Angelus was born in Florence or near there; the year is unknown but it was before 1386. He was the first member of the reformed observance of Our Lady of the Wood, was many times prior of various houses and noted for his work in preaching the Word of God. He died in Florence in 1438.
Bartholomew Fanti was born in Mantua: the year is unknown, but in 1452 he was already a Carmelite priest of the Congregation of Mantua. For thirty-five years at the Order's church in Mantua he was spiritual father and rector of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for which he composed a rule and statutes. He is especially remembered for his love of the Eucharist. He died in 1495.
Frances was born in 1427, probably in Thouars in France. She was the wife of Peter II, Duke of Britanny. After his death, and under the direction of Blessed John Soreth, the prior general, she took the habit of the Carmelite Order in the monastery she had previously founded in Bondon. Afterwards she transferred to another foundation in Nantes, also erected by her, where she held the office of prioress and nourished the sisters with wise teaching. She is considered the foundress of the Carmelite nuns in France. She died in 1485.
Hilary Januszewski was born on 11 June 1907 in Krajenki (Poland). In 1927 he entered the Order of Carmel and was ordained on 15 July 1934. In 1939, Poland was occupied by the Germans and one year later, Fr. Hilary decided to present himself in exchange for an older and sick friar. He was sent to Dachau, where he was a model of prayer life, encouraging others and giving hope for a better tomorrow. He died from typhus on 25 March 1945, a few days before the liberation of the concentration camp. Fr. Hilary Januszewski was beatified by John Paul II on 13 June 1999.
Bl. Jacques Retouret was born at Limoges in France on 15th September 1746 to a merchant family. He was a serious young man, a lover of books and greatly gifted. At fifteen years of age, he entered the Carmelite house in his native city. After ordination, his zeal and learning were widely admired and large crowds of people were attracted by his way of preaching.
The French Revolution did not spare him. Like the majority of his fellow clergy, Jacques refused to accept the civil law, unilaterally introduced by the state. He was arrested and condemned, together with many other priests and religious, and sentenced to exile in French Guinea in South America. Jacques died at Madame Isle on 26th August 1794 at the age of 48 years. He was beatified, together with 63 other priests and religious, as martyrs for the faith, on 1st October 1995 by Pope John Paul II.
Mother Euphrasia was born on October 17, 1877. Her pious mother taught her to pray the rosary and to participate in the Holy Mass. She had a vision of Mother Mary at the age of nine and she offered her virginity to God eternally. Her father was opposed to her entering the Convent but eventually gave her permission to go to the Carmelite Convent in 1888. For the rest of her life she was immersed in prayer, in contemplation or praying the Rosary. People began to call her “The Praying Mother.” She was most devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and had a great longing to be with the Eucharistic Lord and participate in the Holy Mass and adore the Blessed Sacrament. She was canonized by Pope Francis on November 23, 2014 in Vatican City.
Saint Kuriakos Elias Chavara, co-founder and first prior general of the congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, was born at Kainakary in Kersala, India, February 10, 1805. He entered the seminary in 1818, and was ordained priest in 1829. He made his religious profession in 1855, in the congregation he founded. Throughout his life he worked for the renovation of the church in Malabar. Above all, he was a man of prayer, zealous for the Eucharistic Lord and devoted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary. He died at Koonammavu in 1871. Kuriakose Kathanar was beatified on February 8, 1986 and canonized on November 23, 2014.
Born about 1305 in southern Perigord in France, Peter Thomas entered the Carmelites when he was twenty-one. He was chosen by the Order as its procurator general to the Papal Court at Avignon in 1345. After being made bishop of Patti and Lipari in 1354, he was entrusted with many papal missions to promote peace and unity with the Eastern Churches. He was transferred to the see of Corone in the Peloponnesus in 1359 and made Papal Legate for the East. In 1363 he was appointed Archbishop of Crete and 1364 Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He won a reputation as an apostle of church unity before he died at Famagosta on Cyprus in 1366.
Raphael Kalinowski was born to Polish parents in the city of Vilnius in 1835. Following military service, he was condemned in 1864 to ten years of forced labor in Siberia. In 1877 he became a Carmelite and was ordained a priest in 1882. He contributed greatly to the restoration of the Discalced Carmelites in Poland. His life was distinguished by zeal for Church unity and by his unflagging devotion to his ministry as confessor and spiritual director. He died in Wadowice in 1907.
The following article on St. Teresa’s experience with mental prayer is based on notes from the first presentation given at the Bay Area Regional Day of Recollection, 20 April 2024, by Father Mark Kissner, OCD. (House of Prayer, Napa, CA)
When we speak of “Teresian Prayer” we’re speaking about mental prayer. In many prayer disciplines, prayer is described in terms of a method that can be used to accomplish a desired end (communication with God). For example, we are told how to do it, why do it, and what to expect.
One common approach, the Dominican method described by Antonio Royo, O.P., lists the following phases of a prayer session:
That’s all good if you intend to approach prayer as a process. Teresian prayer, however, is not about a method. It is about an encounter with a person...an encounter of love. In chapter 8 of Way of Perfection, Teresa describes prayer is an “encounter” not a process. “We need no means to go in search of God, but only to find a place where we can be alone with him and look on his presence.”
According to Teresa, mental prayer involves three principles:
These three steps go right to the heart of what’s important.
If you don’t have the experience of God’s love, you will find it difficult to search for him. If you are convinced that he cares for you, you will have the courage to love him in return. You will be eager to find “he who lies within you” and is always waiting for you there. Other forms of prayer (intercession, petition, etc.), don’t rely on love of God. They can be done apart from love of God. Many forms of prayer are made up of habits and repetitions. There’s no encounter there. But mental prayer allows you to realize that God loves you. God is in you. Don’t leave him alone there. Be willing to seek him out. Teresa lived a very dry, superficial 18 years before she recognized that God was within her. Mental prayer is our “yes” to God’s invitation to drink living water!
In Teresa’s work “Interior Castle” there are seven mansions and the door to each mansion is prayer. When we stop praying, we close the door to his love. In any relationship — be it marriage or friendship or parenting — you must spend time with the other person if your relationship is to grow. Make a habit to spend time with God daily! We are in a spiritual battle...the life of the spirit vs. the pleasure of the senses. Our weapon is prayer.
During the first 18 years of her vocation, Teresa wanted God but was unable to give up her habits and selfishness to get to him. This battle lasted years. When she finally surrendered, that’s when she became Saint Teresa. Mental prayer plunged her into sainthood. All you need to become a saint is love and perseverance.
Bottom line: Love is at the root of mental prayer.
It may not feel good to give up your comforts, but you show up despite your feelings. You finally are loved by Love itself! Love is self-donation. Don't base your “success” on consolations or how you feel about the time you spend in prayer. Love exists not in our own happiness but in choosing to please God in everything. It’s not what we get out of our time in prayer but what we put into it.
If you want to pray well, pray much. If you don’t pray much, at least pray regularly and you will pray well.
Antonio Royo, O.P.
Eliminate sterile activities, activities that keep you treading water rather moving toward God. When you are dry or burdened by darkness, go to be alone with God. It is the will to be alone with God that is the difference between true authentic prayer and the illusion of prayer. Love of God forms the habit of prayer. Love allows us to choose God rather than ourselves. Spend time with the Lord because you love him, not because you get anything out of it. Attachment to God and detachment from ourselves is what defines our prayer.
Simply look upon God present in your soul. In Teresa’s books you won’t find a long list of steps or a method for prayer. It is simply looking at Him in prayer. Give your full attention to the Divine Guest who lives in your soul. This requires only a simple look of lingering love. Enjoy each other’s presence. It’s good to talk to God, but ultimately he wants to move you to that “silent gaze.” Prayer is a person-to-person contact. It’s not thoughts and feelings and reflections. It’s making contact with God and, inspired by love, you should show up. How you love is the measuring stick of your prayers.
