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 Lectio Divina is based on notes from a presentation given at the Lay Carmelite Convocation, 4 August 2000, by Tom Zeitvogel, T.O.Carm.
Lectio Divina — “The Divine Reading” or “Divine Listening” by hearing the word spoken — is a discipline that intuitively and affectively dwells on a Biblical text as a means of seeking communion with Christ, so as to grow in faith, hope and charity. It is based on “Bible teaching.” For example, in John 15:26, we read: The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you.
Lectio — hearing or reading the Word. Rereading — out loud if possible.
Meditatio — pondering and meditating on what was read. Chewing it. Repeating it over and over. Making it relevant to ourselves.
Oratio — enveloping us in and to prayer. Asking God to help put it into practice.
Contemplatio — invading our very being. Understanding us and the world in a new way through experiential contact with God. The Holy Spirit prays in you.
As summarized by Don Marmion, O.S.B
We read (lectio)
under the eye of God (meditatio)
until the heart is touched (oratio)
and leaps to flame (contemplatio)
As a rule of thumb, to truly gain from a Lectio Divina what is intended from this form of prayer, the session should be a minimum of 30 minutes. Otherwise it would be best to consider the session more appropriately as simply a period of Scriptural Reflection.
Lectio is not pure reflection nor is it pure contemplation. It is more affective. You listen, are touched, pray, and share (if in a group setting).
St. John of the Cross, in Maxims on Love #79† says “Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation.” This maxim shows his knowledge of the four elements of Lectio Divina.
The above is actually a paraphrase by John of Luke 11:9: “Seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.”
Contemplation. A love too deep for words. It is complementary to the action of busy people. These notions are not mutually exclusive. They are compatible with Christian activity in the world.
Self-surrender. Not a giving up, but a “delivering up” of oneself to love. We are not in control; God is in control. This is “God-centered,” not “selfcentered.” It is also not a false self. False self has many faces: overbearing, tearful or demanding, clown, daredevil, free spirit, conventional, unconventional, hermit, judging others, telling others what to do. But in self-surrender, God is in control.
1. Reading seeks;
2. Meditation finds;
3. Prayer desires, and demands; and
4. Contemplation tastes and experiences with delight.
†page 680, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Kavanaugh, ICS Publications, 1979
...are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103
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