Our History

“The Discalced Nuns of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel belong to a religious family, endowed with its own proper charism for the purpose of fulfilling a special mission in the Mystical Body of Christ.

This religious family is a renewed form of the Carmelite Order.  As such, it joins fidelity to the spirit and traditions of the Order with the will for constant renewal, in compliance with the words of our Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus: ‘For the love of God, I ask all of you to fix your eyes on the race of the Holy Prophets from whom we have descended’.  She also says: ‘We are beginning now; but let those who come after us strive always to make a new start and to better themselves’.

Divine Providence gave St. Teresa St. John of the Cross as an associate and led him to share in her spirit.  Both laid, as it were, the foundations of this Order.

The beginnings of the Order, its title of the ‘Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel’, and its oldest spiritual traditions show clearly the Marian and biblical character of the Carmelite vocation.

By choosing the Blessed Virgin Mary as mother and patroness, the Order places itself under her protection; and it takes the mystery of her life and of her union with Christ as its ideal model of consecration.

In looking to the venerable fathers of old, especially to the Prophet Elijah, whom it regards as its inspiration, the Order becomes more fully aware of its contemplative vocation which makes it intent on hearing God’s word, and on searching in great solitude and in total detachment from the world for the supreme treasure, the precious pearl of his kingdom.”   (Constitutions 1,2,9)