Inspirational Figures
Carmelite Saints
St Elijah
Feast day: 20th July
Elijah, Prophet of Carmel, inspiration of the Carmelite ideal, was a solitary man of God, who lived always in God’s presence. He was given an intimate experience of the living God on Mount Horeb.
Constantly journeying from ‘here ’to ‘there’ in response to God’s call, he exemplifies the Carmelite’s journey to God at the core of her being. He is a visible expression of fidelity and total availability to the will of God.
Ref. Elijah lived around 870 BC and is referred to in 1 Kings 16:29 – 17:24.
St Teresa of Jesus (Avila)
Feast Day: 15th October
“Mental Prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.” (Life: 8: 5)
“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.” (Bookmark)
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.”
St Therese of Lisieux
Feast day: 1st October
St Thérèse recognized her vocation “to be Love in the heart of the Church” when she read St Paul, 1 Cor 13 (SS194) —for the church had to have a heart and if the heart stopped pulsing, apostles would not preach the gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood. Desiring to be all vocations, she was well aware of her fragile nature and learned that what pleased God was for Him to see her love her littleness and her poverty, the blind hope she had in his mercy.
“The Little Way finds joy in the present moment, in being pleased to be the person you are, whoever you are. It is a school of self-acceptance which goes beyond accepting who you are, to wanting to be who you are… God is looking for people who will open their lives to his transforming love; that the most profound way of loving God is to allow God to love us. Her ardent love of God embraced all times, peoples and places and was challenged by a thousand different sacrifices of daily living — to become another Christ, a person in whom the holy Trinity loves to dwell, to act and to touch the lives of countless people. Even when life became difficult, she gave us a wonderful example of living by faith.”
(Bishop Patrick Ahern, ‘On the Centenary of the Birth of St Thérèse, 1997’)
St John of the Cross
Feast day: 14th December
“You will not take from me, my God, what you once gave me in your only Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you gave me all I desire…Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine are the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine, and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me.”
(“Prayer of a soul taken with love.” Sayings, 26, 27)
“The smallest act, one little spark of pure love is of more value than all other acts together.” (Sayings, 20)
“When evening comes you will be examined in love.” (Sayings, 60)
“Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; Knock in prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation.” (Sayings, 158)
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
Feast day: 9th August
“All authentic prayer is the fruit of union with Christ and all authentic prayer is prayer of the church.
Through every sincere prayer something happens in the church, and it is the church itself that is praying therein, for it is the Holy Spirit living in the church that intercedes for every individual soul “with sighs too deep for words.” This is exactly what authentic prayer is, for no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit. What could the prayer of the church be, if not great lovers giving themselves to God who is love!” (The Prayer of the Church)
St Titus Brandsma
Feast day: 27th July
This Carmelite Priest, Titus Brandsma, is a witness to the presence of God who is Love living within the human person. As an instrument in God’s hands and one who believed in the truth and power of God’s word, even when carrying the sufferings of war he could communicate by a simple look or by his signature smile the peace from within. He cared about others and offered them friendship despite the horror, the brutality and mental anguish which served to unite him more closely with his Lord. This understanding and sympathy flowed from Titus’ unselfish heart, receptive to grace and touched by mystical gifts.
He won his Carmelite vocation at a cost because throughout his life he had to battle health issues. Small and frail looking, like St John of the Cross, his strength came from within. A prolific writer, he had a practical interest in collecting and studying early manuscripts and visited libraries and museums to photograph and catalogue them. Eventually his valuable collection amounted to some 170 albums from 60 original Manuscripts, a priceless addition to the Netherlands Carmelite Institute.
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Feast day: 8th November
Elizabeth had music in her soul and melody flowed through her. A gifted pianist, from a young age she studied at the Dijon Conservatory and played works of the great composers, her favourite Chopin, Schumann and Liszt, winning the prized medal at thirteen.
She moved with rhythm too and enjoyed dances and fine clothes. In Carmel her musical talent was channeled through deep and silent harmonies expressive of her communion with the Divine. It made her sensitive, poised and calm as one who listened and filled the stillness with prayer. This only happened after she had battled to conquer her unruly temper and control her strong will, for she was no meek saint!
The 16 Martyrs of Compiégne
Feast day: 17th July
During the violence and turmoil of the French Revolution, between the years 1789 and 1794, thousands died by the guillotine. The revolutionaries were bent on toppling the regime with its inequality and privileges for the monarchy and nobility. Intent on vengeance they sought a reversal of values and profit for themselves.
Their victims included the King himself, Louis XVI, murdered in the public Place de la Concorde in 1793, jeered by crowds of common folk.
Only months before, the Carmelite community of Compiègne, north of Paris, was driven from their Monastery significantly on 14th September, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. They needed to find shelter with some friendly families of the town and were able to gather for Mass in the local Church. At the suggestion of the Prioress, Mother Teresa of St Augustine, they made an act of consecration, offering themselves as a holocaust to God so that peace may be restored to the church and state. They repeated this offering every day until their death nearly two years later.