined the Order as a brother in 1423 at the monastery of Lisbon, which he had founded himself, and took the name Nuno of Saint Mary. There he lived until his death in 1431. He was noted for his prayer, his practice of penance, and his filial devotion to the Mother of God. |
Saint Simon Stock16 May
Religious - Optional Memory Simon, an Englishman, died at Bordeaux in the mid thirteenth century. He has been venerated in the Carmelite Order for his personal holiness and his devotion to Our Lady. A liturgical celebration in his honour was observed locally in the fifteenth century, and later extended to the whole Order. |
Saint Joachina de Vedruna de Mas22 May
Religious - Optional Memory Joachina was born in Barcelona in 1783. She married Theodore de Mas in 1799 and bore him nine children before being widowed in 1816. Then in 1826 she was prompted by God’s Spirit to found the Congregation of Carmelite Sisters of Charity, which spread throughout Catalonia, establishing houses for the care of the sick and the education of children, especially the poor. She was greatly drawn to contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Her spiritual life was marked by prayer, mortification, detachment, humility and love. She died at Vich in 1854. |
Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi25 May
Virgin - Memory Born in Florence in 1566, she had a religious upbringing and entered the monastery of the Carmelite nuns there. She led a hidden life of prayer and self denial, praying particularly for the renewal of the Church and encouraging the sisters in holiness. Her life was marked by many extraordinary graces. She died in 1607. |
Saint Elijah20 July
Prophet - Feast The prophet Elijah appears in Scripture as a man of God that lived always in his presence and fought zealously for the worship of the one God. He defended God’s law in a solemn contest on Mount Carmel, and afterwards was given on Mount Horeb an intimate experience of the living God. The hermits, who instituted a form of monastic life in honour of Our Lady on Mount Carmel in the twelfth century, followed monastic tradition in turning to Elijah as their Father and model. |
Saint Albert of Trapani |
Saint Teresa Margaret Redi
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7 August
Priest - Memory Albert degli Abbani was born in Trapani in Sicily in the thirteenth century. Having joined the Carmelites and been ordained a priest, he soon became famous for his preaching and miracles. He was provincial in Sicily in 1296, and died in Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer. |
1 September
Virgin - Memory Teresa Margaret was born in Arezzo in Tuscany in 1747 of the noble Redi family, and entered the Discalced Carmelites in Florence on September 1st, 1764. She was given a special contemplative experience concerning the words of Saint John, “God is love.” She felt deeply that her vocation was to live a hidden life of love and self immolation. That vocation was confirmed by her heroic exercise of fraternal charity, but was soon completed: she died in 1770, aged twenty three. |
Saint Albert of Jerusalem17 September
Bishop and Lawgiver of Carmel - Feast Albert Avogadro was born about the middle of the twelfth century in Castel Gualteri in Italy. He became a Canon Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected their prior in 1180. Named Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and of Vercelli in 1185, he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205. There, in word and example, he was the model of a good pastor and peace maker. While he was Patriarch (1206-1214) he united the hermits of Mount Carmel into one community and wrote a Rule for them. He was murdered at Acre on September 14th, 1214. |
Saint Raphael Kalinowski of Saint Joseph19 November
Priest - Memory Raphael Kalinowski was born to Polish parents in the city of Vilnius in 1835. Following military service, he was condemned in 1864 to ten years of forced labour in Siberia. In 1877 he became a Carmelite and was ordained a priest in 1882. He contributed greatly to the restoration of the Discalced Carmelites in Poland. His life was distinguished by zeal for Church unity and by his unflagging devotion to his ministry as confessor and spiritual director. He died in Wadowice in 1907. |
Saint Maria Maravillas of Jesus
11 December
Virgin - Optional Memory
She was born at Madrid in 1891. She entered the El Escorial Carmel, Madrid on 12th October 1919. In 1924 she was inspired to found a Carmel at Cerro de los Angeles, alongside the monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From this foundation followed nine others in Spain and one in India. She always gave first place to prayer and self-sacrifice. She had a true, passionate zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Even while living a life of poverty in the cloister she helped those who were in need, initiating apostolic, social and charitable works. In a particular way she helped those of her own order, priests, and other religious congregations. She died in the monastery of La Aldehuela, Madrid, on 11th December 1974. She was canonised on May 4, 2003 in Madrid.
Virgin - Optional Memory
She was born at Madrid in 1891. She entered the El Escorial Carmel, Madrid on 12th October 1919. In 1924 she was inspired to found a Carmel at Cerro de los Angeles, alongside the monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From this foundation followed nine others in Spain and one in India. She always gave first place to prayer and self-sacrifice. She had a true, passionate zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Even while living a life of poverty in the cloister she helped those who were in need, initiating apostolic, social and charitable works. In a particular way she helped those of her own order, priests, and other religious congregations. She died in the monastery of La Aldehuela, Madrid, on 11th December 1974. She was canonised on May 4, 2003 in Madrid.
