{"id":2056,"date":"2026-09-08T15:55:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/?page_id=2056"},"modified":"2026-10-30T22:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T22:47:50","slug":"the-carmelite-family","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/the-carmelite-family\/","title":{"rendered":"The Carmelite Family"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Carmelites began as hermits dwelling in caves on Mount Carmel in present day northern Israel near the town of Haifa. The location provided some security following the Battle of Hattin in 1187. But more importantly it provided rugged slopes and dense vegetation, remote valleys and wide views of the Mediterranean Sea or the hills of Galilee, promoting prayer and reflection. Perhaps most important, it was the traditional location of the well of Elijah, the fiery prophet whose actions on behalf of Yahweh are recalled in the Book of Kings of the Bible.<\/p>

Although the Carmelites lack a single founder and date of foundation, it is certain that the foundation took place before 1214 as Albert of Vercelli, the patriarch of Jerusalem and author of a formula vitae (way of life) for the hermits to live by, was assassinated in September of that year. Nor is it known for certain the origins of the men settling on Mount Carmel. Perhaps some were crusaders who gave up fighting in favor of a more reflective life. Others were possibly pilgrims from Europe.<\/p>

Beginning in 1230 many of the Carmelites on Mount Carmel began returning to their home countries in Europe. This was the beginning of the mendicant movement in the Church\u2014 a rejection of large monasteries with political power in favor of beggars who worked among the people. The Carmelites, unable to support their eremitical lifestyle as they had in the Holy Land, became one of the mendicant orders with some modifications to their foundational document, Albert\u2019s formula vitae.<\/p>

With the adaptation of the mendicant life, the Carmelite Order grew rapidly in many parts of Europe. Its two inspirational figures were the Prophet Elijah as well as Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Both figure large in the spirituality and actions of the Order even to this day.<\/p>

In 1454, the decree or bull Cum nulla of Pope Nicholas V authorized the reception of women into the Carmelite Order. Already women had been associating themselves to the Order in varying decrees. This began to formalize the structure, making it possible for what would eventually become enclosed monasteries under the now largely disused rubric, the \u201cSecond Order.\u201d It also allowed for lay people to associate with the Order through confraternities and associations as well as lay communities, most often non-residential, grouped together as \u201cThird Order.\u201d<\/p>

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Today the religious men number approximately 2,000 and have an active presence 45 countries. The majority would be ordained priests. The remainder would be religious brothers. Together they staff parishes, retreat centers, schools, theology and philosophy schools, with a number having more individualized ministries of teaching, formation of the younger members, publishing, and youth work.<\/p>

The Order has approximately 80 enclosed monasteries with 800 nuns. These women are dedicated to serving the Church through prayer. They live in community, somewhat withdrawn from public life, but very present in promoting the development of the Church\u2019s life through their prayerful support. In recent years several new enclosed communities have been founded, usually at the request of the local bishop in order for the diocese to benefit from the presence of Carmelite nuns.<\/p>

Another, far larger, group of Carmelites are lay people who live and work in traditional settings in the spirit of Carmel. They make promises to live the Carmelite spirituality in their own circumstances or state of life\u2014as married or single men and women. As every Carmelite is, the lay faithful co-operate in the evangelization which the Church as a whole is called to. As Carmelites they search for God as would any religious Carmelite. In some countries today, often ancient confraternities exist to promote some particular aspect of the Christian life. The exact number of lay Carmelites is difficult to determine but it would be several thousand. Often these communities exist in locations where there are no members of the other branches of the Order.<\/p>

The heart of the Carmelite Family is the Order, made up of priests and brothers, nuns, sisters, and brothers of the affiliated institutes, and the members of the Carmelite Third Order (Secular Order). Secular institutes, confraternities, other public and private associations, ecclesial movements recognized through appropriate discernment by the major superiors, as well as affiliated individuals, are also bound to the Order by spiritual ties.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Countries in which Provinces, Commissariats,
Delegations of the Order Are Located:<\/strong><\/p>

Argentina
Australia
<\/span>Bolivia
<\/span>Brazil
Burkino Faso
Cameroon
Canada
Columbia
Czech Republic
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
France
Germany
Great Britain
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Kenya
Malta
Mexico
Mozambique
Netherlands
Papua New Guinea
Per\u00fa
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Spain
Tanzania
Timor Leste
Trinidad and Tobago
Ukraine
United States of America
Venezuela
Vietnam
Zimbabwe<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Congregations and Institutes Affiliated to the Order and Headquarters:<\/strong><\/p>

Carmelitae Sancti Eliae, Indonesia
Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, USA
Carmelite Sisters of Our Lady, Philippines
Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, USA
Corpus Christi Carmelites, Trinidad
Famille Missionnaire Donum<\/em> Dei<\/em>, France
Handmaids of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Zimbabwe
Hermanas Carmelitas de Madre Candelaria, Venezuela
Hermanas Carmelitas del Sagrado Coraz\u00f3n de Jes\u00fas, Spain
Hermanas de la Virgen Mar\u00eda del Monte Carmelo, Spain
Irmas Carmelitas da Divina Providencia, Brazil
Irmas Missionarias Carmelitas de Jesus, Brazil
Istituto di Nostra Signora del Carmelo, Italy
Kongregasi Putri Karmel, Indonesia
The Leaven, UK
Suore Carmelitane Missionarie di Santa Teresa del Bambino Ges\u00f9, Italy<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Locations of Hermits of the Order:<\/strong><\/p>

Arezzo, Italy
Chester, USA
Christoval, USA
Lake Elmo, USA
Monteluro, Italy
Petrolina, Brazil
Seligenthal, Germany<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Lay Carmelites and Third Order Groups:<\/strong><\/p>

Affiliated to various provinces around the world.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Locations of Monasteries of Carmelite Nuns: \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Allentown, USA
Antequera, Spain
Aracena, Spain
Azua, Dominican Republic
Banyoles, Spain
Barcelona, Spain
Barinas, Venezuela
Batu, Indonesia
Biella, Italia
Boxmeer, Netherlands
Burgos, Philippines
Cabanatuan City, Philippines
Caman\u00e1, Per\u00fa
Camerino, Italy
Ca\u00f1ete la Real, Spain
Carpineto Romano, Italy
Caudete, Spain
Cerreto, Italy
C\u00f3rdoba, Spain
Dumaguete City, Philippines
Erlangen, Germany
Firenze, Italy
Fisciano, Italy
Fontiveros, Spain
Granada, Spain
Guiguinto, Philippines
Heerlen, Netherland
Huesca \u2013 San Miguel
Huesca \u2013 Asuncion
Hudson, USA
Impruneta, Italy
Jaboticabal, Brazil
Jesi, Italy
Juja Farm, Kenya
Khongolote, Mozambique
La Vega, Dominican Republic
Lila, Philippines
Machakos, Kenya
Madrid, Spain
Maramag, Philippines
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Monci\u00f3n, Dominican Republic
Moncorvo, Portugal
Montagano, Italy
Montegnacco di Cassacco, Italy
Montiglio, Italy
Mutare, Zimbabwe
Onteniente, Spain
Ostuni, Italy
Osuna, Spain
Palangka Raya, Indonesia
Paranava\u00ed, Brazil
Porlamar, Venezuela
Ravenna, Italy
Roxas City, Philippinwa
San Fabian, Philippines
Santa Ignacia, Philippines
Santiago de Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o del Rei, Brazil
Seville, Spain
Sogliano al Rubicone, Italy
Sutri, Italy
Tanay Rizal, Philippines
Tarrega, Spain
Triunfo, Brazil
Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
Utrera, Spain
Valencia, Spain
Vetralla, Italy
Vilafranca del Pened\u00e9s, Spain
Villalba del Alcor, Spain
Vung Tau, Vietnam
Wahpeton, USA
Zaragoza, Spain
Zenderen, Netherlands<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Carmelites began as hermits dwelling in caves on Mount Carmel in present day northern Israel near the town of Haifa. The location provided some security following the Battle of Hattin in 1187. But more importantly it provided rugged slopes and dense vegetation, remote valleys and wide views of the Mediterranean Sea or the hills […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2056","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2393,"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2056\/revisions\/2393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelitengo.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}