Marian Shrines in Holy Land - for the solemnity of Our Lady of Mt Carmel.

A Visit to Carmel

The monastery of Carmel, Stella Maris, is situated two miles from Haifa. It is four hundred and ninety-five feet above the sea and has all the solidity of a fortress. Its thick walls, its heavily barred windows, its low doors, present a fine specimen of Medieval Monasteries in the Orient, always exposed to attack. On reaching the esplanade you are faced with a bronze pillar set in a granite plinth and crowned by a statue of Immaculate Conception, the gift of Chile. To the right is a guest house, Stella Maris, once a villa built by Abdullah Pasha of Acre in 1821 from the ruins of the monastery. This building also serves as the base of a lighthouse, whose big white light flashes one minute out over the sea and then back over the mountain. It can be seen at a distance of fifteen miles: surely a Star of the Sea. To the right is the monastery within which is enclosed the church. In front of the monastery is a stone pyramid built in 1876, a monument to the two thousand dead of Bonaparte. The main door leads into the church, which makes a profound impression for its sheer beauty. Above the High Altar rises the statue of Our Lady of Carmel. Graceful and lonely the Virgin sits enthroned with the Child Jesus in her left arm, her sceptre in her right hand from which hangs a scapular. The original statue was carved in 1821 by the Genoese Caraventa, but strange to relate it consisted only of head, hands and feet in wood, the rest was arrayed in rich clothing. In 1933, these were attached to a new statue carved from Lebanese cedar by the sculptor Rieda. Beneath the altar is a dim grotto supported by two porphyry pillars. This grotto served on many occasions as the dwelling of St Elias. It was near this grotto that the hermits had built the small chapel, during the lifetime of the Virgin. Within the Grotto an altar hewn in the rock is adorned with a statue of St Elias, his arm raised in a threatening gesture. Beautiful dome above St Elias Grotto Thousands of pilgrims flock to Mt Carmel on July 20, the feast of St Elias. From the terrace of the monastery the view is magnificent. You seem to stand on the neck of a lusty giant resting on ancient and solid foundations, embraced by the waters of the Mediterranean. Two powerful forces, two giants, meet face to face. Between these two imposing elements puny man is ruler of all he surveys - how finite and insignificant he feels. It is difficult to decide which of the two elements encroaches upon the other - whether the land abuts on the sea, or the sea threatens the land. But it is Carmel at least that places the frame for the fascinating picture.

Read whole post......

Marian Shrines in Holy Land - click for link to previous post

ROMANCE OF CARMEL

Behold what romance it holds! It was the theatre of the prophet's contest, at its foot the priests of Baal were slain. Sisera kept his nine hundred chariots of iron nearby, and Saul could have seen it chariots of iron nearby, and Saul could have seen it that day on Mt Gilboa when he "leaned upon his spear, and the chariots and the horsemen followed hard after him. "

View of Mt Gilboa



Achab, that wicked king, must have known Carmel well, and Elias ran before his chariot thence all the way across the plain to Jezreel. 


Valley of Jezreel with Mt Tabor

Our Lord Himself must have often have stood to admire Carmel as He porceeded from Galilee to Jerusalem. This way have come Paul, ships of Tyre, Crusaders. Richard Coeur de Lion must have walked the deck with Queen Berengaria, when they, too were at anchor beneath it in Acre Bay;

Richard the Lionheart

Queen Berengaria of Navarre, Richard's wife.

View of Acre Bay

of which (the Acre Bay) Deborah the prophetess did sing in far-off days: "Asher dwelt at the shore of the sea and abideth by its bays." It was Jeremias who declaimed that most enchanting and symbolic expression, "Carmel by the Sea"

Michelangelo's "Prophet Jeremiah" - Sistine Chapel fresco

Look away to the north - across the bay from Haifa is Acre itself white in the sun: at night this scene is exquisite: farther on is the Ladder of Tyre



and the climbing heights of the Lebanon.



To the northeast lie the hills of Galilee,



and within them cupped the little town of Nazareth; behind, guardian-like, is the snow topped Hermon



the Old Man Mountain, as the Arab called it. East streches the mighty rolling plain of Esdraelon



across which have fought and bled the soldiers of every great empire of the past. At the end of the plain rises Thabor, majestic, alone.



To the south, down by the sea is Athlit, where stands the ruins of the Castra Peligrinorum of the Crusaders



Away to the west is the Mediterranean, the Middle Sea.

Memories rush upon us now. To stand there at eventide - an hour of calm and mystery; nature is not merely a vision but a mystic language: it moves the hardest spirit to tenderness, to sweetness and to virtue. The great sun is sinking on to the western world and with it go our thoughts to places and persons dear but distant. As the shadows of evening softly fall and all is husband in silence we enter Carmel's shrine and kneel before the sweet image of Mary who looks down benignly upon us from her altar throne. Prayer, silent, sincere, ardent prayer beyond all words; prayer, sanctifying and consoling. A smile from the virgin....

Ave Maria! 'tis the hour of prayer!
Ave Maria! 'tis hour of love!
Ave Maria! may our spirits dare
Look up to thine and to thy Son's above!
Ave maria!

Read whole post......

Marian's Shrines in Holy Land - click to read previous parts

The Latin Era

During the Pontificate of Alexander III, Aymeric of Malifay was sent as Delegate to the Holy Land and having visited Carmel, he appointed a Prior-General over all hermits: this was St Berthold of Limoges, who became the first Latin Superior (1150). He was succeeded by St Brocard, a native of Jerusalem, who completed the first church and monastery begun by his predecessor, and requested St Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to arrange a Rule, preserving the ancient traditions. The Patriarch gave the Rule in 1207, and thus founded the Carmelite Order as known in the West.
As the Crusaders withdrew, the position of the monks became worse and many of them went to Europe. Finally the Prior, Alan, a Breton, went to Europe and resigned his office at a general Chapter held at Aylesford.


St Simon Stock was was chosen in his place. He was one of the first to join the Order in England, and had lived for six or more years as a hermit on Carmel. At the monastery of Cambridge he received the privilege of the Scapular. Praying for some


sign of Mary's protection he cried: "Flower of Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Virgin Mother of the Son of God, Amiable Mother, ever Virgin, give to thy children of Carmel the privilege of thy protection, Star of the Sea."



"When she appeared to me with her heavenly court, and holding in her hand the habit of the Order, she said: 'This will be the sign of the privilege that I have obtained for thee and for the children of Carmel, whoever die piously clothed with this habit will be preserved from eternal flames.'"
St Simon by his popularity helped very much the extension of the Order in Europe, whose members were called familiarly "White Friars", but it was destined to die out for a time on Carmel itself. In 1291, Acre, the last stronghold of the Crusaders fell


and all the religious of nearby Carmel were massacred while they chanted the Salve Regina




and their monastery burned. For nigh four centuries - from 1291 to 1631 - Mt Carmel stood solitary by the sea, mourning the loss of her departed children, but God was preparing another Elias who was to spend his life upon the mountain in prayer and praise.
The reform of the Carmelite Order to its primitive rule by the great St Teresa at the beginning of the 16th century naturally inspired the Carmelites with the desire to return to Carmel, which then formed part of the small fief of the Arab Emir Tarab et Tarabie. Fr Prosper who was born at Nalda, in the diocese of Calahorra in Spain was the man destined by God to bring back the Discalced Carmelites to their to the Holy Mountain of Carmel. The Franciscans who after many difficulties had succeeded in establishing themselves in nearby Nazareth now came to the rescue of their Carmelite brothers and helped them to acquire possession of Carmel. He lived with them in Nazareth until the Emir in November 29 ratified the agreement. On November 29, 1631 fr Prosper offered Mass, the first for centuries, at the foot of Carmel. In 1761 the little monastery and church built by Fr Prosper was destroyed and the Carmelites forced out. Again they returned in 1762 and began the construction of a church and monastery over the Grotto of St Elias.

In May 1799 when Napoleon laid siege to Acre




Carmel opened her doors to all, among them the wounded and dying French soldiers. After the defeat of the French the Turks massacred the wounded and left the Sanctuary uninhabitable. Twenty years later the Carmelites decided to repair it, but instead, due to the war with the Greeks in 1821, the Sultan ordered its leveling to the ground. Six years later the first stone was laid in the great monastery (the fifth) and church which we see today.



Statue of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery, Haifa.

Once more the monastery was menaced when the German Protestant Templars in 1886 tried to gain possession of the mountain. Despite Prussian gold, the danger was averted. Again in 1914 the Commnity was driven out and the monsatery was sacked. In January 1919 Fr Francis Lamb arrived from England as Vicar of Mt Carmel> He found British troops in occupation but they soon pulled out. Fr Lamb spent over thirty years on Mt Carmel and lived to see it once again a fruitful spiritual garden. The sad years, following 1948, made him long to be dissolved and the Lord soon granted his wish.

to be continued as "A Visit to Carmel"

Read whole post......

Marian Shrines in Holy Land - click for link to read part 1

CHRISTIAN CARMEL

After the Ascension of Christ a new era dawned for the Order of Elias. The Lessons for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel relate that many persons who had walked in the footsteps of Elias and Eliseus were made ready by John the Baptist to hail the coming of the Messiah, and on the day of Pentecost, being assured of the truth, they immediately embraced the Gospel, and writers of the early Church state that the hermits of Mt Carmel were efficient helpers of the Apostles in spreading the faith. In the Acts of the Apostles (11:12) reference is made to the coming of the Prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch. Enock, the hermit of Carmel established the monastic life in Alexandria under St Mark. Baronius, referring to to this, says that St Anthony was not the institutor of the monks, but that he re-established the institute of the Essenes, which had flourished under St Mark in Egypt. It is said that St Elpidius,



another hermit of Carmel, went with St James to Spain and was appointed by him the first Bishop of Toledo.



Venerable traditions of this time are full of sacred interest to all devotees of Mary, the "Queen, flower of Carmel". Long centuries before her coming, from the time of Elias, she was known, loved and honoured in Carmel. Some may wonder to hear of devotion to Mary nine hundred years before God gave her to the world, but it must be remembered that Mary was promised to mankind from the moment of original sin. Her image shines besides that of her Divine Son, lighting up even the darkness of paganism. Did not the Druids have a temple and an altar erected to the Virgin who was to bring forth. "Virgini pariturae." The ancients, who hardly knew the meaning of virginity, enshrined it in one of the most brilliant constellations of the Zodiac.
Sepphoris, the home of Joachim and Ann, is not far from Carmel,



and it is related that Mary, as a child, visited Carmel with her parents, which would not be strange since Carmel was a renowned place of pilgrimage. Later the Holy Family dwelt at Nazareth, which is only a day's journey from the holy mountain,



and it is said that on their return from Egypt they visited the pious hermits, filling their hearts with joy and peace. This is most probable, as Carmel lies on the direct route between Egypt and Nazareth.

The Roman Breviary relates that on the Feast of Pentecost the holy prophets, who were enlightened by the Apostles, met and conversed with Our Lady, and that on account of their singular love for her, they paid her the respect of building a little chapel,

Excavation site of the remains of the Chapel built by Mt Carmel's hermits in honour of Our Lady

the first that was ever raised in her honour, and which stood near the Grotto of Elias. For this reason the Mountain of Carmel, cradle of the Monastic life, became the fief of Mary and the sanctuary of contemplative spirit. The beautiful title "Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt Carmel" commonly bestowed upon the hermits and approved by the Holy See recalls the glorious origin and the unity of the Carmelite Order throughout the centuries. Later, July 16, 1251, the Holy Virgin crowned her favours by granting to her Carmelite Order the privilege of the Holy Scapular, in the person of St Simon Stock, an Englishman, who was then Prior General of the Carmelite Order.



After the death of Christ, Our Lady visited Mt Carmel, when as it is related, she with St John and some others of the Apostles went to Nazareth to show them where the Holy Family dwelt and narrated to them many touching incidents in the life of her Divine Son.

During the first three centuries the monastic institutions gave many saints and martyrs to the Church. St Telesphorus, eight Pope, and St Dionysius, twenty-fifth Pope, both lived on Carmel.



In the 4th century, with the reign of Constantin, monasticism flourished all over the Holy Land, and many of the great defenders of the Church against heresy came from Carmel, e.g. St Spiridon fought the Arians at the Council of Nice;



St Cyril of Alexandria uprooted the Nestorians and proved the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of God;



Caprasius, Superior of the hermits of Carmel was the opponent of Eutyches; St Cyril of Jerusalem strove against Macedonius and his heresies;



and historians state that Palladius who opposed Pelagius and afterwards went to preach the Faith in Scotland and Ireland was a monk from Mt Carmel.



In 614 the Persians desecrated the Holy Places of Palestine and in 637 Islam overran the country. The hermits of Mt Carmel were persecuted and some of them fled to Europe. Leo IV, elected Pope in 847, granted a special indulgence to all who would assist by alms the persecuted hermits of Carmel,



and with this help they continued to exist until the time of the Crusaders, when a Latin element was introduced.

To be continued "The Latin Era"
Text based on the book "Marian Shrines in Mary's Land" by Fr Eugene Hoade.

Read whole post......