``Where
the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Mt. Carmel,
located near the sea in Haifa in modern-day Israel, is the
site of a very dramatic Old Testament story that we can read in III
Kings 18.1 It happened in the 9th century before Our Lord
was born, at a time when Israel, which had been united under King
Solomon, was once again split in half, with Israel to the North, and
Judah to the South.
The Northern Kingdom of this time was ruled by King Achab (Ahab) -- the
husband of the Baal-worshiping Jezabel (Jezebel), a woman so wicked
that her name has become one of the words we call evil women. Achab
continued the policies of his father, who did all he could to water
down God's teaching. He promoted such sacrileges as the offering of
sacrifices outside of the Temple in Jerusalem so that even those who
considered themselves faithful weren't faithful at all to the tradition
they should have preserved.
Then Jezabel built a temple to Baal, imported hundreds of
Baal-worshiping priests into the land, and began to purge the
relatively few truly faithful prophets of God.
One of those prophets was the great Elias (Elijah), who warned King
Achab,
As the Lord
liveth the God of Israel, in Whose sight I stand, there shall not be
dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth.
But his words were ignored, and the persecutions continued. Elias did
what God told him to do by fleeing to "the torrent of Carith" 2
-- a stream that flows into the Jordan River. There, he was kept alive
by ravens, who twice a day brought him "bread and flesh," and by a
widow woman whom he repaid by allowing God to use him to bring her son
back to life. During this time he also hid away in the caves of
Mt. Carmel one hundred of God's faithful.
After three more years of drought and ensuing famine, God then told him
to go to back King Achab so that He could send rain and relieve the
people's suffering. Elias did so, issuing a challenge to Achab:
...[G]ather unto
me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred
and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at
Jezabel's table.
Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for
themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire
under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put
no fire under it. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on
the name of my Lord: and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be
God.
And all the people answering said: A very good proposal.
The priests of Baal prepared their bull and they prayed to their false
god for hours. When nothing happened, Elias taunted them:
Cry with a
louder voice: for he is a god, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an
inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked.
They prayed some more, and even cut themselves with knives and lancets
until
they were covered with blood. But, still, nothing happened, and they
eventually
gave up.
Then Elias prepared his bull as they had. But he went one step further:
he drenched
it and the wood under it with twelve buckets of water. Then this
happened:
[T]he fire of
the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water
that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they
fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord He is God, the Lord He is
God.
Mt. Carmel, then, is a sacred mountain, a place of encounter with God.
And it's a place of natural beauty, as related in Canticle of Canticles
7 --
Thy neck as a
tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fishpools in Hesebon, which are in
the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Thy nose is as the tower of
Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus. Thy head is like Carmel:
and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the
channels. How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in
delights!
Mt. Carmel is a symbol of Eden, of Paradise. It is God's own garden,
and God's people have lived as
hermits in the caves there since before the time of Christ. The
Carmelite Order was formally founded there in 1185, and in 1209, they
were given a rule written for them by
the
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. But the Carmelites attribute their
actual, spiritual founding to Elias and his disciple Elishu (Elisha),
who are, of course, considered Saints in our Church: St. Elias is
honored on July 20, and St. Elishu has his day on June 14.
The monastery the Carmelites built there on Mt. Carmel was overtaken by
Muslims and turned into a mosque, and the religious were forced to
leave the Holy Land altogether. But they returned in 1631, and in 1831,
they built the monastery that is there now, and a church right over the
grotto in which St. Elias lived. The monastery is named Stella Maris -- Star of the Sea, in
honor of Our Lady -- and the Blessed Virgin is the patron Saint of the
Carmelite Order. In her guise as the patroness of the Carmelite Order,
she is known as "Our Lady of Mt. Carmel."
Now, to understand the date of this feast and its proximate purpose,
you have to back up in time and go to a different place: on July 16,
1251, in Aylesford, Kent, England -- in the most southeastern part of
the country -- Our Lady of Mt. Carmel appeared to St. Simon Stock,
a Carmelite monk, and gave to him the brown scapular.
She told him, "this shall be the privilege for you and for all the
Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall be saved." The giving
of the scapular is the reason for today's feast, which is
sometimes referred to as "the scapular feast."
Note that St. Simon Stock is the author of Flos Carmeli (Flower of Carmel)
which praises Mary as the most beautiful flower of God's own garden
(Mt. Carmel), and of Ave Stella
Matutina (Hail, Morning Star), two beloved Carmelite
antiphons which you can find at the bottom of this page. St. Simon
ended up dying in Bordeaux, France, and his priory in Aylesfield --
known as "the Friars" -- was lost when King Henry VIII turned
Protestant and looted Catholics of their wealth. But after changing
hands many times over the years, the Carmelites were able to buy it
back in 1949. They restored the place, and St. Simon's relics were
moved there in 1951. Since then, the place has become popular for pilgrimages and retreats.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is almost always depicted as crowned, sometimes
with a star on her shoulder, and holding
her Son and/or a scapular (or Christ in her arms is shown holding a
scapular, or both are). She's also often shown with Carmelite Saints,
especially St. Simon
Stock, or aiding souls in Purgatory. It is as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
that
the Virgin appeared to the seer Lucia at Fatima on October 13, 1917, as the
miracle of the Sun was taking place.
Customs
Some may prepare for this Feast by praying the Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
beginning on July 7 and ending on July 15, the eve of this feast. A
good prayer for the day itself is the Litany
of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, or this prayer one from the Raccolta:
O most blessed
Virgin Immaculate, the beauty and splendour of Carmel, thou who
regardest with eyes
of special love those who wear thy blessed habit, look kindly
upon me and spread over me the mantle of
thy maternal protection. Strengthen my weakness with thy
power, illuminate the darkness of my mind
with thy wisdom, increase in me the virtues of Faith, Hope
and Charity. Adorn my soul with such graces
and virtues that it may be ever dear to thy divine Son and to
thee. Assist me in life, console me in death,
with thy dear presence, and present me to the Holy Trinity as
thy child and devoted servant, eternally to
praise and bless thee in Paradise. Amen.
Pray three Aves and
one Gloria
As to music for the day, this song, loosely based on St. Simon Stock's Ave Stella
Matutina, is fitting. It was written by Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana
(1590–1662):
Today is a good day to recall St. Elias -- the precursor to the Precursor -- and to
emulate his will to
defend sacred Tradition. When he met up with "all Israel" and the
priests of Baal, he felt alone, saying, "I only remain a prophet of the
Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men (III
Kings 18:22). But he persevered! In times like ours, when the
world is against us just as the priests of Baal and the rulers of his
land were against Elias, and when, also like Elias, we see so many who
claim to be of our Faith betray the Lord by tossing aside what has been
handed down to us by our ancestors, and practicing a weak, irrational
syncretism, we should keep the fortitude of St.
Elias in mind! Become virtuous,
and always speak the truth when necessary! If you ever feel "lost at
sea,"
look to Christ, our North Star, and keep your eyes on Him always! If
you ever feel alone, turn to His Mother, Saints, and angels for
friendship and help! Stay
strong! Ask God to grant you the faith and zeal of St. Elias:
O Living Lord,
the God of Thy Prophet Elias, Who hast adopted us through baptism by
Thy holy grace: enkindle also in us the faith and zeal of Thy holy
prophet.
The Feast of Our Lady of Carmel is grandly celebrated in various places
in Italy. In Rome, a statue of Our Lady of Carmel -- Madonna del Carmine -- is dressed
in beautiful clothes and precious jewels given by the faithful, and
then processed from the Church of Sant'Agata in Trastevere to the
Basilica of San Crisogono, where it will remain for eight days, when it
is processed back again. Food, music, traditional markets, and
fireworks are all part of the celebrations.
In Avigliano, Potenza, Basilicata, in 1694, the people appealed to Our
Lady of Mt. Carmel when they were suffering from both famine and earth
tremors. They ran to the mountains and prayed there for 40 days,
pleading with Our Lady that they would honor her if she would intercede
for them. When no one died and no houses were destroyed by the great
earthquake that came, they renamed their local mountain "Mt. Carmine"
(Carmel), built a chapel in her honor, and bought a beautiful wooden
statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to adorn it. Every year on the eve of
this feast, they crown the statue and lay a mantle fixed with treasures
over its shoulders. Then, on the 16th, the statue is processed from
Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del
Carmine almost 6 1/2 miles away. The statue remains there for two
months, being returned on the second Sunday in September.
Not far away from Avigliano is Viggianello, whose people honor Our Lady
of Mt. Carmel on the third Sunday of August. Everyone wears their
traditional clothing, but the women wear cirii on their heads -- conical
shaped structures decorated with wheat and ribbons. The men carry on
their shoulders a great wooden structure -- la meta -- that is shaped and
decorated in the same way, but with the addition of farm animals. All
the while, bagpipers, accordionists, and tambourine players make music
while
people dance a tarantella called the "sickle dance."
In Palmi, Calabria, a miracle took place that was officially recognized
by the Vatican: on October 31, 1894, a statue of Our Lady of Carmel
began doing very strange things. Its eyes would move, and its face
would blanche, like the flesh of a woman who's about to faint. This
went on for seventeen days, and was written about not only in the local
press, but nationally. On November 16th, the people spontaneously held
a procession of the statue -- and just when they made it to the end of
the
city, a violent earthquake struck, destroying most of the houses. But
out of the 15,000 inhabitants of the town, fewer than ten were killed
because most of
them were taking part in the procession to honor the Blessed Virgin.
Since then, every year on November 16, the people of Palmi have Mass
followed by a procession of the statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
Italian immigrants brought their love of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to the
United States, and in various places around America at this time, one
can find festivals in her honor. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City
has a large one centered around the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount
Carmel at 275 North 8th Street. It includes a procession of Our Lady,
and is famous for its "Dancing of the Giglio" -- a tall, three-ton
tower that is carried down the street on men's shoulders.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on 259 Oliver Street in Newark, New
Jersey, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church at 1355 West 70th Street in
Cleveland, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church at 3549 Navajo Street in
Denver, Colorado, and many, many other churches in the U.S. also have
large festivals for Our Lady at this time.
Please note that the word for the cooked sugar confection called
"caramel" but often pronounced as "car-muhl" has nothing at all to do
with Mt. Carmel -- Hakkarmel
in the Hebrew texts -- or Our Lady's patronage thereof. But if it makes
you happy to eat caramel today, then by all means do it! And since it's
likely that Americans who pronounce "caramel" as "car-muhl" won't be
able to help making a mental association between the candy and the
feast, here's a recipe:
Caramel Dipping Sauce
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
tsp of salt
Put the sugar and water in a big pot with a heavy bottom, and
give it a good stir (use a wooden or heat-resistant silicon spoon or
spatula while making this recipe). Turn on the heat to medium and cook
until the sugar
dissolves and starts to bubble (you want it to get to between 338 and
350 degrees F). It will start off cloudy and then go
clear. Do not stir it while you wait for this to happen! You can give
the pan a gentle swirl once in a while, and scrape down the sides, but
don't
stir (if it crystallizes, add about 1/4 c. more water and reheat).
Keep a careful eye on it! Around the 8 to 14 minute mark, it
will start to thicken and turn a dark amber color. When it does, add
the buttter and whisk until it's totally melted.
Take the pan off the heat and add in the cream slowly,
whisking all the while. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Let it cool (it
will get thicker as it does). Serve with slices of apples and a bowl of
chopped peanuts, pecans, or walnuts (dip apple slices in the caramel,
then dip in the nuts
and eat), or drizzle over ice cream. Will keep in the fridge for about
three weeks if tightly covered.
