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.
Father Russell was born on July 19, 1934, in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. He professed simple vows as a Carmelite in 1954 and was ordained a priest on July 25, 1960. He was a teacher, spiritual director, prior general of the Order, and prolific writer. Father Russell published numerous books, articles, letters, homilies, and book reviews in a variety of publications. He also published several audio and video cassettes on Spirituality and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, as well as the novena booklet The Path to Spiritual Maturity: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In 2009 Father Russell received the papal Benemerenti Medal, awarded for long and exceptional service to the Catholic Church, its families and community.
The following articles by Fr. Russell about Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus are available online:
https://ocarm.org/en/item/1422
Obviously St. Thérèse was a prayerful woman. After all she gave herself to a life of prayer and self-emptying love in the Carmel of Lisieux in Normandy. The interesting question centers on how she prayed. She had learned the importance of prayer as a child from the example of her own parents and used to spend some time in the quiet of her room reflecting on the life of Jesus and on God's love for her.... continued
https://www.ocarm.org/en/item/1526
In 1997 Carmelites and many others will mark the centenary of the death of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, called by many ‘the Little Flower’ (30th September 1997). What draws people to this woman, this saint of the Church? Her story as told in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is engaging. She reveals so honestly her struggles in life and how she forged a meaning, a commitment that made a difference.... continued
https://ocarm.org/en/item/3360
What is the meaning of “the little way” of St. Thérèse? It is an image that tries to capture her understanding of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, of seeking holiness of life in the ordinary and the everyday. St. Thérèse based her little way on two fundamental convictions: 1. God shows love by mercy and forgiveness and 2. She could not be perfect in following the Lord.... continued
https://www.ocarm.org/en/item/2628
The cross enters everyone's life and we notice in today’s Gospel reading that the cross is a daily event. For St. Thérèse the cross was experienced in the delay she had to endure before her entrance into the Carmel of Lisieux. She would encounter more crosses in her brief life, e.g., physical illness and temptations regarding the existence of heaven.... continued
http://web.archive.org/web/19991118033304/carmelnet.org/sword/v58/09.htm
St. Thérèse of Lisieux has come to us through her own autobiography entitled The Story of A Soul. This work has been translated into fifty languages and dialects and has touched the hearts of millions of people. To this day, people are attracted to St. Thérèse’s way of handling life in the ordinary and the everyday. She has described the journey of faith, holiness of life, in images and teaching that feed the understanding and the desire of working people, of mothers and fathers, of young and old alike.... continued
...are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103
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