Carmelite QuotesQuote of the day, 27 November: The First Friars of Duruelo
Father Antonio de Heredia, who had resigned as Prior of Medina del Campo, and Fray José de Cristo, a deacon, left for Duruelo on 27 November 1568 to begin the Teresian Reform for men on the next day, the First Sunday of Advent, 28 November. They had renounced the mitigated Rule of Pope Eugene IV and promised obedience and observance of the Primitive Rule of Pope Innocent IV, which was chosen by Saint Teresa. Fray John of St. Matthias — who took the name John of the Cross — was waiting for them there.
Father Antonio “renounced his office as prior most willingly, and professed the primitive Rule. Although they told him he ought to try it first, he would not. He went off to his little house with the greatest joy in the world. Fray John was already there” (Foundations 14:2).
Besides Padre Antonio—whose resignation had been accepted—Father Provincial Alonso González was accompanied on his journey to Duruelo by two other friars: a priest named Lucas de Celis, who, owing to poor health, did not intend to change his habit; and a deacon, Fray José, who did indeed come with the desire to enter that new Carmelite way of life.
When they were drawing near and caught sight of the little place, the Father Provincial—whom Mother Teresa describes as a holy old man and a very good soul—“when he saw the holy Father Fray John clothed in a short, close-cut habit of rough sackcloth, with a rough cloak of the same material that scarcely reached below his knees; a short scapular; a plain hood and narrow sleeves; a poor rosary and belt; a woolen handkerchief; and his feet bare upon the ground without sandals; with a small wooden cross upon his breast, slightly visible on the left side beneath the scapular—when he saw him thus, and the ancient hermits of Mount Carmel came to his mind, he shed tears of devotion and rejoiced greatly” (Alonso de la Madre de Dios, Book I, chapter 8).
José Vicente Rodríguez, o.c.d.
San Juan de la Cruz, ch. 7
Note: Sources cited by Father Rodríguez are as follows:
• Saint Teresa of Ávila, The Book of the Foundations, chapter 14, paragraph 2.
• Alonso de la Madre de Dios (1568–1635), Vida, virtudes y milagros del santo padre fray Juan de la Cruz, Book I, chapter 8. Critical edition by Fortunato Antolín. Editorial de Espiritualidad, Madrid, 1989. (Completed c. 1630; first published 1989.)
Rodríguez, J.V. 2015, San Juan de la Cruz: la biografía, 2nd edn, San Pablo, Madrid.
Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
Featured image: The chapel that was later built over the first convent of the Discalced Carmelite friars in Duruelo, Spain. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission)
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