Quote of the day, 9 January: The Carmel of Morlaix

The Carmelite friars were therefore fully justified in judging that Father de Bérulle exceeded his authority when, in 1620, he suddenly produced for the first time his Brief of 1614—whose existence he had until then concealed even from his two co-superiors—and attempted to invoke it in order to subject the Carmel of Morlaix to his jurisdiction.

Albert du Saint-Sauveur, O.C.D.

The story of the Carmel of Morlaix belongs to the unsettled early years of the Teresian Carmel in France. In 1619, at the request of the King and by mandate of the Holy See, a small community of Discalced Carmelite nuns came from Flanders to establish a new foundation at Morlaix. Morlaix is a port town in northern Brittany, in western France, situated between the dioceses of Tréguier and Saint-Pol-de-Léon—a location that would later prove decisive in the community’s fate. From the outset, the understanding was clear: the nuns were to live under the governance of the Discalced Carmelite friars. They came on those terms and with that expectation.

1762 map of western France, showing Morlaix in Brittany and its location in relation to Lisieux, Compiègne, and Paris.

Before long, however, this arrangement was challenged. Pierre de Bérulle, Superior General of the Oratorians, asserted authority over the new foundation by appealing to an earlier papal brief. The difficulty was that this earlier document had already been set aside for Morlaix by a later papal act. What followed was not a disagreement about faith or religious observance, but a prolonged struggle over governance—one that placed a heavy burden on a young and vulnerable community of nuns.

Father Albert du Saint-Sauveur, OCD, writing in the 19th century, notes that later accounts often blurred these events, especially in ways unfavorable to the Carmelite Order. In these pages, he draws not only on the Carmelite annals of Father Louis de Sainte-Thérèse, OCD, but also on 17th-century historians, manuscript acts of the Assembly of the Clergy of France, archival letters preserved in Paris, and contemporary correspondence surrounding Pierre de Bérulle. Albert du Saint-Sauveur further observes that even long after the fact, details of the Morlaix foundation continued to be reused and reshaped to support particular narratives:

“Even in our own day, people have returned to exploiting all the details of this foundation, by distorting them.”

Unable to establish themselves in the part of Morlaix belonging to the diocese of Tréguier, the nuns found support in the neighboring diocese of Saint-Pol-de-Léon. There, Bishop René de Rieux authorized their foundation and offered them protection. Meanwhile, other Carmelite communities in France were pursuing their own appeals in Rome. These cases were separate, though they were often confused in later retellings.

In 1622, after the Morlaix nuns appealed directly to the King, a papal Bull was issued in their favor. Soon afterward, the Discalced Carmelite friars met in Provincial Chapter and made a notable decision: they formally renounced any claim to governing Carmelite nuns in France. Their intention was to remove even the appearance of self-interest. As Father Albert du Saint-Sauveur records:

“They declared themselves to renounce not only any such claim, but even to refuse the charge, should it be offered to them.”

Ironically, this renunciation was later used as an argument against the Morlaix community. A new papal brief placed the nuns under a different form of governance. During the uncertainty that followed, Bishop de Rieux continued to shelter the nuns, at one point even welcoming them into his own episcopal residence.

The conflict reached a painful climax when the Dean of Nantes, acting as a delegated official, imposed excommunications and interdicts not only on the nuns, but on the bishop’s residence and the cathedral itself. This provoked a strong reaction from the French bishops, gathered in the General Assembly of the Clergy, who denounced these actions as abusive. Their language was unusually blunt:

“Never has presumption been carried so far.”

Rome later annulled the Assembly’s declaration, and with the accession of a new Pope, the balance shifted decisively in Bérulle’s favor. Conferences were held, compromises proposed, and the immediate crisis gradually subsided.

In the end, the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Morlaix returned to Flanders. Father Albert du Saint-Sauveur is careful to note that this was not a punishment imposed upon them, but a concession to their steadfast refusal to accept a form of governance contrary to the terms under which they had come:

“Their departure was less an order imposed than a satisfaction granted to their refusal.”

The story of the Carmel of Morlaix is not an easy one, but it sheds light on the fragile beginnings of the Teresian Carmel in France. It reminds us how exposed early foundations could be, how much cloistered nuns could suffer from conflicts beyond their control, and how fidelity to their Teresian charism was sometimes preserved only at great cost.

Albert du Saint-Sauveur, O.C.D.

Annals of the Discalced Carmelites in France, 1608–1665
Adapted and translated by Carmelite Quotes

Note: The Carmelite nuns who came to Morlaix from Brussels and Tournai stood in the spiritual lineage of Blessed Anne of Jesus, who left France for Brussels in 1604 and died there in 1621, and Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew, who withdrew from France to Spanish Flanders in 1612. Both chose departure over prolonged conflict when disputes over governance threatened the peace of the Teresian Carmel. The stance of the Morlaix nuns reflects that same discernment—not resistance for its own sake, but fidelity to Saint Teresa’s charism when peace could no longer be preserved.

Readers who wish to explore the full historical account may consult the complete English translation (pp. 250–260) in the linked document.

Louis de Sainte-Thérèse OCD & du Saint-Sauveur A OCD 1891, Annales des Carmes-Déchaussés de France: de 1608 à 1665, nouvelle édn, vol. I, Chailland, imprimeur-libraire de l’Évêché, Chailland, France, pp. 250–260.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Jean Janvier (French cartographer, 18th century), Le Royaume de France divisé par gouvernements militaires (1762) is an engraved map of France, published in Jean Lattre’s Atlas moderne (c. 1775). Image credit: Geographicus Rare Antique Maps / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

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