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History
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By the spring on Mount Carmel
Albert, by the grace of God called to be patriarch of the church of Jerusalem, to the beloved sons in Christ, B. and the other hermits who are living under obedience to him by the spring on Mount Carmel: health in the Lord and the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
-Rule of Saint Albert, chapter 1
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Origins
It was on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land that the fiery prophet Elijah challenged the false prophets of Baal. By prayer and sacrifice he won the people of Israel back to the worship of the one true God.
Since Old Testament times, seekers after the face of the Living God dwelt on this Holy Mount in the spirit of Elijah. One such group of hermits gathered there at the end of the twelfth century. Inheriting the rich tradition that had gone before them, they looked to Elijah as Father and Leader.
They gathered daily for Mass in an oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary and pondered the Word of God in their cells, living in allegiance to Jesus Christ. They thus came to be known as the "Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary." -
Carmel of Mary
The Carmel of Mary began in the Marian Year of 1954, in Wahpeton, North Dakota.
Here, next to the Wild Rice river which is shaped as if in an "M" for Mary, the community continues to live its rich tradition in Elijah's prophetic spirit and in intimate familiarity with the Most Holy Virgin.At the Carmel of Mary, the nuns observe strict papal enclosure and center their lives on the solemn celebration of the liturgy.
They pray especially for the needs of priests, of the Church, and of the whole world. -
Mary and the SaintsMary is all that Carmel longs and hopes to be. She is the most brilliant pathway leading to the Way who is Christ.
In every century, Carmelite Saints have risen up to bear witness to the Love of Jesus Christ. As the nun strives to be faithful in the present to the living tradition of Carmel, she is illumined by these beacons from the past.
The Lord then said to Elijah:
Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.
You shall drink from the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.I Kings 17:2-4