A Carmelite Primer

From Zenit:

Under Mary's Protection

Just beyond St. Peter's Square down the Via della Conciliazione looms the beautiful white facade of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Traspontina.

Here every year large numbers of the Roman faithful gather to thank Our Lady of Mount Carmel with a special novena in preparation for her feast, July 16.

Beginning July 7, a different cardinal every day preaches about Our Lady at an evening Mass.

In a homily last Sunday, Cardinal William Levada, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, focused on Mary's role in welcoming the Word of God into the world.

"The Evangelist Luke places the Gospel manifestation of the Word of God in the context of the mystery of Mary," he said. "So much so, that Mary becomes the 'instrument' by which God rescues man from the slavery of sin, and brings him into the intimacy of communion with himself."

In the same way, he continued, Mary even today reveals the glory of God's presence among us. Moreover, he said that we enjoy her special patronage when we are consecrated to her.

Carmelite pastor, Father Piero Leta, explained that this aspect of devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is central to the identity of all Carmelites.

"I am a son of Mary," he said. "She is the patron and protector of all Carmelites in a unique way."

Father Leta said the history of the Carmelite order is unique, and their identity is centered on the patronage of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who appeared to St. Simon Stock in the 13th century during a time of turmoil among the Carmelites.

"As an order, we are unique in that we have no one founder," Father Leta said.

For centuries, he explained, Carmelites lived as monks on Mount Carmel, where Elijah met God. The Carmelite tradition was established by those who sought to live apart from the world, to find God in the silence of a desert retreat.

During the time of the Crusades, the Carmelites fled to Rome, where they were suddenly thrust into the bustling life of a busy city. Without a founder, and in completely new surroundings, the order suffered an identity crisis.

"The Holy See wanted to suppress us around the year 1250, because we did not have a founder that we could identify, as other orders do. We had simply always followed the desert tradition of Elijah and were dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel," he explained.

Facing suppression, the Carmelites prayed fervently to Our Lady of Mount Carmel whose providence had never failed. She appeared to Carmelite Friar St. Simon Stock in England with the scapular, a sure sign of her protection and preservation.

For this reason, Father Leta said the origin of the devotion is directly linked to the brown scapular of Carmel: "The scapular is a sign of our consecration to Mary as our mother and is a sign of her protection of us. We belong to her, and everyone who wears this scapular as a sign of consecration is identified as her son or daughter."

Since that time, and renewed again by the 16th-century reform of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, the entire Carmelite family, which includes the discalced and the Order of Carmelites, has flourished in many places throughout the world, Father Leta said.

The widespread devotion of the faithful who wear the brown scapular as a sign of consecration to Our Lady, he said, is a special gift for all that was entrusted to the Carmelites.

Moreover, Father Leta said the Traspontina church has been a privileged place for this devotion since the 16th century when it was placed under the care of the Carmelites after the sack of Rome.

The church itself is a treasury of art and architecture depicting history of the Carmelite order. Beginning with the altar, which depicts the prophets Elijah and Elisha on Mount Carmel, visitors can trace the origins and growth of the Carmelites, and the elements of the Carmelite charism that set it apart as a "desert oasis."

Father Leta explained that Mount Carmel was a garden, an oasis of beauty and peace in the Holy Land.

"Our Lady is always adorned with the Flos Carmeli, the flowers of Carmel," he said.

The novena will end Sunday, when the massive statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel will be carried down a main side street, Borgho Pio, and through the rest of the neighborhood.