Carmelite Customs

[CountrySteve21]

I would love to learn more about the customs of the Friars. Would you be able to recommend any literature on the topic?

[Chiquitunga]

Praised be Jesus Christ! Really quick, I am looking for where specifically the cross without a corpus on the wall of a cell in Carmel comes from. A friend asked me about it for a research project. Gracian, do you have in any of your books a specific reference to this? I've known forever that this is the custom in Carmel, but cannot find any specific reference to it in either the Constitutions (1926) or Ceremonial from the 20's. Those are the two main books that I have. 

Thanks if you can help 

[Nunsuch]

38 minutes ago, Chiquitunga said:

Praised be Jesus Christ! Really quick, I am looking for where specifically the cross without a corpus on the wall of a cell in Carmel comes from. A friend asked me about it for a research project. Gracian, do you have in any of your books a specific reference to this? I've known forever that this is the custom in Carmel, but cannot find any specific reference to it in either the Constitutions (1926) or Ceremonial from the 20's. Those are the two main books that I have. 

Thanks if you can help 

While this is not a formal reference, Mother Catherine Thomas, in her memoir "My Beloved," talks about this and says that it symbolizes that the Carmelite is to take the place of Christ on the Cross. I could find the exact quote if anyone wants it, as I have the book--but not by my side as I write.

[Chiquitunga]

Thanks nunsuch! I remember it being there and talked about in many other Carmelite works, but I was wondering, is there a place like their Constitutions or customary, something like that that gracian seems to have lots of knowledge of, that regulates this for all Carmels? In the Constitutions there are rules about a lot of specific things like this, and simplicity of the cell it talks about as well, but it doesn't actually mention the Cross.. so yeah, wondering.

I wonder also if/when Holy Mother St Teresa started this for her reform, or if it was used by other Orders as well, or the Incarnation. Or rather, it's my friend wondering this, but now me too!

that's a good reminder though, to take a look in My Beloved to see if it references anything, or has a little about its origins. A Few Lines to Tell You too

[graciandelamadrededios]

On 2/10/2017 at 6:45 PM, Chiquitunga said:

Praised be Jesus Christ! Really quick, I am looking for where specifically the cross without a corpus on the wall of a cell in Carmel comes from. A friend asked me about it for a research project. Gracian, do you have in any of your books a specific reference to this? I've known forever that this is the custom in Carmel, but cannot find any specific reference to it in either the Constitutions (1926) or Ceremonial from the 20's. Those are the two main books that I have. 

Thanks if you can help 

Hi Chiqui!

I need to check my copy of custom book which originated from a French Carmel.  

Please refer to:

"It doesn't take much work to empty the cell of a Carmelite.  There are so few things in it!  The furnishings include a wooden board on which a straw mattress rests and a large wooden cross without the figure of Christ, "a dry" cross, as Saint John of the Cross would say.  The cross reminds the Carmeltie that she must crucify herself in imitation of her Divine Spouse." Page 405

 

"In the Prioress' cell there is no cross, but only a small table.  This custom may derive from the fact that the Mother Prioress has enough crosses with her office." Page 406

 

From the book: Following the Path of Divine Love: Saint Maravillas, O.C.D., Daughter of the Church and of Saint Teresa of Jesus by the Discalced Carmelites of Cerro de los Angeles and La Aldehuela, Spain.  Translated to English by the Carmelite Nuns of Bufallo, New York, 2011.

[graciandelamadrededios]

 

 

 

[graciandelamadrededios]

15 hours ago, graciandelamadrededios said:

 

 

 

 

"The plain wooden cross, Sister Marie told me, had no corpus because in spirit I was to take Our Lord's place there; as a Carmelite I was to perpetuate on earth the suffering life of Our Lord.  "With Christ I am nailed to the Cross."

 

from My Beloved:The Story of a Carmelite Nun by Mother Catherine Thomas of the Divine Providence, D.C

[graciandelamadrededios]

On 2/11/2017 at 0:46 AM, Chiquitunga said:

Thanks nunsuch! I remember it being there and talked about in many other Carmelite works, but I was wondering, is there a place like their Constitutions or customary, something like that that gracian seems to have lots of knowledge of, that regulates this for all Carmels? In the Constitutions there are rules about a lot of specific things like this, and simplicity of the cell it talks about as well, but it doesn't actually mention the Cross.. so yeah, wondering.

I wonder also if/when Holy Mother St Teresa started this for her reform, or if it was used by other Orders as well, or the Incarnation. Or rather, it's my friend wondering this, but now me too!

that's a good reminder though, to take a look in My Beloved to see if it references anything, or has a little about its origins. A Few Lines to Tell You too

Hello Chiqui!

I once asked a Poor Clare Colettine Abbess if they have a cross without corpus on their cell and she told me theirs has corpus and that "cross without a corpus" is a Carmelite tradition.

I am not sure if St. Teresa started this custom on her own or she copies if from the customs of the O. Carm.  

 

 

 

[graciandelamadrededios]

On 7/5/2014 at 8:38 PM, graciandelamadrededios said:

The following was regurgitated by wikipedia when I searched for Second Order:

 

The Order is considered by the Church to be under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and thus has a strong Marian devotion. As in most of the orders dating to medieval times, the First Order is the friars (who are active/contemplative), the Second Order is the nuns (who are cloistered) and the Third Order consists of laypeople who continue to live in the world, and can be married, but participate in the charism of the order by liturgical prayers,apostolates, and contemplative prayer. There are also offshoots such as active Carmelite sisters.

 

I have read and encountered the same term for more than 10 years of my monastic research work.  For example, the Poor Clares, are considered the Second Order of St. Francis.

 

I assumed that same can be applied for Dominican Nuns and apparently, I was wrong.

 

In the 1930 Fundamental Code of the Dominican Nuns, it says "Constitutions of the Nuns of the Sacred Order of Preachers."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found some articles online referring to the Dominican Nuns (Cloistered) as Second Order

 

https://dominicanfriars.org/st-dominic-establishes-second-order/

 

St. Dominic Establishes Second Order

Stained glass window from St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, D.C. Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.

In 1206, shortly after Bishop Diego and Dominic began preaching in France, they centered their mission at a house of nuns in Prouille. Here Dominic established the Second Order Dominicans. Intended for women converted from the Albigensian heresy, the Order provided a place for prayer and initially for teaching the children of wealthy townspeople. Like all other communities of the Second Order established later, the Religious of Prouille eventually became strictly contemplative. Its residents, rescued from heresy, were carefully instructed in the truths of the faith, and through their penances and prayers they supplemented the work of the preachers for the salvation of souls. Dominic is shown placing the Dominican veil on a nun kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament.

Today Dominic’s Second Order consists of cloistered nuns who take solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and dedicate themselves to a life of silence, prayer, and penance. Intellectual, manual, and artistic work enables them to support themselves. They fast often, abstain from meat, rise during the night for prayer, and offer their lives to God for the salvation of souls and the welfare of the church.

The above excerpt is from Reflections of Dominican Spirituality: The Windows of St. Dominic Church, Washington, D.C. by Dr. Mary Moran.

 

 

https://www3.nd.edu/~maritain/jmc/etext/dominic1.htm

Institution of the Second Order

Montpellier, Servian, Beziers and Carcassone were in turn the scenes of St. Dominic's labors and innumerable triumphs for Christ. But Prouille eventually became his headquarters and the place of his first foundation. Among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Albigensian heresy were many of the women of Languedoc. A number of these women were among the converts of St. Dominic, and from them he learned of the systematic methods employed by ,the heretics to propagate their iniquitous and pernicious doctrines. Among these means, not the least effective was the erection of heretical convents which offered special inducements to the children of the better class who were about to begin their education. But their real purpose was to inoculate these children with the virus of their heretical beliefs. Moreover, a serious difficulty confronted St. Dominic in safeguarding his female converts from the danger of relapsing into heresy. Left in the homes of their heretical relatives, they were subject to incessant importunities to renounce their Faith and relapse into their former beliefs. In order to avoid both of these dangers the saint conceived the idea of establishing a community of nuns which would at once give protection to the women converted from heresy, and afford proper religious instruction for the children of the more prosperous class, who were patronizing the convents of the heretics. The Bishop of Toulouse, to whom St. Dominic presented his plan, warmly endorsed it, and towards the end of 1206 turned over to the saint "the Church of St. Mary of Prouille and the adjacent land to the extent of thirty feet." This generous gift was made in behalf of the women who were already converted, or should be converted in the future. This community of nuns, which was to be known as the Second Order of St. Dominic, was therefore the first in priority of foundation. The religious rule which the founder drew up for the community at Prouille, and afterwards for that of St. Sixtus at Rome, has guided to heights of perfection for over seven hundred years the self-sacrificing lives of the members of the Second Order. They are a cloistered order and, therefore, contemplatives devoted to lives of mortification and prayer. Only such work is engaged in as may be necessary for their maintenance and may be done entirely within the cloister.

 

 

 

Dominican Third Order Informational Package – Brochure (isidore.co)  - PDF FILE