António dos Santos
Today, July 16th, the Church celebrates the liturgical Feast of Our Lady of Carmel. In Macau, the Catholic community held the novena that ended yesterday, as it happens in other years. Our Lady of Carmel church in Taipa will welcome the faithful today with a special joy, alongside its patroness. Sister Maria Lucia (FMNS), who has a pastoral mission in the parish of Our Lady of Carmel, revealed to O Clarim that given the pandemic, this year, the celebrations are practically reduced like the previous year to the Eucharistic celebration in the morning at 7:30 am (Chinese) and in the afternoon at 6:30 pm (English).
As we enter the church’s history, we find a beautiful page marked by the servants of the Lord, but also by the pain, fervor and love for the Virgin Mother of God: it is the history of the Order of Carmelites.
The word “carmel” comes from the Hebrew “carmus” and means “vine”, and “el” means “Lord”; therefore, “Vine of the Lord.” This name reminds us of the famous mountain in Palestine where the prophet Elijah and his successor Elisha made history with God and with Our Lady, who, according to a pious interpretation, was prefigured in a small cloud (1 Kings, 18:20:45).
Mount Carmel is a sacred place of the Old and New Testaments. The Carmelites are named after Mount Carmel (Palestine), near the Mediterranean and the Bay of Haifa, as it was there that the first monks lived, near the spring of Elijah. Despite some uncertainties, there are two certain dates for the origin of the Carmelite Order: between 1153 and 1159.
Due to the persecutions of Christians in the Holy Land, the group of hermits from Mount Carmel eventually moved to Europe, settling in England, where Simon, also a hermit, who joined them, lived. Simon was penitent, like the prophet Elijah, and austere like John the Baptist. Given his solitary life in the convexity of a tree in the midst of the forest, he was nicknamed Stock.
Already living with the hermits of Carmel, and after having gone through various difficulties, St Simon had the grace of his life and of Carmelite Order on July 16, 1251. On that day, he prayed with greater commitment to the Mother of Carmel for her protection, reciting the beautiful prayer composed by him: “O beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, Splendor of Heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a Pure Virgin, assist me in this necessity. O Star of the sea!”
When the prayer was over, he looked up, his eyes brimming with tears, and he saw the cell suddenly fill with light. Surrounded by angels, in a great procession, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, clothed in splendor – she carried the scapular in her hands, and said to St Simon Stock, with inexpressible maternal tenderness: “Receive, my beloved son, this scapular of your order, as a distinctive sign and the mark of the favor which I have obtained for you and for all the sons of Carmel. It is a sign of salvation, a safeguard in danger and an assurance of peace and special protection until the end of the ages.”
Devotion to the scapular in the history of the Church is one of the oldest and most popular forms of devotion to the Virgin Mary. St Teresa of Avila (reformer of the Order of Carmelite Nuns, together with St. John of the Cross) said that to wear the scapular was to be dressed in the habit of Our Lady.
Our Lady of Carmel, pray for us! (Photo: António dos Santos)
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