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CARMELITE
had even found an entrance into the most important
convent of the order, that of Paris. The next year
Terasse spent five months there trying to win back
the dissidents. At last, by a strange error of judg-
ment, he ordered the lecturers to leave Paris at the
conclusion of the term and the students to return to
their native convents within three days. The natural
result was that many of them formally joined the
congregation of Albi which now obtained complete
control at Paris. A compromise was then reached
whereby the vacancies wire alternately filled by the
order and by the congregation of Albi. Baptista
Mantuanus obtained for the latter papal approbation
and an extension of the privileges of his own congre-
gation. Notwithstanding this victory the new con-
gregation became a prey to disunion and was unable
to make much headway. The evils brought about by
the Reformation and the civil and religious wars
weighed heavily upon it until, in 15S4, it was dis-
solved by the Holy See.
A further reform of somewhat different nature was that of the convent of Mount Olivet near Genoa, 1514; it consisted in a return to the purely contem- plative life and the ancient austerity of the order. The general, Giovanni Battista Rubeo, has left a rec- ord that during his visit there in 1568, which lasted only three days, he abstained from flesh meat. This reform continued well into the seventeenth century. A later reform modelled upon that of St. Teresa was inaugurated at Rennes in 1604 by Philip Thibault (1572-1638) and nine companions. With the assist- ance of the Discalced Carmelites he was able to give it a solid basis, so that before long it embraced the whole province of Touraine. Unlike the other re- forms it remained in organic union with the bulk of the order, and enjoyed the favour of the French Court. Among its greatest ornaments were Leo of St. John, one of the first superiors, and the blind lay brother, John of St. Sampson, author of various works on the contemplative life.
Affiliations, Carmelite Sisters. — About the middle of the fifteenth century several communities of Beguines at Gueldre, Dinant, etc., approached John Soreth with the request that they be affiliated to the order (1452). He gave them the rule and constitu- tions of the friars, to which he added some special regulations which unfortunately do not appear to be preserved. The prestige of the Carmelite Sisters grew rapidly when the Duchess of Brittany, Blessed Frances d'Amboise (1427-S5). joined one of the con- vents, which she herself had founded. Before the end of the century there were convents in France, Italy (Blessed Jane Scopelli. 1491), and Spain. Especially in the latter country the manner of life of the nuns was greatly admired, and several convents became so crowded that the slender means available hardly sufficed for their maintenance.
St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. — The convent of the Incarnation at Avila was destined to fashion the brightest ornament of the Carmelite Order, St. i of Jesus. Born in 1515 she entered the con- vent in 1.535 and mafic her profession in the following year. Shortly afterwards she fell ill and, unable to fulfil the usual duties of a religious, gave herself to the practice of mental prayer. Frightened by her di- rectors, who believed her trances to be diabolical il- lusions, she passed through a period of interior trials which awakened in her the desire for a more perfect life. Learning that the primitive rule aimed at the contemplative life and prescribed several austerities which had since been dispensed with, she resolved upon the foundation of a convent for thirteen nuns in her native town, which after many difficulties was established on 24 A The general, Rubeo
(1564-78), who at thai time visited Spain, approved of what St. Teresa had done and encouraged her to make further foundations. In a letter written from
Barcelona (unedited) he enlarged on the blessings of
the contemplative life and granted permission for the
establishment of two convents for reformed friars
within the province of Castile. But warned by what
had happened in the case of the congregation of Albi
he made some very stringent regulations so as to
suppress from the outset any separatist tendencies.
In the course of fifteen years St. Teresa founded six-
teen more convents of nuns, often in the teeth of the
most obstinate opposition.
Among the friars she found two willing helpmates, the prior Anton de Heredia who had already filled important posts in the order, e. g. that of auditor of civil causes at the General Chapter of 1564, and St. John of the Cross, who had just completed his studies. They entered with supernatural courage upon a life of untold hardships and were joined not only by a number of postulants, but also by many of their former brethren in religion. The province of Castile being numerically weak, it stands to reason that the provincial resented the departure of so many of his subjects, among whom were the most reliable and promising. The papal nuncio, Hormaneto, was fa- vourably disposed towards the reform. As Apostolic visitor of the religious orders he wielded papal powers and considered himself entitled to overrule the re- strictions of the general. He granted leave for the foundation of other convents of friars, besides the two stipulated by the general, and for the extension of the reform to the province of Andalusia. By an almost incomprehensible error of judgment he appointed visitor of the Calced Carmelites of this last named province Jerome of the Mother of God (Jerome Gra- tian, 1545-1615) who had just made his profession among the Reformed or Discalced Carmelites, and who. however zealous and prudent, could lay no claim to much experience of the religious life. The Calced Carmelites appealed to Rome, and the result was that the general took a great dislike to the new reform. He himself was a reformer, and had favoured the foundation of a convent of reformed nuns at Aleala de Ibnares by Mary of Jesus (1563), and of a reformed convent of friars at Onde in Aragon under James Montanes i 1565), and in his visitations he fre- quently resorted to drastic measures to bring about improvements; moreover he was a strict disciplina- rian, punishing faults with a severity which to us seems inconceivable. When he found that the dan- gers he had striven to avert, viz. a repetition of the disorders caused by the congregation of Albi, had actually occurred, he resolved to root out the new reform. The General Chapter of 1575 decided to abolish the Discalced Carmelites, threatened to send Mariano del Terdo, formerly a hermit, and Baldas- sare Nieto, an ex-Minim, to their former abodes, ordered the three Andalusian convents of Granada, Seville, and Penuela, to be closed, and the friars to return to their proper convents within three days. The acts of the chapter (unedited I are silent as to the nuns, but it is known from the correspondence of St. Teresa that she received orders to choose one of her convents there to remain, and to abstain from further foundations.
The Discalced friars, however, relying upon the powers they had received from the nuncio, resisted commands and went so far as to hold a provin- cial chapter at Almod6var (1576). The general sent a visitor with ample powers. Girolamo Tostado, who for some years had been his official companion and was fully acquainted with bis intentions. At this juncture the nuncio died and was succeeded by 8 who at first remained i m partial but SOOD began to pro
ceed vigorously against the reform. A second chap- ter having been held at the same place (1578). the nuncio excommunicated all the capitulars; St. John of the Cross was seized in the convent of the Incarna- tion at Avila where he was confessor and hurried to
