Quote of the day, 26 November: St. Raphael Kalinowski

On July 5, 1877, Kalinowski left the Czartoryski household and headed for the Carmelite house of Linz in Austria for an interview with the Provincial. He was 42 years of age, quite a late vocation by the customs of those days.

The Provincial accepted his request for admittance; he was shown to a little cell in the house and immediately felt he had reached home. The imminent celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel would be very special for him that year.

Next day, he had to leave for the Novitiate House of the Austro-Hungarian semi-province of Teresian Carmelites in Graz, also in Austria, where he was required to spend the next few months as a postulant.

On November 26, 1877, Kalinowski was clothed in the brown habit of a Carmelite novice and was given the name Raphael of St. Joseph, the name by which he would henceforth be known.

Kalinowski, we can ascertain from his letters, didn’t become a religious to inaugurate a renewal of Carmel in Poland, but merely to repent of his sins. The Prior of the house was Gabriel Gadi, while the Master of Novices was Teresius Jung. It was the latter—well-educated and experienced, if exacting—who undertook the spiritual guidance and religious formation of the new novice.

The background of candidates to the Order was strictly investigated before they were accepted, so as to discern their suitability for the life. The investigation is primarily about the candidate himself and his past life, but also about his family.

Kalinowski wrote at that time: “God bless the hand which directed me under the roof of the sons of the Holy Spirit.” He was resolved to commit himself to Our Lady’s Order and continue in “allegiance to Jesus Christ” as the Carmelite Rule urges, for the rest of his days.

Timothy Tierney, o.c.d.

Part Two, ch. 1, Answering the Call

Note: Carmelite biographer Szczepan T. Praskiewicz, OCD, tells us that in his Memoirs, Saint Raphael explained how early on during his exile in Siberia, he happened upon a copy of Skarga’s The Lives of the Saints: “That opened up many horizons for me. There, I discovered a note on the Order of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and its rapid diffusion in the West. It occurred to me that precisely this Order should be able to bring the schismatics back to the Church of Rome. Guided in a marvelous way by Providence, I entered this Order ten years later.”

Praskiewicz, S 2016, Saint Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to his Life and Spirituality, Coonan, T, Griffin, M & Sullivan, L (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Tierney, T  2016,  Saint Raphael Kalinowski: Apprenticed to Sainthood in Siberia,  Balboa Press  Australia.

Featured image: The Discalced Carmelite crest is seen above the main entrance to the friars’ convent in Linz, Austria. Both St. Raphael Kalinowski and St. Alphonsus Mary Mazurek passed beneath this hallowed gate; the friars in Linz also cared for the Servant of God Père Jacques Bunel after he was liberated from the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in 1945. Image credit: Andrzej Otrębski / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

#austria #carmeliteHabit #novitiate #stRaphaelKalinowski #vocation

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Marie du jour, 11 May: Brother Lawrence

From the beginning of his novitiate, he applied himself to the exercises of religious life with great fervor. He had singular affection for the Blessed Virgin Mary and was especially devoted to her.

He had a filial trust in her protection. She was his refuge in all the problems of his life, in the troubles and anxieties that disturbed his soul, and therefore, he would call her “his good mother.”

Joseph de Beaufort

Eulogy in Praise of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, No. 17

Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God,  translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How can I deepen my trust in Mary as one who lovingly protects and consoles my soul?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#anxiety #BlessedVirginMary #BrotherLawrenceOfTheResurrection #GoodMother #JosephDeBeaufort #novitiate #refuge #trust

Quote of the day, 21 April: St. Edith Stein

A few months previously a young Cologne girl had entered the small novitiate at Lindenthal. Wide-eyed, she had observed Sr. Benedicta and all the happenings on her special day. Now she clung to Sr. Benedicta like a small trusting child and asked, “How does Your Charity feel?”

Sr. Benedicta answered in a tone that cannot be imitated: “Like the Bride of the Lamb.”

Sr. Teresia Renata Posselt, O.C.D.

Recalling Edith Stein’s profession on Easter Sunday, 1935
Carmel of Cologne-Lindenthal

Note: To her good friend Mother Petra Bruning, OSU, Edith wrote:

The Bridegroom sends you the little wreath of myrtle with which your love decorated him, him as well as the bridal candle, the candles on the table, the napkin, cutlery, etc. [from Edith’s temporary profession, 21 April 1935]. The Bride wore a wreath of white roses. I was very happy to hear where the adornments came from. Heartfelt thanks for them.

Posselt, T 2005, Edith Stein: The Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite, translated from the German by Batzdorff S, Koeppel J, and Sullivan J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: A simple wreath of white flowers rests on rustic wooden planks, evoking the bridal crown worn by Edith Stein on the day of her temporary profession. Image credit: tab62 / Adobe Stock. Asset ID# 102178876. Licensed under Adobe Stock standard terms.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Do I allow myself to be claimed by Christ with the joyful trust of a bride, wholly His and wholly loved?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#brideOfChrist #CarmelOfCologne #LambOfGod #novitiate #religiousProfession #StEdithStein #StTeresaBenedictaOfTheCross #TeresiaRenataPosselt

Quote of the day, 5 February: St. Thérèse

You have hidden me forever in your Face!…
Divine Jesus, deign to hear my voice.
I have come to sing the inexpressible grace
Of having suffered…of having born the Cross…

For a long time I have drunk from the chalice of tears.
I have shared your cup of sorrows,
And I have understood that suffering has its charms,
That by the Cross we save sinners.

It is by the Cross that my ennobled soul
Has seen a new horizon revealed.
Under the rays of your Blessed Face,
My weak heart has been raised up very high.

My Beloved, your sweet voice calls me:
“Come,” you said to me, “already the winter has fled.
A new season is beginning for you.
At last day is taking the place of night.

Raise your eyes to your Holy Homeland,
And on thrones of honor you will see
A beloved Father…a dear Mother
To whom you owe your immense happiness!…

Your life will pass like an instant.
On Carmel we are very near Heaven.
My beloved, my love has chosen you.
I have reserved a glorious throne for you!….”

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

PN 16, Song of Gratitude of Jesus’s Fiancée

Note: On 5 February 1895, Céline Martin was clothed in the Carmelite habit and began her novitiate in the Carmel of Lisieux. St. Thérèse wrote the Song of Gratitude of Jesus’s Fiancée as a gift for her sister’s clothing.

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Kinney, D 1995, The Poetry of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: These are images of the note marking the day of Céline Martin’s clothing in the Carmelite habit, receiving the name “Geneviève of St. Teresa.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#CarmelOfLisieux #CelineMartin #Clothing #monasticLife #novitiate #religiousLife #SrGenevièveOfTheHolyFace #StThereseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 26 November: St. Raphael Kalinowski

Saint Raphael Kalinowski’s last and longest stage of life is the thirty years (1877–1907) he lived in the Carmelite monastery. Consenting to the voice that called him to Carmel, Joseph Kalinowski entered formation, ready to work for God within the Church after decades of service as an engineer, military officer, prisoner of war in Siberia, professor and tutor.

On November 26, 1877, he went to Graz, Austria and was clothed in the habit of the Order, receiving at the same time his religious name: Raphael of Saint Joseph.

How did Kalinowski come to know Carmel? We turn to Father Szczepan T. Praskiewicz, OCD, for the details. He provides fascinating insights into the development of the Saint’s vocation.

In his Memoirs Saint Raphael tells us that early on during his exile in Siberia he happened upon a copy of a book written by Piotr Skarga, The Lives of the Saints:

That opened up many horizons for me. There I discovered a note on the Order of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and its rapid diffusion in the West. It occured to me that precisely this Order should be able to bring the schismatics back to the Church of Rome. Guided in a marvelous way by Providence, I entered this Order ten years later.

As with every vocation story, there were many graced encounters that guided his steps along the way.

Saint Raphael Kalinowski had wanted to find a way to become a Carmelite friar, which is why he became a tutor to Gucio, the young son of the noble Czartoryski family residing in Paris. But in God’s providence and unbeknownst to Saint Raphael, one of his pupil’s aunts was a Discalced Carmelite nun in the Carmel of Krakow.

In true Teresian spirit, this aunt, Sr. Mary Xavier of Jesus was seeking young men to renew Carmelite life in Poland. When the Saint accompanied his young pupil on a trip from Paris to visit his aunt at the monastery in Krakow, Kalinowski made a profound impression upon the nun; still, it was the Holy Spirit that spoke to her spirit, impressing upon her the fact that her nephew’s tutor was sent by Divine Providence.

Without saying a word, Sr. Mary Xavier of Jesus began a prayer crusade for the family tutor and his vocation to the Discalced Carmelites; furthermore, she began to correspond with him.

Saint Raphael explained what had happened in a letter to his family back home in Vilnius, Lithuania:

I have a sign of the mercy and goodness of the Lord, which brought me hope and consolation through people consecrated to him. Gucio’s aunt, the Reverend Sister Mary Xavier of Jesus… whom I met only once at the grilles and who hardly knows me, only a few days ago—exactly when I least expected it—sent me the following poem of the seraphic Saint Teresa: Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you…

Fr. Praskiewicz tells us that St. Teresa’s famous Nada te turbe became Kalinowski’s motto. Soon after he received Sr. Mary Xavier’s letter, he wrote to his parents:

Each day I take strength from Saint Teresa’s words about which I wrote to you, my dear parents, in my last letter.

In the end, these very words were the source of divine inspiration that induced him to join the sons of St. Teresa, the Discalced Carmelite friars. He wrote to his parents on 4 November 1876:

A year ago there came to me, like an echo, a voice from the grilles of Carmel. This voice was clearly addressed to me and I have accepted it; it was a salvific voice from the infinite mercy of God commanding me. I can only exclaim, ‘I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever.’ The only thing that now remains for me to do is to ask your parental blessing.”

Kalinowski attended to the details, the housekeeping of his life as anyone aspiring to enter religious life would do: prepare to leave a job, a home, to travel and pray. On 5 July 1877, he left the Czartoryski family in Paris and traveled to Linz, Austria to meet the Discalced Carmelite provincial superior.

God rewarded Kalinowski for the steadfast pursuit of his vocation at such a mature age—Raphael of St. Joseph was 42 years old when he received the holy habit of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Praskiewicz OCD, S 2016, Saint Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to his Life and Spirituality, Translated from the Polish by Coonan, T, Griffin, M & Sullivan, L, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Discalced Carmelite crest is seen above the main entrance to the friars’ convent in Linz, Austria. Both St. Raphael Kalinowski and St. Alphonsus Mary Mazurek passed beneath this hallowed gate; the friars in Linz also cared for the Servant of God Père Jacques Bunel after he was liberated from the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in 1945. Image credit: Andrzej Otrębski / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

#CarmeliteHabit #Clothing #Graz #Linz #NadaTeTurbe #novitiate #StRaphaelKalinowski #SzczepanTPraskiewicz #vocation

The spirituality of Carmel, which is a life of prayer and of tender devotion to Mary, brought me to the happy decision to embrace this life.

Saint Titus Brandsma

During his novitiate, Frater Titus devoted himself to learning everything he could about his new life as a religious as well as the history and spirituality of Carmel. With the idealism of his eighteen years, he gave himself over not only to studying the foundations of the Order but especially to integrating them into his personal life. 

Under the guidance of the Master of Novices, Fr. Pius Cox, and of the scholarly prior of Boxmeer, Fr. Gabriel Wessels, the young novice was preparing himself in a practical, down-to-earth way for his final step, religious profession.

The Master of Novices provided lessons on religious life, the meaning of the vows, the history and spirituality of the Order, and the life stories of the men and women who had been its bright lights: its saints, literary figures, mystics, theologians, missionaries, martyrs.

The novices were required to learn the Rule of St. Albert by heart and to understand thoroughly each article of the Constitutions, as well as to grasp the significance of the Divine Office, how to pray it correctly and sing it in choir, and how to participate as a community in the celebration of Holy Mass.

In one of the earliest lessons on the history of Carmel, Frater Titus learned that during the religious revival that followed the third crusade (1192), a few pilgrims and crusaders, mostly Franks, withdrew to the biblical Mount Carmel near the place named “The Well of Elijah.” There they sought to follow the example of the holy Prophet by a life of prayer, silence, and labor. 

Around 1209, at the request of the hermits living on the mountain, Saint Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote them a Rule integrating the ideals of their own way of life. In 1226, this Rule was approved by Pope Honorius III.

These early hermits had located their cells or hermitages around a church honoring the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. They had a sense of being totally dedicated to her, and it was not long before the people were calling them “Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.” 

It was through contemplation of the figures of Mary and Elijah the Prophet that Carmel developed its way of life and described it in the Constitutions of the Order. In Mary, Carmelites saw the ideal of what they felt called to become: people available to God. From Elijah, they inherited a courageous zeal to bear heroic witness to the Presence of the Living God in their world.

Titus Brandsma learned his lesson well. What most drew his youthful attention was the mysterious anonymity with which the Order presented itself to the Church. 

It was the group as a whole [that] had experienced the call and took Elijah as their “spiritual Father” and model. No individual hermit took upon himself the title of founder, nor has that title ever been given to anyone.

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter II, Formation

Note: Can you spot the anachronisms? Click here for the answers. Do you have more to add? Mention them in the comments below!

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: St. Titus Brandsma appears in this photo wearing the full habit of the Carmelite Order, including the white mantle. At this moment, he was a seminarian studying theology, aged 22. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/16/titus-memrzrule/

#CarmeliteRule #Carmelites #Elijah #history #HolyLand #MountCarmel #novitiate #StAlbertOfJerusalem #StTitusBrandsma #VirginMary

J.M.J.T.

May the peace of Jesus reign in your soul, my dear little sister:

I have your two letters, which I enjoyed so much, but the time here in Carmel goes by without our even knowing it. That’s why I hadn’t been able to answer your letters.

You can’t imagine how much I’ve enjoyed your letters. They have shown me more about your generosity to God. But what pleased me most were the words in which you told me that you were praying that you, too, might obtain the happiness I enjoy.

What could make my heart more happy than to have you belong entirely to Our Lord! For now, I ask only that His Divine Will may be accomplished in you. You, too, should pray for that alone.

You ask me to tell you my schedule, but I still don’t know it well; because the one thing I know how to do is to keep myself with my Jesus. I’ve forgotten all the rest.

Our Lord has been spoiling me. Think how good He is! I sleep on a hard wooden plank bed. The mattress I brought I haven’t even used, and happily they gave me a straw one and everything just like my Sisters. Imagine that on the first night my dear Mother thought that I couldn’t sleep with the pillow, since it was so hard, and she had me change it. And I had been so happy, hugging it. Then I had to change it, but later they gave it back to me.

In my cell I’m always sitting on the floor, and now I’m writing you that way. I’m very good at it.

In the morning I really have to work hard to get ready, since they give us only fifteen minutes. The first time I went out with my cape pulled to one side and with my veil to the other side, not knowing how to put it on; and everything else the same way. My Sisters helped me [her postulant’s habit was similar to that of St. Thérèse of Lisieux].

The second day I pulled a trick; I woke up at five, got dressed to the underskirt and laid down. When they sounded the bell, I put on the rest of my things and was the first to go out to sing the wake-up greeting which goes like this: “Praised be Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, His Mother. Arise for prayer, Sisters, and praise the Lord.” But after all that I couldn’t sing the greeting because I didn’t know where to do it. What a shame.

I get into trouble at meal times, too, since the spoons are wooden, and the forks very small and narrow. It takes me a long time to eat and I have to do it after the others; but this is nice, since while my sisters are in the dining room, I stay in the choir with Our Lord, three-quarters of an hour. I really enjoy it.

That’s the time when my Jesus sends you many graces and gifts that your Carmelite sister is begging for you. During the Divine Office, I imagine that I’m in heaven. It’s also the most precious time of all. We recite the Office four times a day. The funniest thing is that my Sister novice has to pull my sleeve to remind me to genuflect like all the others.

We have a dog that’s very nice. Molzuc is his name. He’s silver color and very big. We’re great friends. My Mother introduced me to him. She gave me some bread to give him. The best part is that in the beginning, he’s always fierce with everyone, but with me he’s a big softie [One nun remarked, “Look, even the dogs love her.”].

On Sundays, at recreation, they play music. They have guitars, bandurrias, etc. We have a good time at recreation, laughing and kidding the whole time with our Sisters.

The assignment I’m going to have is to be the gardener. What a wreck I’ll probably make! I wish you could get some little carnations from my aunt Teresa to plant, because there are very few here. The other day I went with Rev. Mother to trim the rose bushes.

You can’t say my letter isn’t newsy. I’ll say goodbye for now.

Live with Our Lord in the depths of your soul. Adore Him there, and offer Him everything you’re about to do at every moment, doing it all with love. May the two of us, my dear sister, be a continuing melody of love for our good Jesus. Let’s refuse Him nothing. One who really loves, keeps nothing back for self.

Show this letter to Elenuca [Elena Salas González, one of Teresa’s closest friends] because it’s for her, too. Tell her that Our Lord will repay her for this poor Carmelite; that I’ll write her one of these days if I get a little time.

Behave yourselves very well at school so that you can become Daughters of Mary [similar to the “Children of Mary” association at the Abbey School in Lisieux].

Hello to every one of my Sisters [teachers at the boarding school]; and tell them I haven’t forgotten them in my poor prayers. The same goes for the other girls.

Bye for now. Let’s live immersed in that Divine Spirit so that we may remain united. Love and kisses for my dear Daddy, Mommy, and every one of my brothers and sisters, and for my beautiful niece.

Always united in J.M.J.T., your unworthy

Teresa of Jesus, Carmelite

Regards to my governess and to everyone.

Saint Teresa of the Andes

Letter 98 to her sister Rebecca
Tuesday, 13 May 1919

• Original Carmel of Los Andes facade
• Original Carmel of Los Andes chapel
• Original Carmel of Los Andes cloister
• Original Carmel of Los Andes shrine

Griffin, M D & Teresa of the Andes, S 2023, The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail from the last photo taken of St. Teresa of the Andes, where she is embroidering a purificator. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

Slideshow images: Cloister garden and shrine by Philippus021 via Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved). Monastery facade by Carlos yo via Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved). Chapel interior by Carlos Figueroa Rojas via Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved).

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/12/andes-ltr98/

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St. Thérèse was clothed in the Discalced Carmelite habit in the Carmel of Lisieux #onthisday in 1889. Visit our blog and read her reflection on the Carmelite vocation and a brief commentary by Conrad de Meester, OCD

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