The great Teresian Carmelite Family is present in the world in many forms. Secular Carmelites, together with the Friars and Nuns, are sons and daughters of the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, expressed in the Rule of St. Albert and the Doctrine of the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the Order’s other saints. It is one family with the same call to holiness and the same apostolic mission. Secular members contribute to the Order the benefits proper to their secular state and are faithful members of the Catholic Church called to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ. Under the protection of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, in the biblical tradition of the prophet Elijah and inspired by the teachings of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, they seek to deepen their Christian commitment received in Baptism.
The Discalced Secular by special vocation, undertakes to live in the world an evangelical life of fraternal communion imbued with the spirit of contemplative prayer and apostolic zeal according to the teachings of the Order.The requirements of our daily life include: Praying the Liturgy of the Hours (Morning, Evening and Night Prayer); thirty minutes of mental prayer (this can be divided if need be); attending daily Mass according to our state in life; wearing the brown scapular and devotion to our Blessed Mother; living the Beatitudes by some form of apostolic activity or ministry.
The Carmelite Order developed from a single community of Catholic hermits who lived on Mt. Carmel in Palestine in the early years of the 13th century following the Crusades. They modeled their community after the example of the holy and solitary prophet Elijah. About the year 1210, St. Albert, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, gave them a Rule. Their chapel and community was dedicated to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The hermits of Mt. Carmel were driven out of Palestine by the Saracens and they established communities throughout Europe.
In 1562, a Spanish Carmelite Nun named St. Teresa of Jesus from Avila desired to reform the Order. Together with St. John of the Cross, she established a new and more austere branch of the Order called “Discalced” Carmelites ~ a word which means “unshod” and describes the poor rope sandals they wear on their feet.