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 800 years—it is not often that something lasts this long. The Carmelites have just ended a yearlong celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Order that began with the Feast of Saint Albert of Jerusalem on September 17th of 2007 and ended on the same feast day one year later.
Saint Albert had been asked by those first hermits living on Mount Carmel to write a Formula of Life so they could lead a more structured and more organized religious way of life. At the time, he was the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and serving as the Papal Legate to the Holy Land. As both Patriarch and Legate his Formula of Life would bear considerable weight. And that it did. Because of Albert’s credentials, in 1226, Pope Honorius III would ratify this Formula, recognizing it as a formal Rule for this newly formed Order. Future popes would reaffirm this ratification.
Albert, though, did not put a date on his Formula of Life and those early Carmelites never thought to write it down either. So it is difficult to pinpoint when it was actually written. Albert was Patriarch from 1206 until 1214 so sometime in that period he wrote his Formula (now Rule) for those early hermits on Mount Carmel. Since the exact date cannot be determined, why was 2007-2008 chosen as the octo-centenary year? The answer seems to be somewhat arbitrary, but looking at Saint Albert’s many activities and his other writings, historians seem to think that he wrote the Carmelite Formula/Rule either in 1207 or 1208.
There has been considerable study of the Carmelite Rule by the Order’s historians and scholars and significant commentaries on the Rule have been published of late. Conferences and Seminars of their recent studies on the Rule have been very popular–especially at the first gathering of both Carmelites and Dis-calced Carmelites for the “Congress on the Rule” at Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1986, the “Conference on the Rule” in San Antonio, Texas, in 2001, and the “Lisieux Conference on the Carmelite Rule” in Lisieux, France, in 2005.
Celebrations during this octocen-tenary year began in Rome at the Carmelite Church of Santa Maria in Tr ansportina (which is just outside Saint Peter’s) on September 16th, 2007 with a Mass attended by all the various ‘branches’ of the Carmelite family. Afterwards there was a large reception luncheon held at the Carmelite guesthouse, called Domus Carmelitana. This coincided with the General Chapter (a gathering, held every six years, of Carmelites from around the world). Very Reverend Fernando Millán, the newly-elected Prior General, presided at the Mass and the Very Reverend Joseph Chalmers, the out-going Prior General was the homilist.
Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario, celebrated with a lecture given by Father Michael Mulhall, O.Carm., on the Rule. Everyone then celebrated Solemn Sung Vespers in the magnificent Carmelite Chapel at the Centre. Dinner followed.
Saint Joseph—Immaculate Conception Parish in Leavenworth, Kansas, commissioned a new mural of Saint Albert presenting the Rule to the first Carmelites as part of their 150th anniversary . A new mural of Saint Albert presenting the Rule to the first Carmelites was commissioned for the church as part of their renovations.
The Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, had a regional celebration with the Carmelite family of Carmelites and Discalced Carmelites gathered at the Cathedral of Saint Augustine in Tucson on Wednesday, September 17th (the Feast day of Saint Albert). The bishop of the diocese, the Most Reverend Gerald Kicanas, presided at the liturgy with 24 O.Carm. and O.C.D. concelebrants. There were Carmelite sisters in attendance and over one-hundred representatives from the lay Carmelites—from the six Arizona TO.Carm. chapters and the six Arizona O.C.D.S. chapters. Saint Cyril’s Carmelite Parish in Tucson hosted a dinner prior to the Mass for clergy and the Lay Carmelites (both T.O.Carm. and OCDS) hosted a reception after the Mass.
To begin the year commemorative posters and a commemorative DVD were sent to all the members of the Province and, to close the year a special booklet was sent of the Liturgy of the Hours for the Feast of Saint Albert with excerpts from the Rule along with commentaries.
With Saint Albert’s Rule to guide it, this Order, planted on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land so long ago, has remained vibrant and has spread throughout the world. Maybe the celebration of such a successful document and the Order that grows from it should be extended into a second year.
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