Why should one choose the Discalced Carmelites?
The Discalced Carmelites live according to the spiritual reforms and teachings of the order’s founders: St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Their reform was to found communities for men and women who wanted to devote their lives to following the original rule, given by St. Albert, more completely. During the sixteenth century, these two saints discerned a need to bring the order back from certain perceived laxities which had become established procedure in convents and monasteries of Carmelites. Their labors resulted in a stricter form of observance of an ancient rule. This was a rule written at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. It was given to the first group of Christian hermits who came together as a community living on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel, inspired by the prophetic model of St. Elijah.
