The Xiberta Center: a New Facility for Carmelite Formation

By Father Gregory Houck, O.Carm.

The new residence for Carmelite students studying at the graduate theology level is named after the Spanish Carmelite, Father Bartolomé Xiberta. The Carmelite News Agency out of Rome (CITOC) gives a quick summary of Father Xiberta’s life, saying:

Father Xiberta was born on April 4, 1897, in the village of Girona, España, and died in Barcelona on July 26, 1967. He was noted for living his Carmelite vocation in a very profound way and for his devotion to Mary. He accepted election as an Assistant General of the Order and distinguished himself in the Church as a theologian, researcher, historian, and as a teacher. He was a consulter for the Second Vatican Council and was a consulter for the Spanish bishops. The application for his cause for canonization was completed in 2007. (CITOC newsletter, 2007 no. 4)

The newly-opened center for Carmelite students in El Salvador is appropriately named after this scholar, who did all his work in his native language, Spanish.

The Center is the residence and formation house for Latin American Carmelite students of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Province. This Province is now present in three Latin American countries—Peru, Mexico and El Salvador. There are already nine students in residence: four from Mexico, three from Peru and two from El Salvador. They all do their graduate studies at the renowned University of Central America, a Jesuit-sponsored university, in San Salvador.

Two years ago, when the Province decided that the University of Central America best met the training needs of our students, building began on a large and vacant parcel of land that had been given to Carmelite Father David Blanchard years before. Quickly it has become an impressive complex of buildings. Just inside the gate stands the chapel-oratory. Then there is the first dormitory, which can house eight students. All the rooms open out to a small, interior, open-air courtyard—very much in the Roman style. Next is a kitchen, dining room, and recreation room building. Down the slope is another dormitory building, identical to the first. Lastly, there is the library. The library is rather unique; built as three large beehivelike buildings with connecting hallways. The inspiration for this style was from the earliest description of the first Carmelites on Mount Carmel itself when a visiting bishop from Europe, Jacques de Vitry (died in 1240), in his Historia Orientalis, said the Carmelites, “In comb-like hives those bees of the Lord are busy making spiritual honey.” The interior of each building of the library has a mosaic painted on the dome; the center dedicated to the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador, the right dedicated to Blessed Titus Brandsma, and the left dedicated to the American Carmelite Scripture scholar, Father Roland Murphy. The library, although new, already has 3000 volumes—the majority of these are in Spanish and are available on-line. Carmelite Father Miguel Bacigalupo of Lima, Peru, was instrumental in gathering the majority of this collection.

Outside of the library there is a patio with comfortable umbrella tables and an Italian coffee machine so studies can continue outside. The patio has a Starbucks feel to it. This area is called “Shoah Plaza” and is dedicated to the Jews who were exterminated in the Holocaust. There are large kiosk-like placards under glass describing the tragedy. Father David noted that it is the only Holocaust memorial in El Salvador.

Xiberta Center not only is a residence and formation house for Carmelite students but it has begun an educational outreach to the larger Church. For example, Adolph Roitman, curator of the Museum of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran, gave a lecture there at the end of February about the Scrolls and their influence in Scripture studies. At the end of March, the chief rabbi in El Salvador and a Holocaust survivor are coming to speak on the Holocaust and the relationship between Jews and Christians.

Besides directing the Xiberta Center, Father David is the pastor of a flourishing parish nearby named Our Lady of Lourdes. All the students are involved in the parish as part of their formation and training. Father David is assisted in both the parish and the Center by Carmelite Father Gerald Payea, who has many years of experience both in formation work and parish work in Peru.