Liturgical Feasts

16 July

This optional memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was established to commemorate her apparition to Saint Simon Stock on 16 July 1251. The Book of Kings recounts that on Mount Carmel the Prophet Elijah gathered a group of men to defend the purity of the Hebrew faith and won a challenge against the priests of the pagan god Baal. Inspired by this experience, a group of monks, following the Rule of Saint Basil, was established to imitate the prophet Elijah. There are traces going back to the 11th century with the arrival of the crusaders. Around 1154, the French nobleman Berthold retreated to this mountain when he arrived in Palestine with his cousin Aimery de Limoges, Patriarch of Antioch. He decided to gather the hermits to live a cenobitic life. These men religious built a small church that stood in the middle of their cells, dedicating it to the Blessed Virgin. They themselves took the name Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. The Carmelites would gradually acquire their two defining elements: a reference to Elijah and a strong connection with Mary Most Holy. In addition, according to tradition, it was there that the Holy Family stopped on their return from Egypt.

  

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22 July

The memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene was elevated to a Feast on 3 June 2016 by Pope Francis during the Jubilee of Mercy. We cite part of the decree: “The decision is situated in the current ecclesial context, which calls upon us to reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the new evangelisation and the greatness of the mystery of divine mercy.”

  

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