Feast of Saint Brocard - Confessor of the Order
Prayer
O Lord! Sanctify the servants who humbly beseech thee on the Feast of Blessed Brocard, hermit of Mount Carmel and Thy Confessor: that, by his salutary patronage, our life may be everywhere guided through adversities. Through our Lord.
Brocard was born in Jerusalem; and fired with the desire of giving himself to God, he entered the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Here he grew so famous for his holiness that upon the death of Saint Berthold, the first Latin General, Brocard was raised to his places with the unanimous consent of the Brethren. Anxious to further regular observance, he asked Blessed Albert, Patriach of Jerusalem, for a rule which should embrace every constitution of the Order in an abridged shape. it was wonderful to see how, under his government, the original Order grew in numbers and in excellence. The Blessed Patriarch Albert, seeing his prudence and his holiness, sent him to Damascus to arrange a truce with Saladin, King of Syria and Egypt. Brocard, in carrying out this mission, gained all that he wished; and being gifted with great sagacity, he quickly brought matters to a settlement. The Viceroy of the Sultan was then suffering from leprosy and from a contraction of the hands. Brocard led him to the waters of the Jordan, and there baptized him, whereby he cleansed his body together with his soul. Having made him a loyal defender of the name of Christ, Brocard carried him to Carmel, where he took the habit, and lived without reproach, according to the Rule of the Order, until he passed hence to Christ. Famous for these remarkable works and others of alike kind, yet did not the holy man lack the glory of miracles, for he raised a youth to life and gained him for the Order. When he entered into his agony, in the eightieth year of his age, he thus admonished the Brethren: "My sons, God, by His providence, has called us to the Order and number of hermits, and by His special favour we are named the friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Beware, lest you should falsely claim this title after my death. Be steadfast in good, abhor riches, despise the world, and model your lives rigidly after the example of Mary and Elias." Having spoken these words, he gave up the ghost.
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