Ludovico Saggi, O.Carm.
translated by Paul Chandler, O.Carm.
Mary, Mother of Carmel
ere is nothing new in saying that the various Marian titles all speak essentially of a relation to Mary as Mother of Christ and Mother of Christians. e various names all speak of relation to her in the mystery of Christ and the Church, whether they concern “historic” titles linked to some event in the past, or—even more—titles which are perennially alive. e laer is the case of those titles linked with institutions which live, renew themselves, and adapt themselves to circumstances. is is the case of the devotion to Mary of Carmel (in Italian, the “Madonna del Carmine”),1 who has dominated the Order throughout its history, from the earliest times of its foundation until our own days, when we are exploring how to live out the rich Marian patrimony accumulated over the centuries. To say “Mary of Mount Carmel” is to say “Mary as venerated by the Carmelites”. And in saying “Carmelites” we must understand the whole Carmelite family: male and female religious, tertiaries, and those enrolled in the Scapular, because this enrolment also involves an aggregation to the spiritual benefits of the Order and a commitment to live up to its spirituality. To aid historical investigation, it is worth seing out three periods which present special characteristics in the formation of the image or person of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, but it should be noted that the first two periods continue into the third, just as the second and third already have their beginnings in the first:
) the Patron, i.e., the Mother of the Lord Jesus of the Holy Land (th-th centuries);
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saints 1 e Dizionario enciclopedico italiano, s.v. “Carmine”: “A more common form than Carmelo, from which it is derived, with reference to the Carmelite Order.” It should be noted that the form “de Carmino” is already found in the th century (from which Carmine is more easily derived): for example in a document of December from Acre, today in Palermo, Archivio di Stato, Pergamene di S. Maria Maddalena di Messina, n. ; in a sermon by the archbishop of Pisa Federico Visconti (-), cf. Paolo Caioli, “Il ‘Carmino’ di Pisa,” Carmelus (): . As a curiosity one can note that even today in the south of Spain (probably through Arab influence) a “carmen” is a garden/orchard, the original meaning of the word Karmel. 1
) the Virgo purissima, i.e., the Virgin, the Immaculate One, the “Friend of the Heavenly Father”, the “Woman of the Apocalypse”; the image of the Mother of the Redeemer is also not absent (th-th centuries); ) Our Lady of the Scapular, who preserves from hell and liberates from purgatory (th century until today).
. Mary as Patron: the Mother of Christ
In an uncertain year between and St Albert, the patriarch of Jerusalem, gave a “formula of life” to the Latin hermits gathered around the “spring of Elijah” on Carmel.2 Only later did it have the juridical characteristics of a Rule, but for ease of discussion we can call it that from the beginning. But in this document there is not the least mention of the Virgin Mary. From this one might conclude that the Marian element is not original in the Order, but arrived in a second moment, possibly as a means of distinction from other religious living on Carmel (for example, the monks of St Margaret’s).3 ere would be nothing strange about a name to distinguish the Latin hermits at the Spring of Elijah: but it remains to be seen why one title emerged rather than another. A pilgrim itinerary, La citez de Jerusalem, composed in the years -, described the place where the religious were located in this way: “On the slope of the same mountain there is a very beautiful and delightful place where the Latin hermits live, who are called Brothers of Carmel, where there is a small church of Our Lady”.4 From the lile church dedicated to Mary the religious had the name of Brothers of the Blessed Virgin of Carmel. It should be noted that from the Rule of St Albert it does not appear that there was already a church or an oratory, for one of the prescriptions of the Rule itself is to construct one in the midst of the cells. e pilgrim itinerary quoted above indicates that it was already done a few years later: a small church was built and dedicated to the Virgin. e titulus or church to which one was mancipatus (in service o) was an essential element for obtaining approval, even simply episcopal, as a religious family. e choice, then, of a title for the church involved a whole spiritual orientation, for in the feudal mentality of the time a person who was in the service of a church was in service of the saint to whom the church was dedicated. And the word “service” is meant in a strong sense (in Latin servitium
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2 In the form adapted by Innocent IV in the Rule is placed at the beginning of the Constitutions. ere is a historical-juridical study by Carlo Cicconei, [now in a second edition, Carlo Cicconei, La Regola del Carmelo: origine, natura, significato, a ed, rivista e aggiornata, Textus et Studia Historica Carmelitana, vol. (Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, ).] 3 Clemens Kopp, Elias und Christentum auf dem Karmel, Collectanea Hierosolymitana (Paderborn: Schöningh, ), –. It’s worth noting that the first church of the Carmelites at Pisa (/) was dedicated to Our Lady and St Margaret; Caioli, “Il ‘Carmino’ di Pisa,” –. Was this a reminiscence of their being neighbours on Carmel? 4 Kopp, Elias und Christentum auf dem Karmel, .
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 2 or obsequium): it indicates a traditio personae, that is a handing over of oneself completely to the disposal of another, a personal consecration ratified by oath, all the more so when confirmed by religious profession.5 A person who was dedicated to the service of a church (or an altar) considered themselves dedicated to the saint to whom the church (or altar) was dedicated. Clearly if the saint was freely chosen (as in the case of the new dedication of a church) the devotion was more “original”, more “spontaneous”. erefore, at the beginning of the Carmelite Order (and one should bear in mind that the first church came to be the mother-church of the future Order) there is a clear Marian choice. We can speak of a choice because—even though we do not have any documentation of the decision—we should not imagine that the title would have been imposed from outside; but even if it were, the fundamental reality would not change. Because of this choice the hermits came to consider the Virgin Mary as their Patron. is is recognised by the popes, at least from the time when they name the Order with its proper title, which happens with certainty from : S. Maria de Monte Carmeli.6 Outside papal documents the title also appears before this date.7 Eleven years later, on February , Pope Urban IV gave an indulgence for the rebuilding of the monastery on Carmel ubi caput et origo est Ordinis memorati, ad honorem Dei et praedictae gloriosae Virginis Patronae ipsorum (“where is the head and origin of the said Order, to the honour of God and the aforesaid glorious Virgin, their Patron”).8 In the Constitutions of the general chapter of Bordeaux in it was decreed: Ordinamus quod in omni confessione beata Virgo patrona nostra specialiter invocetur (“We decree that in every confession the blessed Virgin, our Patron,
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5 On the meaning and implications of the feudal character of religious profession and of the title of a church, see A.H. omas, “La profession religieuse des Dominicains: formule, cérémonies, histoire,” Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum (): ff., with bibliography. 6 Innocent IV, bull Ex parte dilectorum, January , in Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum (- ), (from the Vatican Register). If it is an authentic bull and not a formulary for the use of some official of the chancery, the document mentioned by G. Abate, OFMConv., “Leere ‘secrete’ d’Innocenzo IV, in Miscellanea franciscana (): , contained in ms , f. r, of the Biblioteca Antoniana di Padova, then the title Fratres beate Marie Virginis de Monte Carmelo occurs before , in fact between the years and in a leer of the pope to the bishop of London, ruling that nothing be imposed on the Carmelites contrary to the statutes of their Order. [See now Emanuele Boaga, “Una leera ‘secreta’ di Innocenzo IV a favore dei Carmelitani,” Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum (): –, with the date August/September .] 7 For example in Pisa in , (Caioli, “Il ‘Carmino’ di Pisa,” –); in Trapani in (Oavio Caetani, S.J., Vitae Sanctorum Siculorum [Palermo: Apud Cirillos. Imp. Abbas Gelosus, ], , second numeration); at Aylesford in or (Adrianus Staring, Medieval Carmelite Heritage: Early Reflections on the Nature of the Order, Textus et Studia Historica Carmelitana, vol. [Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, ], ff.), if the copy made later is accurate. 8 Eliseo Monsignani and José Alberto Ximenez, eds, Bullarium Carmelitanum: plures complectens summorum pontificum constitutiones ad ordinem fratrum beatissimae, semperque virginis dei genitricis Mariae de Monte Carmelo spectantes ( vols), Rome: Plachi, –), :.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 3 be especially invoked”).9 In a Collect for the clothing of novices in the Constitutions of we read: Virginis Mariae, quam praecipuam huius sanctae religionis patronam dedisti (“of the Virgin Mary, whom you have given as the principal Patron of this holy Order”).10 Innocent IV, on April , recommended to the participants at the general chapter of Narbonne that they hold in mind the salutary example of Patronae vestrae Beatae Mariae de Monte Carmelo (“your Patron, Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel”).11
What did Carmelites understand by the term Patron? e prior general Bernard Oller explains in : the term patronus can be taken in its active and passive sense. In the active sense, a patron is someone who initiates or founds an Order. In the passive sense, someone can be considered a patron in three cases: a) someone in whose honour an Order is founded; b) someone freely chosen; c) someone to whom churches and houses are dedicated. e name of the patron can also give the title to the Order.12 When we examine the documents we see that the Carmelites not only have the title “Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel”, but that they also claimed that the Order was founded in honour of Mary, and that they dedicated churches and houses to her. Here are some instances from documents of the th and th centuries. In the act of transferral of the convent from outside to within the walls of the city of Toulouse in , it is said that the Carmelites Virgini profitentur se specialiter dedicatos (“publicly declare themselves to be specially dedicated to the Virgin”).13 In , the prior general Pierre de Millaud, requesting commendatory leers from the King of England, promised prayers to the Virgin ad cuius laudem et gloriam Ordo ipse in transmarinis partibus exstitit specialiter institutus (“to whose praise and glory the same Order was specially instituted in parts beyond the sea”).14 e acts of the general chapter of Montpellier of read: in cuius [Mariae Matris Iesu] obsequio et honore fundata est nostra religio de Monte Carmeli (“in whose allegiance and honour [i.e., Mary, the Mother of Jesus], our Order of
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9 Ludovico Saggi, ed., “Constitutiones capituli Burdigalensis anni ,” Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum (): , rub. . [Now Corpus Constitutionum Ordinis Fratrum Beatissimae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmelo. Volume Primo, –, ed. Edison R.L Tinambunam and Emanuele Boaga, Corpus Constitutionum Carmelitarum, vol. (Rome: Edizioni Carmelitane, ), .] 10 Monumenta Historica Carmelitana, ed. Benedict Zimmerman (Lérins: Ex typis abbatiae, –), . [Now Corpus Constitutionum, rub. , De receptione novitiorum, .] 11 Bull. Carm., :. 12 Bernard Oller, “Informatio circa originem, intitulationem et confirmationem Ordinis Fratrum beatae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmeli,” in Speculum Carmelitanum, sive Historia Eliani Ordinis Fratrum Beatissimae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmelo…, vols (Antwerp: Michael Knobbari, ), :, n. . 13 T. Baurens de Molinier, Histoire de la vie et du culte de S.te Jeanne de Toulouse, Lille: Desclée de Brouwer, , . 14 Bull. Carm., : ff. [Now in Staring, MCH, –.]
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 4
Mount Carmel was founded”).15 In an indulgence given on March by fieen Italian bishops to those who had visited the churches of the Order in Germany, the Carmelites are called specialius Domine nostre obsequiis deputati (“specially esteemed for service of Our Lady”).16 e prior general Gerard of Bologna, writing to some lay Carmelites (pinzocchere) in Venice who were partakers in the spiritual benefits of the Order, said: religio prefate Virginis benedicte titulo speciali insignitur (“the Order of the said blessed Virgin is especially honoured by its title”).17 Pope Clement XV, in a bull of March , begins Sacer Ordo vester in honorem beatae Mariae Virginis gloriosae divinitus institutus (“Your holy Order, instituted by divine providence in honour of the glorious blessed Virgin Mary”).18 A leer of Edward, king of England to the pope in reads: Ordo in honorem memoratae gloriosae Virginis est fundatus (“the Order was founded in honour of the renowned glorious Virgin”).19 In the Collect for the clothing of novices in the Constitutions of : habitum nostrae sacrae religionis ad honorem beatae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmeli dedicatae (“the habit of our holy Order dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel”).20 It would be superfluous to continue.
Someone might say it’s moving fast to assert such a thing: we need to see if it’s true that the Order was founded in honour of Our Lady. I would reply that this is a consequence of the choice of dedication of the first church to her, which happened in the feudal period and in the feudal mentality, as already said. And aer the first church so many others followed dedicated to her. And even if we were to admit—per impossibile, given the mentality of the time—that there was not an intention to found the Order in honour of Our Lady, to have so quickly thought and lived it would have remedied the initial lack. at is because the relations between “patron” and “clients” is founded on a juridical reality, but above all it is “life” that counts, and there is no doubt that the Carmelite Order “lived” its Marian dedication. It was the conviction of Carmelites that they had a quite special relationship with Mary, their Patron, under the title “of Mount Carmel”. But, as Fr Valerius Hoppenbrouwers justly observes,21 true motives for devotion must flow from the doctrine of faith or one is not dealing with supernatural religion—and the motives of faith are the revealed mysteries. So
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15 Acta capitulorum generalium Ordinis Fratrum B.V.M. de Monte Carmelo, ed. Gabriel Wessels (Rome: Curia Generalitia, –), :. 16 Frankfurt am Main, Stadtarchiv, Rep. B.a.. 17 Claudio Catena, Le carmelitane: storia e spiritualità, Textus et studia historica Carmelitana, vol. . (Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, ), . 18 Bull. Carm. :. 19 Bull. Carm. :. 20 Monumenta, . [Now Corpus Constitutionum, rub. , De receptione novitiorum, .] 21 Valerius Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana in Ordine Fratrum B.M.V. de Monte Carmelo a medio saeculo xvi usque ad finem saeculi xix, Collationes Mariales (Romae: Institutum Carmelitanum, ), .
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 5 then, with what mystery was the devotion to Mary “of Mount Carmel” connected? I would say that as soon as a Marian mystery appears in the documentation of the Order we are dealing with the divine maternity and the virginity of Mary. Of course, these are not exclusive to Carmelites, but that is not the point: the important thing is that it is so. Let us concentrate for now on the divine maternity. A good number of churches whose titles we know were dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation.22 In some provinces of the Order the Annunciation was their principal feast, and various confraternities in Carmelite churches had it as their patronal feast.23 In the Constitutions of it was prescribed that the Office of the Annunciation would be recited once a week in Advent. 24 As we know, the Annunciation is the first moment of the Incarnation and therefore of the divine maternity of Mary. And we will see further on how this mystery would appear on reflection to be intimately connected with the life and spiritual commitment of Carmelites. ere are other explicit texts. In the document which has been already mentioned about the translation of the convent of Toulouse from outside to inside the city in , it is said that the Carmelites have chosen to live in the midst of the Jews, whence came the honoured per eos beatissima Virgo Maria, Salvatoris Domini nostri Iesu Christi mater, cui Virgini profitentur se specialiter devotos (“the most blessed Virgin Mary, mother of our Saviour Jesus Christ, honoured by them, to which Virgin they declare themselves to be specially dedicated”).25 e general chapter of Montpellier in declared: Suffragium imploramus gloriosae Virginis Mariae matris Iesu, in cuius obsequio et honore fundata est nostra religio de monte Carmeli (“We implore the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, in whose srevice and honour our Order of Mount Carmel was founded”).26 Earlier it was the religious of Toulouse who felt themselves particularly dedicated to the Mother of our Saviour
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22 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, . Hoppenbrouwers, following M. García Calahorra, Breve compendio del origen y antigüedad de la sagrada religion del Carmen (Madrid, ) -, claims that for that year, of churches dedicated to Mary in the Order, were with the title of “Our Lady of Mount Carmel”, dedicated to the Annunciation, of the Assumption, etc. He rightly observes, however, that lists of this kind need to be treated with caution. In particular who can say how many churches came to be “of Mount Carmel” because of the evolution of the Marian devotion which we will be dealing with below? Another difficulty arises from not knowing at all or not knowing precisely the earliest title of many churches. Nevertheless, for the th century it seems that we can identify the churches of the following cities dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation: Trapani, Catania, Marsala, Girgenti, Sciacca, Groaminarda, Genoa, Piacenza, Milan, Pavia, Avignon, Orange (?). ere are many more in succeeding centuries. See also Augustine M. Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo: historia et liturgia (Rome: Apud Curiam Generalitiam, ), –. 23 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, ; Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, -. 24 Monumenta, ; [Now Corpus Constitutionum, rub. , ]. 25 Baurens de Molinier, Histoire, . 26 Acta cap. gen., :.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 6
Jesus Christ; at Montpellier it’s the general chapter that makes the same affirmation in the name of the whole Order. One can add as well that tradition affirms that the iconographical type of Our Lady brought from Mount Carmel (for example, “La Bruna” in Naples) is Our Lady with the Christ Child.27
ese are the basic facts. Now we will aempt an interpretation which, if it is valid, will also resolve the problem of why Our Lady was chosen as the patronal title of the church on Mount Carmel. e purpose of the hermits at the Spring of Elijah was “to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ”, as we read in the prologue to the Rule. We should note the meaning of the word obsequium, meaning “service”, which in the context of the Crusades, during which the Order was born, meant to assist Christ to recover the Holy Land, the patrimony he had gained with his blood.28 For the Carmelites, therefore, Christ was the Dominus and also the Senior in the feudal sense. No other creature could be closer to him than Mary his mother: therefore, serving her was also to serve Christ; service of her was an overflow of the service of Christ. And when, obliged by the changing political circumstances in Palestine, they had to abandon the Holy Land, the “patrimony of Christ”, the image of Mary, mother of Christ, permied them to maintain the close links created with him on Carmel. In support of this interpretation we can note the parallelism of terminology used for Christ and Mary. As for him so for her, Carmelites are said to live in obsequio. Living in obsequio to Our Lady the Carmelites imitated the obsequium of Mary towards God. e feudal obsequium included the duties of consilium and auxilium:29 that is, to consider the common interests one has with the person to whom one owes obsequium, and to give aid according to one’s capacities. And so in the Annunciation Mary considers with the angel sent by God how to realise his will, and offered her total collaboration in the divine plan. Who could be more willing than her who says: Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum? is was all wonderfully consonant with the propositum of the Carmelites, and favoured by the prescription of the Rule to “meditate day and night on the Law of the Lord”. In the context of medieval thought there is no doubt that the “Lord” of whom the Rule speaks, whose Law is
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27 P.T. agliarella, Il Carmine Maggiore di Napoli, Taranto, , -. e image venerated in the church of Traspontina in Rome is also said to have been brought from Mount Carmel: C. Catena, Traspontina: guida storica e artistica, Rome, , . e following three iconographical motifs are also illustrated in Cécile Emond, L’iconographie carmélitaine dans les anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux (Bruxelles: Palais des Académies, ), –. 28 Carlo Cicconei, “L’indole canonica della regola del Carmelo,” Carmelus (): . 29 omas, “La profession religieuse,” , with the aached bibliography.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 7 to be meditated, is Christ;30 we can add that he is the “padrone del luogo”, the owner of the place, the Holy Land.31 But in what way did the Carmelites render their obsequium to Our Lady? Everything that could demonstrate their “dedication” to her was contained in the obsequium. At Toulouse we see that they choose a location in the Jewish quarter so that in eo loco laudabiliter exaltaretur, honoraretur et laudaretur in quo fuerat per iudaeos perfidos longo tempore blasphemata beatissima Virgo praefata (“the most blessed Virgin Mary would be laudably exalted, honoured and praised in that place in which she had been blasphemed by the faithless Jews”).32 However, the mode in which the Carmelites rendered their servitium or obsequium was above all the liturgy. I will not aempt to list the long series of prescriptions about liturgical services in honour of Our Lady in the regulations of the Order.33 In carrying them out, the Carmelites oen found themselves with their thoughts and hearts turned to Our Lady. Fr Valerius Hoppenbrouwers makes this objection: “If perhaps the Marian devotion of many medieval Carmelites were oriented toward the mystery of the Annunciation, without doubt [it would be because] in it they admired union with God.”34 e doubtful beginning (“If perhaps”) is because he had a much more extensive documentation of the dedication of Carmelite churches to [Our Lady of Mount Carmel]. But this cannot be considered the only argument, and Hoppenbrouwers does not hide the fact that this devotion would explain well the future evolution of the devotion towards the Most Pure Virgin, which we will come to later.35
A lile at a time the figure of Mary, while remaining the Patron, loses its juridico-feudal quality (perhaps due to the fact that we were not in Palestine any longer aer the end of the th century), and took on the colours of more “human” aspects. She become considered Mother and Sister. We will come to Sister later on. As far as we know, the title of Mother is found for the first time in the acts of the provincial chapter of Lombardy in : In nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi et gloriosae
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30 Rudolf Hendriks, “De primigenia Ordinis Carmelitarum inspiratione in regula expressa,” Carmelus (): . 31 Cicconei, “L’indole canonica,” . 32 Baurens de Molinier, Histoire, ff. 33 Antiquum Ordinis Carmelitarum Ordinale saec. XIII, ed. Patrick of St Joseph Rushe (Tamines: Duculot-Roulin, ), , , , ; Ordinaire de l’Ordre de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel, par Sibert de Beka (vers ) publié d’après le manuscrit originel et collationné sur diverses manuscrits et imprimés, ed. Benedict Zimmerman, Bibliothèque Liturgique, vol. (Paris: Picard, ), –, – , –; Monumenta, , . [Now also Edmund Caruana, e Ordinal of Sibert de Beka, with Special Reference to Marian Liturgical emes: An Historical-Liturgical-eological Investigation (Rome: Anselmianum, ).] 34 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, . 35 Ibid.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 8
Virginis matris nostri Ordinis de Carmelo (“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the glorious Virgin, the mother of our Order of Carmel”).36 A few years later () John of Cheminot wrote: quae est fons misericordiarum mater nostra (“who is our mother, the font of mercies”). 37 e Constitutions of have: Ad laudem Dei et beate Marie Virginis Dei Genetricis matris nostre (“In praise of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our mother”).38 ere is a very famous epithet in the Flos Carmeli (th century, or beginning of the th?), mater mitis (“gentle” or “sweet mother”).39 Notable also are the expressions of John Palaeonydorus and Arnold Bostius at the end of the th century.40 In a Vexillum Carmelitanum was printed: the image features Mary saying Sum mater et decor Carmeli (“I am the Mother and Beauty of Carmel”).41 Mother does not eliminate Patron, neither the term nor even less the concept. ere is a chorus of voices which arrives at Bostius, who rethought the Marian devotion of the Order with a comprehensive tour of the horizon, with genuine affectivity, under the sign of the protection of Mary, by which the response of Carmel must follow towards the “superlovable” Mother, a response made of love and imitation.42 It was later, especially in the Reform of Touraine, that the Directories for novices fully expounded the teaching of Bostius,43 insisting on the idea that everything Carmelite belongs to the dominion and ownership of the Virgin. For this reason Carmelites are obliged to give everything, including their own merits, to their Mother, and to offer everything to God through her. Michael of Saint Augustine and his
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36 Gabriel Wessels, ed., “Acta capitulorum provincialium Lombardiae, –,” Acta Ordinis Carmelitarum (–): . 37 Ioannes de Chemineto, Speculum ordinis beatae Mariae de Monte Carmeli, in Giovanni Baista de Cathaneis, ed., Speculum ordinis fratrum Carmelitarum nouiter impressum (Venice: Luca-Antonio Giunta, ), f. v. [Now Staring, MCH, .] 38 Constitutions des Grands Carmes, ed. Patrick de S. Joseph et Marie-Joseph du Sacré-Coeur, in Les Études carmélitanies, , . [Now Corpus Constitutionum, .] 39 Bartolomé María Xiberta, De visione sancti Simonis Stock (Romae: Apud Curiam Generalitiam O. Carm., ), . We will return to the Flos Carmeli later, cf. n. ff. 40 I. Palaeonidorus, Fasciculus tripartitus… in Speculum Carmelitanum (),: , n. ; A. Bostius, De patronatu et patrocinio…, ibid. : -. Cf. Eamon Carroll, “e Marian eology of Arnold Bostius, O.Carm. (–),” Carmelus (): –. 41 Reproduced in Table XIX in the article of Bruno Borchert, “L’Immaculée dans l’iconographie du Carmel,” Carmelus (): –. 42 Cf. n. above. e idea of Patron will also be clearly expressed in the later image of the Virgin opening her cloak around the members of the Order, even if this iconographical motif is not exclusive to Carmelites: Cécile Emond, L’iconographie carmélitaine dans les anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux (Bruxelles: Palais des Académies, ), –. 43 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, –, gives a systematic summary integrated with the teaching of other Carmelite authors.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 9 disciple Maria Petyt, and not them alone, took the doctrine of union with God through Mary to mystical heights.44 is is all without depending on fables or legends (as Bostius did, unfortunately), but basing ourselves on the doctrine of the universal mediation of Mary. Indeed, developing the concept of the th-century Carmelite John of Hildesheim, Michael of Saint Augustine asserts that the Carmelite Order has received the task of continuing in the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, the love of Jesus towards his Mother.45 In honour of their Patron, as we have seen and will see again, Carmelites celebrated in a special way the feast of the Annunciation, that of the Immaculate Virgin, and then the Solemn Commemoration in July. We turn to say something about this last.
e Solemn Commemoration was instituted to thank its Patron for all the benefits given to the Order: that is, as a remembrance of the descending action of Mary towards the Carmelites (protection) and as an ascending action of the Carmelites to Mary (thanksgiving). e feast began in England towards the end of the th century.46 It probably follows the victory recorded at Cambridge University in controversy over the Marian title of the Order, a victory which concluded a bale fought also outside England. At Cambridge in the Carmelite arguments against their adversaries, led by the Domininican John Stokes, were
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44 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, –; Valerius Hoppenbrouwers, “Come l’Ordine carmelitano ha veduto e come vede la Madonna,” Carmelus (): . 45 Hoppenbrouwers, “Come l’Ordine,” . 46 is assertion is based on the fact that the first manuscripts, both of the Office and the Mass, are English: ) Oxford, Bodleian, ms. Univ. Coll. E., a breviary-missal (the part which interests us here is in the breviary) wrien in England - (cf. Paschalis Kallenberg, Fontes liturgiae carmelitanae: investigatio in decreta, codices et proprium sanctorum, Textus et studia historica Carmelitana, vol. [Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, ], –; Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, ff., referring to Zimmerman, dating it to and giving a facsimile of f. r in table III); ) London, BL, ms. Arundel , an astronomical calendar of the English Carmelite Nicholas of Lynn, from (cf. Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, , and table II); ) London, BL, ms. Add. -, a missal wrien -, reconstructed by Margaret Rickert, e Reconstructed Carmelite Missal: An English Manuscript of the Late XIV Century in the British Museum (Additional –, ) (Chicago: University of Illinois, ), f. (cf. Kallenberg, Fontes liturgiae carmelitanae: investigatio in decreta, codices et proprium sanctorum, –); ) e legend Inviolabilis antiquitatis, which appears later and of which we will speak below, aributed to Nicholas Kenton, Carmelite provincial of England from (†) (cf. Cosmé de Saint Etienne de Villiers, Bibliotheca Carmelitana, notis criticis et dissertationibus illustrata, ed. Gabriel Wessels [Orléans, ; repr. Rome: In aedibus Collegii S. Alberti, ], : cols –). It is mentioned for the first time by the English Carmelite omas Bradley (appointed bishop by Nicholas V, †; ibid., :, -), and internal criticism shows it was composed outside the Mediterranean area. e text is in Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, –.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 10 recognised as persuasive.47 It would have been difficult to institute a feast for that motive (but not impossible in those times), but nevertheless it offered a good occasion for it. A motive was provided by the approval of the Holy See for the Order and its Rule.48 Creating some confusion between the first approval by Honorius III in , the intervention of the second ecumenical council of Lyon in , and the benevolence to the Order of Honorius IV,49 it is said that Our Lady intervened directly by means of an intimidating nocturnal vision to the laer pope. Why does the Second Council of Lyon come into this? Its decree, from the sixth and last session on July , definitively approved the Dominicans and Franciscans, but le the Carmelites and Augustinians in suspense with the words in suo statu manere concedimus, donec de ipsis aliter fuit ordinatum (“we allow them to remain in their present state, until something else is decided about them”).50 is state of uncertainty lasted until on May Pope Boniface VIII changed the words of the Council to read in solido statu volumus permanere (“We wish them to remain in a solid state”), and in this form the Council’s decree passed into the Decretals.51 So with a biased interpretation and especially aer the correction made by Boniface VIII the belief developed that it was the Council which had approved the Carmelite Order, which was also the motive for the choice of July, date of the decree and the closure of the Council, for the Solemn Commemoration.52 It is called “Solemn” to distinguish it from
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47 It suffices here to cite Mariano Ventimiglia, Historia chronologica priorum generalium latinorum Ordinis beatissimae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmelo (Naples: Ex typographia Simoniana, ), ff.; for the reconformation of the Marian title by Urban VI see Bull. Carm. :-. [Now see John P.H. Clark, “A Defence of the Carmelite Order by John Hornby, O. Carm., A.D. ,” Carmelus (): –; and Nilo Geagea, Maria, Madre e Decoro del Carmelo: La pietà mariana dei Carmelitani durante i tre primi secoli della loro storia, Institutum Historicum Teresianum: Studia (Rome: Teresianum, ), –.] 48 See the text of Inviolabilis antiquitatis in Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, (Lesson VIII). 49 For the approval of Honorius III, cf. Bull. Carm. :; for the Council of Lyon see below n. ; as for the benevolence of Honorius IV there is the testimony of the contemporary Tolomeo di Lucca (ca. -ca. ), Historia ecclesiastica, lib. , cap. : [Honorius IV] Ordinem Carmelitarum solidavit qui prius in concilio remanserat in suspenso, in L.A. Muratori, Rerum italicarum scriptores ( vols in , Milan, -) :. We know that Honorius IV gave the Carmelites permission to change the colour of the cloak and prohibited harassing them; Bull. Carm. :-, . 50 John Baconthorpe, Tractatus de institutione Ordinis Carmelitani ad venerationem Virginis Deiparae, in Spec. Carm. () :, n. [now Staring, MCH, ]. Cf. Adrianus Staring, ed., “Nicolai prioris generalis Ordinis Carmelitarum Ignea sagia,” Carmelus (): , where the sources are also given. Cf. also Gabriele M. Giacomozzi, L’Ordine della Penitenza di Gesù Cristo: contributo alla storia della spiritualità del sec. XIII, Scrinium Historiale, vol. (Rome: Edizione “Studi storici O.S.M.”, ), . 51 De religiosis domibus III: unic., in VI; Aemilius Friedberg, Corpus iuris canonici, vols (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, –), :; Staring, “Ignea Sagia,” , n. . 52 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, records the words of John Bale (also English) in the first half of the th century: XVII die Iulii Commemoratio fit pro actis in Concilio Lugdunensi (“On July
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 11 the ordinary commemoration made every week according to the liturgical laws of the Order. In fact, at the beginning the Solemn Commemoration had only a proper Collect (in the Mass there is the Flos Carmeli and a Secret), and for the other parts a referral to the ordinary commemoration.53 is Collect reads: Deus qui excellentissime Virginis et Matris tue Marie titulo humilem Ordinem tibi electum singulariter decorasti et pro defensione eiusdem miracula suscitasti… (“O God, who have adorned our humble Order, chosen for you, with the title of the most excellent Virgin Mary, your Mother, 54 and for its defence have performed miracles…”). e following should be noted: Our Lady is called “Virgin”; it is from her that the Order has its name; and it speaks of miracles for the defence of the Order. e “Virgin Mother from whom the Order takes its name” is a transparent allusion to the Mary under discussion, whom adversaries claimed was Mary the Egyptian, a converted sinner. But what were the “miracles” done by God in defence of the Order a lile later in the legend Inviolabilis antiquitatis (which is a reading for the breviary)? ey are the death of two confreres of the pope (cardinals) and the threatening vision of Our Lady to Pope Honorius, a vision which determined the approval. 55 It’s not improbable that in the minds of the institutors of the feast the “miracles” (plural) included the victory at Cambridge in , exactly a century aer Lyon II. ere’s no need to dwell too much on the word “miracle”: for the people of the time it was very easy to speak of miracles, as we can see in the collections of them aributed to saints. e legend Inviolabilis antiquitatis has clear words about the motive of the feast: Praesentis itaque diei celebritas nos edoceat tam praecellentis Advocatae laudes ampliare devotas. Titulus certe felicis fastigii nos aollit, quo Fratres beatae Mariae de Carmelo sacra approbante
______there is a Commemoration of the acts of the Council of Lyon”). Felip Ribot, Decem libri de institutione et peculiaribus gestis religiosorum Carmelitarum, in Spec. Carm. (), :, n. -, claims that even with the donec clause Lyon II nevertheless gave approval. 53 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, and Table III, from the Oxford breviary of /: Fiunt omnia ut in aliis commemorationibus. Oratio Deus qui excellentissime. For the ordinary commemoration see Ordinale, –, and Kallenberg, Fontes liturgiae carmelitanae: investigatio in decreta, codices et proprium sanctorum in the index at “Maria—Commemoratio ordinaria”. For the original parts of the Mass see the list given by Bruno Borchert, “A Fourteenth-Century English Missal Restored,” Carmelus (): . 54 One can see from the facsimile in Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, Table III, that the words et matris tue have been added in the margin in a different hand: is this a later addition or merely the correction of something omied when writing? 55 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, –. We are dealing perhaps with some memory of the death of two illustrious persons, one Dominican and the other Franciscan (whose orders emerged safe from Lyon II, no doubt because of their strong presence in the Council itsel): St omas, who died while on the way to Lyon, and St Bonaventure, cardinal, who died on July , two days before the famous decree. As for St omas dying “because he was going to suppress the Carmelites”, this is said in a compendium of Villani’s Cronaca: cf. Ludovico Saggi, La Bolla sabatina: ambiente, testo, tempo (Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, ), , n. .
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Ecclesia vocitamur (“erefore the solemnity of this day teaches us to increase the praises of such an excellent Advocate. Certainly we are raised on high by this title of propitious eminence, by which with holy Church’s approval, we are called Brothers of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel”).56 Here is the greatest thing: our Marian title recognised by the Holy See through the intercession of Mary. We don’t have the complete Secret of the Mass from the first time it appears, but from later transcriptions we know that it asked for “hostile wickedness” to be taken away from “those who are servants of Mary your Mother”.57 As one can see, in all of this there is no mention of the scapular. One might think that it is recalled in the Flos Carmeli, which was present in the Mass from the beginning. However, it is not complete in the first Mass text which we know, in the London missal of /, which only has the words …endor celi virgo and set viri nesci…58 erefore we don’t know if it had the phrase Carmelitis da privilegia (“Give privileges to Carmelites”) or Carmelitis esto propitia (“Be favourable to Carmelites”). Da privilegia is found in the longer elaborations of the Catalog of Carmelite Saints, though in the redaction which goes under the name Legendae abbreviatae the text is missing and there is just a reference to the prayer of St Simon Stock; Esto propitia is found in some liturgical texts a lile later.59 Which, then, is the original expression of the Flos Carmeli? We do not know with certainty, but logic suggest that one would not ask “privileges” of the Stella maris, but rather that in the tempest she would be “favourable”. However it may be, given that we do not have the complete text of the Flos Carmeli for its primitive liturgical use, we can hardly press it to testify that in the institution of the Solemn Commemoration it has the aim of thanking Our Lady for the gi of the scapular. With reference to the decree of the Council of Lyon we also have, as already mentioned, the motive for the choice of date, July. 60 Later, when the feast was adopted outside England, it was partly anticipated on the th, and then remained definitively linked to the th.61 at the Solemn Commemoration later became the feast of the gi of the scapular, and perhaps the ignorance about the Council of Lyon of Fr Cheron (author of the false
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56 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, . 57 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, . 58 Rickert, e Reconstructed Carmelite Missal, f. ; Bartolomé María Xiberta, “Rhythmus Flos Carmeli in liturgia Carmelitana,” Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum (): . 59 Xiberta, De visione, , , (the last is on the legendae abbreviatae). We will return to this Catalog of Carmelite Saints later, see n. . As for esto propitia see f. v of Bamberg, Staatliche Bibliothek, codex misc. lit. , aributed to the beginning of the th century: Xiberta, “Rhythmus Flos Carmeli,” –, where however the author claims that it is about the vision of St Simon Stock in the liturgy. 60 See the comment of John Bale in n. above. 61 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, ff., suggests the hypothesis that the anticipation of the feast was influenced by the feast of St Alexis, which was not celebrated in England but on the continent occupied the th.
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Fragmenta of Swanyngton), induced him to assert in that July was the date of the apparition of Our Lady to St Simon Stock.62 e feast, therefore, is a manifestation of the “person” of Our Lady of Mount Carmel: of the Virgin Mother of God, advocate, patron of the Order. is remained aerwards, until our own time, even when, as we shall see, there was a certain substitution of the material “object”, substituting the scapular (with the visions of St Simon Stock and John XXII) as the sum of all the Marian blessings on the Order.63
. e “Virgo purissima” a. e “Virgin” e transition from Patron to Mother is easily understood, but the title of Sister is less easy to understand. It is associated with the Carmelite literature of the th century, a literature which does not have much to do with history, but is rather a series of considerations or reflections on the virginity of Mary and the relationship of Carmelites with her.64 Already in the first documents we have examined regarding the Patron, the name of Mary is almost always accompanied by the adjective “Virgin”; it will be the same in succeeding centuries.65 In the Carmelite literature of the th century every possible link between the Order and Mary is sought out. Together with “historical” elements—let’s call them that, for example the existence of a Carmelite convent at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem where Mary was conceived66—there are also spiritual interpretations of certain facts. One of these is the establishment of the concordance of virginity in Elijah, Elisha, and the sons of the prophets on the one hand, and Mary on the other. As far as I can tell, this idea was first brought into the light by Jean de Cheminot, who in began his Speculum with the words Filii sanctorum estis fratres… signo castitatis insigniti ac titulo Virginis Mariae decorati (“You are the children of the saints, brothers… marked with the sign of chastity and adorned with the title of the Virgin”).67 e historical summary which precedes the Constitutions of and repeats Cheminot’s ideas and concludes with an invitation to joy, because florem
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62 Jean Chéron, Priuilegiati scapularis et visionis S. Simonis Stockii vindiciae, Bordeaux: apud Petrum du Coq, , -. For the text of the two fragments mentioned, cf. Xiberta, De visione, -. 63 See further below, n. . 64 [For these texts see Staring, MCH.] 65 See above, nn. -, -, -, , . 66 Universis christifidelibus /, in Rudolf Hendriks, O.Carm., “La succession héréditaire (– ),” in Élie le Prophète, vols, Études Carmélitaines (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, ), :. [Now Staring, MCH, –.] 67 See above, n. .
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 14 pulchritudinis et virginitatis titulum obtinere pre aliis meruistis (“you have merited to obtain before others the flower of beauty and the title of virginity”).68 A lile later the Carmelite author Felip Ribot in De institutione primorum monachorum develops the idea of the concordance between Mary and the Carmelites on account of their virginity, and traced the idea back to the first Carmelites of the New Testament, at the time of the Apostles: these, seeing that the prophecies of Elijah had been realised in Mary, chose her as Patron, having realised that she alone was like them in spontaneous virginity, which she had initiated among women (perpetual virginity) as Elijah had done among men. is conformity between Elijah and Mary moved the first Carmelites to call her (from apostolic times) Sororem suam (“their Sister”) and themselves Fratres beatae Mariae Virginis (“Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary”).69 On the authority of the De institutione the title of Sister was reintroduced by Palaeonydorus and Arnold Bostius at the end of the th century, but in the th century its use was reproved by Juan Bautista de Lezana.70 Also of interest is the connection that the De institutione makes (following St Jerome and others, among them the prior general Nicolaus Gallicus) between Carmel and virginity, interpreting the word Carmelus as scientia circumcisionis: the “science of circumcision” which is acquired by abstinence from every sin against bodily chastity and also against every indecent pleasure by means of virginity. Circumcision signifies chastity of mind and body to be kept for God: such a science was also obtained by Mary.71 Let us put aside the exactitude of the exegesis Carmelus, scientia circumcisionis, that is chastity of mind and body, and also the “historical” motivation of the title “Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary” which the Carmelites gave themselves. It doesn’t maer if there were Carmelites in Apostolic times to consider the connection between the virginity of Mary and their virginity. What is important is that this was valid for those who expressed the idea. e virginity of Mary became an inspiration for them, and the historical justification does not add anything essential. is continued also thereaer, so that towards the end of the th century the word “Virgin” is inserted in the official Marian title of the Order;72 and later in , when the Carmelite Missal was printed aer the Tridentine Reform, a great part of the rubrics were
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68 Constitutiones Ordinis beatae Mariae de Monte Carmeli.. , ed. Antoine Marie de la Présentation (Marche, ), , here, however, there is precibus for pre aliis, perhaps a transcription error; “Constitutiones Fratrum Ordinis beatae Mariae Dei Genetricis de Monte Carmeli.. per fratrem Iohannem Balistarium,” in Les Études carmélitaines, ed. Patrick of Saint Joseph and Marie-Joseph du Sacré-Coeur (), . [Now Corpus Constitutionum, , .] 69 Ribot, Decem libri, in Spec. Carm. (), :, n. . 70 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, ff. 71 Spec. Carm. (), :, n. ; Staring, “Ignea Sagia,” . 72 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, ff., n. .
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 15 taken from the Roman Missal, but where it had “Saint Mary”, the Carmelites put “Blessed Virgin”.73 Fr Hoppenbrouwers observes that virginity was not considered by Carmelites principally in the sense of bodily integrity, but rather as the virtue of adhering to God, that is as a mental aitude by which everyone can imitate Our Lady. Such an integrity of mind— perfect in Mary—excludes every sin and turning from God.74 b) e Immaculate Conception e other component of the concept of the Virgo Purissima is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, or—as it was called at the beginning—the “sanctification of Mary” in the womb of St Anne. As far as the Carmelites are concerned, the feast is already in the Ordinale of Sibert de Beek in , and Ioannes Palaeonydorus says that it was instituted in .75 I would add that already at the end of the previous century there was a connection between Carmelites and the Immaculate: the already-mentioned indulgence from fieen Italian bishops who had visited the Order’s churches in Germany ( March ), which could be used on determined days, included the four traditional Marian feasts and also the day Conceptionis eiusdem (“of her Conception”).76 It’s also well-known what John Baconthorpe said about the feast in the Roman Curia: the Curia participated in the feast in the church of the Carmelites, as they also participated in the feasts of founders of other religious orders in their churches. is custom continued and we have testimony of it well into the th century in the acts of general chapters, which levied taxes on the Order for the celebration of this feast.77 In the theological controversy about the Immaculate Conception Carmelites were generally supporters of the Marian privilege, and the celebration of the feast contributed to the study of the doctrine.78 In celebrating the feast with the Roman Curia an effort was made to present famous preachers, and for some of them there is a record of the theme or even the discourse itself, for example, that of Richard Fitzralph, archbishop of Armagh, who preached
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73 Ibid., . 74 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, . 75 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, ff.; Claudio Catena, “Il culto dell’Immacolata Concezione nel Carmelo,” Carmelus (): –. 76 See above, n. . 77 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, ff.; Catena, “Il culto dell’Immacolata,” –. 78 e Institutum Carmelitanum dedicated two numbers of Carmelus to the theme of the Carmelites and the Immaculate, : and :. For the doctrine of various authors see Claudio Catena, “La dorina immacolista negli autori carmelitani,” Carmelus (): –; Gabriel Paulino Bueno Couto, “Doctrina Ioannis Baconthorpe de Immaculata Conceptione,” Carmelus (): –; John Baconthorpe, “Ioannis Baconthorpe textus de Immaculata Conceptione,” ed. Ludovico Saggi, Carmelus (): –. See also Carroll, “e Marian eology of Arnold Bostius, O.Carm. (–),” –.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 16 in Avignon in , and that of John Hisdin (place unknown), of whose work only certain extracts are preserved.79 For the whole Order the remark made at the Council of Basel is true: the Carmelites ad hoc festum habent singularem devotionem (“they hold a singular devotion towards this feast”).80
e mystery of the Immaculate Conception was also treated in figurative representations, according to the modes of various times. First among these is the illustrated account of the meeting of Sts Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, according to the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James.81 It is interesting to note that the first “historical” work by university-trained Carmelites, Universis christifidelibus (/) asserts that the Carmelites had a convent exactly there, at the Golden Gate! is claim is meant to prove that the Carmelites were connected to Mary from the first moment of her earthly existence. Another iconographical motif (in the th and th centuries) was the Tree of Jesse: from the root of Jesse springs the immaculate branch which in time produces the beautiful flower which frees us from original sin. e same concept was expressed by Fitzralph in his sermon of . e same preacher gives the elements of the later development of the iconography of the Immaculate: the eternal Father had not only foreseen Mary, but had preordained her as his spouse from the time of her first origin, making her so uncorrupted and pure that she would never offend his love. e same idea, expressed by the Carmelite Michael of Bologna at the end of the th century in his commentary on the Song of Songs, is reported by Arnold Bostius a century later: Tota pulchra, tota formosa est Maria, amica Spiritus Almi, Verbi Genetrix, Aeterni Patris comparentalis eundem filium habens et macula originalis non est in ea (“Altogether beautiful, altogether fair is Mary, the friend of the gracious Spirit, Mother of the Word, co-parent with the Eternal Father, having the same Son, and original sin is not in her”).82 is explains the iconography of the Immaculate as the Woman of the Apocalypse, the chosen of God, a new humanity, a creature coming directly from the hands of God, like Eve, without hereditary defects, young and beautiful and clothed with all the beauty of the new creation, not “sanctified” but “preserved” . In this particular stylisation there is not much emphasis for the moment on the fact that everything Mary had she has because she is destined to be the Mother
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79 For the discourse of Fitzralph, see Richard Fitzralph, “Richardi episcopi Armacani bini sermones de Immaculata Conceptione B.V. Mariae,” ed. Benedict Zimmerman, Analecta OCD (–): –; a part is reproduced in Hendriks, “La succession héréditaire,” ; a comment by Borchert, “L’Immaculée,” ff. For John Hisdin see Xiberta, De visione, , n. , and . 80 Catena, “Il culto dell’Immacolata,” . 81 Here I depend on Borchert, “L’Immaculée,” –. [For the role of Carmelites and their important artistic commissions in promoting the cult of St Anne, see now Kathleen M. Ashley and Pamela Sheingorn, Interpreting Cultural Symbols: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, ).] 82 Borchert, “L’Immaculée,” .
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 17 of Jesus. But this was a brief period and the divine maternity enters again into the iconography of the Immaculate: Mary surrounded by the light of the sun, above the crescent moon, crushing the serpent. She is the Mulier amicta sole et luna sub pedibus eius (“the Woman clothed with the sun with the moon beneath her feet”): she indicates the merits of the Saviour, who is represented in her arms; two angels carry her to heaven, and she is crowned with stars. We have here three concepts: integral purity, divine maternity, and a coronation in heaven. is is the image of Mary which made such a great impression on the Carmelites of the th and th centuries, who chose it as a representation of their Lady. In confirmation of this, they joined it to the memory of the two duces Carmelitarum, Elijah and Elisha, who soon appear alongside the Virgin. And there appears wrien on a scroll unrolling from the hands of the Virgin Sum mater et decor Carmeli (“I am the mother and beauty of Carmel”). is is the image of the Vexillum Carmelitanum printed in . But it’s not only found there, for the same ideas are also in other representations of the th century, for example in London, Bergamo, and Sicily.83 ese elements last right through the th century and even later, with some variants. e duces Carmelitarum lead toward the Marian ideal, the source of Carmelite life (mater Carmeli), of which she is the most sublime expression (decor), Mary who is the Immaculate Mother of Christ. c) Purity From the th century, when the arguments for the relation with the Order between the virginity of Mary and her Immaculate Conception were being developed—arguments frequently repeated—the terminology changes direction, in the sense that the word “purity” is used more and more oen. It’s not that this is a novelty, for it is found already in the Fathers, but not in quite the same sense.84 We find this word in Felip Ribot’s treatment of the white cloak of the Order in De institutione and also in the prior general John Grossi’s Viridarium. Baconthorpe had already called the cloak Mary’s pallium, and its whiteness was related to the Immaculate by Richard Fitzralph.85 In the th century the white cloak is clearly a symbol of the purity of Mary, and the idea of “purity”, also in contexts different from the white cloak will be oen emphasised, especially in the th century.86 e word “purity” was oen used by St Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi and so had great influence among later Carmelite authors. For her “purity” meant much more than Mary’s immunity from sin: it is “the source of all being”, and can be understood
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83 Borchert, “L’Immaculée,” in the Tables. See also n. for the image in the London missal. 84 Valerius Hoppenbrouwers, “Virgo Purissima et vita spiritualis Carmeli,” Carmelus (): –; Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, –. 85 Ribot: Spec. Carm. (), :, n. ; Grossi: Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, ; Baconthorpe: Hoppenbrouwers, “Virgo Purissima,” , ff.; Fitzralph: ibid., . 86 Hoppenbrouwers, “Virgo Purissima,” , ff.; Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, –.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 18 only to the extent that we conform ourselves to God and participate in his divine being; it is a condition and effect of our union with God; it is the beauty of Mary through which she was united with the Word in the divine maternity. Sometimes she says that we do not really know what purity is.87 e authors of the th and th centuries were not indicating a casual symbolism when they connected the white cloak with the purity of Mary, but wanted to communicate that purity of life and the devotion to the “Most Pure Virgin” are characteristics of the Marian devotion of Carmelites.88
e concept of the Most Pure Virgin comes to be connected with the characteristic Carmelite approach to the interior life.89 It was a common teaching that immaculate virginity, or purity, unites a person to God in a special way, according to the Lord’s saying, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God”, and St Paul’s “e virgin and the unmarried woman are concerned with the things of the Lord”. It is not forcing the texts to say that medieval Carmelites venerated the Immaculate Virgin with the thought that this privilege disposed her to union with God. e image of the Tota pulchra, of the Woman of the Apocalypse surrounded by the light of God, was already itself a vehicle of contemplation. And since Carmelites were bound by the prescription of constant prayer in the Rule, the example of the purity of Mary was even more than they could wish for. e concept becomes clearer closer to our own time, for example, in the Reform of Touraine, where chastity is placed in connection with Our Lady: the Carmelites are alumni Deiparae (“disciples of the Mother of God”), and chastity is necessary for interior purity, in which we are united to God. is text later entered into the Constitutions of the whole Order.90 e conviction that the life of union with God prescribed in the Rule requires chastity worked to favour Marian devotion; and the devotion to the Most Pure Virgin served the contemplative aspect of life. We can also add that the devotion to the Most Pure Virgin was the continuation of the devotion to the Virgin of the Annunciation: it was purity which joined Mary to God, and this happened at the Annunciation. If Carmelites could not imitate their Patron and Mother in that unrepeatable event, they could nevertheless imitate her in union with God through prayer: like the prayer of Mary which was the natural atmosphere on the moment of the
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87 Hoppenbrouwers, “Virgo Purissima,” , n. ; Ermanno Ancilli, Santa Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi: estasi, dorina, influsso, Bibliotheca Carmelitica, vol. (Rome: Edizioni del Teresianum, ), , , , –. 88 Hoppenbrouwers, “Virgo Purissima,” ff. 89 Hoppenbrouwers, “Virgo Purissima,” –; idem, Devotio mariana, –. 90 Regula et constitutiones Fratrum beatae Dei genitricis et virginis Mariae de monte Carmeli. Pro conventibus reformationis Gallicae in provincia Turonensi (Paris: [s.n.], ), ; Statuta Fratrum beatae Dei genetricis et Virginis Mariae de monte Carmeli: pro conventibus reformatis provinciae turonensis, Paris: J. Guillemot, , ; Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum beatissimae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmelo, Rome: ex typographia v. Amadori, , .
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Annunciation, and also later when she “pondered in her heart” what she had heard and seen about Jesus.
. Our Lady of the Scapular From the end of the th century this has been the dominant image in recent centuries. I say “dominant image” because, as already noted, the other two are not absent: indeed the Patron (first period) continues in the “gi” of the scapular; and also in part the Solemn Commemoration of July (which centres on the scapular) is intended to celebrate the Immaculate One (nd period).91 Before treating separately the two “visions” related to the scapular, let us say first that they regard the habit of the Order: a habit as such (with its symbolism), because if one talks materially of the scapular in the vision of St Simon Stock, the Sabbatine Bull speaks rather of the white cloak, and of the cloak as the signum habitus, not the habit, because the juridical significance of the habit was too rigid to apply to people who were not religious in the strict sense.92 a) e vision of St Simon Stock e basic source is the Catalog of Carmelite Saints.93 is is a collection of notices, more or less brief, on the saints of the Order, which, in the redactions which we actually have, are from the th century. e manuscripts which contain the text are also of the th century, though it is possible that some parts are of older composition. e Catalog belongs to a genre of medieval literature common to religious orders of the time, which were based on exempla which would help inculcate truths known in other ways (through theology, for example).94 at is not to say that the people of the time did not believe that the story was historical fact: they did believe it, but their idea of history was not the same as ours! In particular, in stories similar to the vision of St Simon Stock, they wanted to make palpable the truth that members of a religious order—and the sign of that membership was to receive and wear the habit—would find eternal salvation. Indeed, such membership was considered essential for salvation. is was acknowledged with regard to the monastic habit, and the mendicant orders followed suit. Before the Carmelite habit, we find eternal salvation linked to that of St Benedict, St Dominic, and St Francis. And it should be noted that this supernatural righteousness is linked to the habit in visions of the respective founders or of Our Lady.
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91 Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, . 92 Catena, Le carmelitane, ff., . 93 Catalogus sanctorum: see Xiberta, De visione, passim; Ludovico Saggi, S. Angelo di Sicilia: studio sulla vita, devozione, folklore, Textus et Studia Historica Carmelitana, vol. (Roma: Institutum Carmelitanum, ), –. 94 On this point and those that follow see Saggi, La Bolla sabatina, –, –.
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Besides eternal salvation other elements of these visions include the foundation of the Order desired or requested by the Virgin (Dominicans, Servites, Trinitarians); protection of the Order, sometimes with threats against enemies (Cistercians, Servites, Dominicans, Carmelites); the Order’s habit indicated or worn by Mary (Cistercians, Premonstratensians, Dominicans, Carmelites, Servites, Augustinians); the continuation of the Order until the end of time (Franciscans, Carmelites); the liberation from Purgatory granted by Our Lord and ratified by the pope, through the intercession of Mary or the founder, who descend into Purgatory to release the souls of their religious and those associated (Franciscans, Carmelites). In an environment of this kind it is natural that the Carmelite Simon Stock would ask the Virgin ut Ordinem suam aliquo singulari privilegio dotaret (“that she would endow the Order with some special privilege”): the saint was asking “something special” for his Order. And Our Lady, according to the Catalog, apparuit portans scapulare in manu dicens, Hoc tibi et tuis privilegium: in hoc moriens salvabitur (“she appeared carrying a scapular in her hand and saying, is is a privilege for you and yours, that whoever dies in this will be saved”).95
What are we to think of the historicity of this vision? It can’t be proven that it is false. However, the arguments for its historicity are not satisfying. is is not only because of the common context of similar stories (are they all true, of all the religious orders? or none of them? who can know?), but also because of specific elements of the source in which we find it. e Catalog of Saints is the unique source: we do not know the author, but his way of working leaves much to be desired. It has been aributed to Jean de Cheminot (†) and John of Hildesheim (†), but even if we allow some contribution of theirs in the redaction it is very difficult in the concrete to say what it was. It’s much easier to say what it wasn’t (the notices which postdate Cheminot and Hildesheim). And even if it was allowed that we could detect one of these two at work in the notice about St Simon, we still would not have proof of historicity, for both these authors were willing to accept claims that leave us perplexed today. So, as far as what concerns us here, we cannot say anything with certainty about the author, but can only take the work as it stands. e consequence is acknowledging that along with notices that are certainly true (St Andrew Corsini) we have notices that are certainly false (the Greek St Cyril, who comes from Joachimite literature).96 As we have them today, the various redactions of the Catalog all date from aer , even if some of the notices show evident signs of being older. One of these notices is that on St Simon Stock in the redaction which goes under the name of Legendae abbreviatae, where all that is said about the saint is that he is natione anglus,
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95 Xiberta, De visione, . 96 Adrianus Staring, “Cirillo di Constantinopoli, santo” in Bibliotheca Sanctorum, vols (Rome: Istituto Giovanni XXIII, –), :ff. [Reproduced in Ludovico Saggi, ed., Saints of Carmel: A Compilation from Various Dictionaries, trans. Gabriel Pausback (Rome: Carmelite Institute, ), – .]
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 21 vir magnae sanctitatis et devotionis (“English, a man of great holiness and devotion”), who always prayed to the Virgin that she would favour his Order with some special privilege. e other, longer, redactions give the name Stock and say he was prior general of the Order; they tell of the prayer to the Virgin (the Flos Carmeli, with the words Carmelitis da privilegia), and have more details about the vision. In the longer redactions there are more additions about his holiness and generalate. It seems that the name Stock and the elements related to his generalate come from a catalog of priors general which did not include anything about a vision.97 erefore, we have this problem: are we dealing with one Simon or two? In any case, what was the basis for combining the two series of notices? In the present state of knowledge it is not possible to give an answer. We can say, however, that the account of the vision of St Simon Stock is in the context of the patronage of Our Lady: the saint asks and obtains a privilege from Mary. In the later redactions of the Catalog this is all made more clear, because the vision is tied to the name of the Order. Indeed, in the so-called “long” redactions the Virgin is explicitly called the Patronam Ordinis. enceforth, under the influence of the Catalog, there is increasing development of the idea that the scapular is an especially great gi of the Patron (for example, in Bostius),98 indeed the greatest of gis, even to the point of becoming the object of a feast, the Solemn Commemoration of July.99 is date, then, and the year , will be identified by Cheron as the date of the apparition of Our Lady to St Simon.100 b) e vision of John XXII Another element which becomes part of the devotion to the Patron and Our Lady of the Scapular is the so-called “Sabbatine Privilege”, contained in the so-called “Sabbatine Bull” which Pope John XXII is supposed to have given on March aer an apparition of Our Lady.101 e Virgin promises to help him against his adversaries, but on his part he has to help the Carmelites by giving them a new approval, promise also that those making profession among the Carmelites would be saved eternally, and others who for reasons of devotion participate with them in wearing the sign of the holy habit—in other words, members of the Confraternity of the Order—and observe certain prescriptions about prayer and chastity according to their state in life, will obtain a partial indulgence on the day they enter the confraternity, and liberation from Purgatory on the first Saturday aer death. is liberation will take place through the personal descent of Our Lady to Purgatory. Such is the
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97 Ludovico Saggi, “Simone Stock, santo” in Bibliotheca Sanctorum, :–. [Reproduced in Saggi, Saints of Carmel, –.] 98 De patronatu, Spec. Carm. (), : ff. 99 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, –. 100 See above, n. . 101 My work La Bolla sabatina: ambiente, testo, tempo (Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum, ) treats the issues at length.
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 22 content of the bull, which is—as can be seen—much more ample than the “Sabbatine Privilege”. I’ve treated at length in La bolla sabatina why the bull cannot be accepted as authentic, and there is no need to repeat it here. I will just say, with Fr Catena, that the central significance of the “bull” seems to be about giving assurance to the mantellati—the members of the Confraternity who wore the white cloak (the signum habitus, and not only the scapular, the habitus) about enjoying the privileges of the Order, which are listed, on condition that they are faithful to the fundamental obligations of their state of life.102 Elsewhere I’ve also noted the probable inspiration of the “bull” in documents and leers regarding tertiary Franciscans.103 e so-called bull, since it is not an act of a pope, is best understood in the genre of accounts of private visions, which, in our case, has been accorded greater authority and solemnity with a pontifical varnish. However, we can say that the text is well integrated in the Carmelite context: aggregation to the Order of which Mary is the patron; prescription of chastity for the widow, the spouse, and the virgin; the image of the Most Pure Virgin who is the inspiration for those who intend to enter and take part in the Carmelite spirit.
If the bull is not authentic, it’s natural to ask about the status of the “Sabbatine Privilege” which it contains. A decree of the Congregation of the Index of January (later called a “most wise decree” by Benedict XIV) ruled:104 It is permied to Carmelites to preach that Christian people may piously believe in the help of Our Lady for the souls of friars and members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who die in the grace of God and in life have worn the habit of the Order, have observed chastity according to their state of life, and have recited the Lile Office or observed certain abstinences. is help will come from her continual intercession, devout help, merits, and special protection aer their death, especially on Saturday, the day that the Church dedicates to the Blessed Virgin. We are, therefore, in the theological area of the spiritual maternity of Mary towards humankind and her universal mediation. Lile by lile the aggregation to the Order of secular persons was also aained by means of the scapular, which comes to inherit the “Sabbatine Privilege”, and so July, the feast of the habit, assimilates the two “visions”.105 From the beginning of the th century no author who speaks of the Patron of the Order fails to speak of the scapular.
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102 Catena, Le carmelitane, ff.; –. 103 Saggi, La Bolla sabatina, –. 104 Saggi, La Bolla sabatina, –. 105 For the evolution of the habit see Hoppenbrouwers, Devotio mariana, ; and Catena, Le carmelitane, –. e general chapter of decreed: “e feast of the Commemoration of the Most Holy Virgin Mary is to be kept by all the religious as the most splendid and foremost”: Acta cap. gen., :.
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In this period the feast of July continues to be the feast of gratitude, as it had been from its first institution. It acquired greater solemnity and rooted itself ever more deeply in the Order. It’s worth reporting the content of the feast as it is expressed in the Ceremonial of : e Solemn Commemoration of the glorious Virgin Mary, which is called the Feast of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel was rightly instituted to be solemnly celebrated: because her holy company of Carmel was founded on Mount Carmel…, brought together for the sake of her name, by which it is especially ennobled; because of the special adoption of her sons, brothers and confrères; because of the clothing with her glorious habit; because of her repeated protection of her own Order; and because of the endless benefits given to this her Order from the beginning until the present day.106 e tremendous favour that the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with its two privileges of the scapular, found among the faithful, led to its extension first to various nations and then to the universal church.107 In our own time, in the last liturgical reform, which worked on the principle of not making obligatory for everyone feasts which belong to particular groups of the faithful (which would include the “Carmelite Family”, even if geographically widespread), the feast has been reduced to an optional memorial.108 Where there are good reasons a greater solemnity may be requested. For the entire Carmelite Order the liturgical celebration has the rank of a solemnity.
Conclusion From the first century of Carmelite history (the th) until today the Order has continually been “rethinking” its relationship with Mary. And this has been of great benefit, both for itself and for the faithful who have wanted to affiliate with it. It has been a continual aggiornamento. We can say that the Marian mysteries of divine maternity, virginity, and Immaculate Conception have been the mysteries most preferred by Carmelites, who have worked out a certain synthesis, calling Mary their Patron, the Mother of Christ, the Most Pure Virgin. In a profound sense this “purity”—that is, virginity and freedom from original and actual sin— becomes the disposition for union with God (the greatest physical and moral union obtained by Mary in the mystery of the Annunciation, the beginning of her maternity), and a disposition for the life of prayer, which remains part of the Carmelite ideal. e command of the Rule Maneant… die ac nocte in lege Domini meditantes (“Let them remain… meditating on the Law of the Lord day and night”) has always been a great summons in the history of the Order. erefore, the Patron, Mother of Christ, Most Pure Virgin, becomes the ideal and most perfect personification of the Carmelite aspiration to a pure heart and union with God. Mary
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106 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, . 107 Forcadell, Commemoratio solemnis, –. 108 Calendarium Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum, auctoritate Pauli Pp. VI promulgatum, editio typica, Typis Poliglois Vaticanis, , (n. ), .
Saggi—Our Lady of Mount Carmel / 24 is the lived ideal of Carmelite life: a life of listening to the Word of God, in order to serve him totally in the work of salvation.109 e scapular, habit of the Order, is a way of recalling these things to its members. e same scapular, as a sacramental of the Church (let us not forget that it is!) has the role of introducing the faithful who desire it into a special relationship with Mary, a relationship which has the character of consecration, because it aggregates to a religious Order dedicated or consecrated to her since its foundation. In being affiliated to the Carmelite Order, the faithful are introduced into its whole spirituality and not only the Marian aspect of it, which is in the end an aspect of Carmelite Christocentrism. We know that consecration is the highest expression of faithfulness which one makes with God. To take on this commitment in company with Mary is a greater guarantee of success.
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109 On the aspiration for a “pure heart” and union with God, cf. Ludovico Saggi, “Aeggiamento di ascolto della parola di Dio nell’Ordine Carmelitano: testi ed autori,” Carmelus (): –.
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