CARMELITE
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CARMELITE
Toledo, where he was thrown into a dungeon and
cruelly treated; others were imprisoned elsewhere.
The persecution lasted for nearly a year until at
length Philip II intervened. The reform having thus
proved too strong, it was resolved to give it a legal
standing by establishing a special province for the
Discalced friars and nuns, but under obedience to the
general (1580). The first provincial was Jerome Gra-
tian who throughout had been the chief support of St.
Teresa. To her it was given to see the triumph of her
work, but dying on 4 October, 1582, she was spared
the pain which the disunion among the friars of her
own reform must have caused her. When founding
her first convent she had a definite object in view.
Not only was she anxious to reintroduce the contem-
plative life, but knowing how many souls were daily
being lost through heresy and unbelief she wished the
nuns to pray and offer up their mortifications for the
conversion of infidels and heretics, while the friars
were also to engage in active work. She was de-
lighted when St. John of the Cross and his brethren
went from village to village instructing the ignorant
in Christian doctrine, and her joy knew no bounds
when, in 15S2, missioners of the order were sent out
to the Congo. This first missionary expedition, as
well as a second, came to an abrupt end through mis-
adventures at sea. but a third was successful, at least
so long as it received support from home.
Jerome Gratian. the provincial, was heart and soul in these undertakings. When his tenure of office ex- pired he was replaced by a man of a very different stamp, Nicold Doria, known in religion as Nicholas of Jesus (1539-94), a Genoese who had come to Spain as the representative of a large banking house, in which capacity he was able to render important services to the king. Aspiring after a higher life, he distributed his immense fortune among the poor, took Holy orders and joined the reformed friars at Seville (1577). He rapidly rose from dignity to dignity, and while engaged in the foundation of a convent in his native town, was elected provincial of the Discalced Carmel- ites. Endowed with an iron will and indomitable energy, he at once began to fashion his subjects after his own ideas. Having known only the old stock of the order during the troublous times preceding the separation of his province, he was not attached to the order as such. He widened rather than lessened the breach by laying aside, on a mere pretext and against the wishes of the friars, the venerable Carmelite Liturgy in favour of the new Roman Office books, and by soliciting useless privileges from Rome; he with- drew the missioners from the Congo, renounced once for all every idea of spreading the order beyond the frontiers of Spain, restricted the active work to a minimum, increased the austerities, and without con- sulting the chapter introduced a new form of govern- ment which, as it was said at the time, was more fit for the policing of an unruly Italian republic than for the direction of a religious order. He relegated St. John of the Cross to an out-of-the-way convent and on the flimsiest, pretext expelled Jerome Gratian. Finally at the General Chapter of 1593 he proposed "for the sake of peace and tranquillity and for many other reasons", the total separation of the Discalced Carmelites from the rest of the order, which was granted by a Bull of 20 December, of the same year. Doria now became the iirst general of the Discalced Carmelites. He died a few months later. If would be unjust to belittle his merits and talents, but it must be acknowledged thai in many respects his spirit was diametrically opposed to the lofty conceptions of St. Teresa and the generous dispositions of St. John of the Cross, while the unwarranted expulsion of Jerome Gratian is a blot on his reputation. It was. he said on his death-bed, the only thing that troubled him. The Spanish Carmelites having practically renounced all exterior work and interest, the further history of
that branch of the order reduces itself to notices on
the foundations of convents, and the truly edifying
life of numerous friars and nuns. At the end of the
eighteenth century Spain possessed eight provinces
with about 130 convents of friars and 93 of nuns. The
greater number of these convents were suppressed in
1836, but many have been restored since 1875, when
the old Spanish congregation was united with the
Italian congregation. They now constitute the Order
of the Discalced Carmelites, without subdivision.
The Portuguese province was separated from the
Spanish congregation in 1773 for political reasons; it
possessed twenty-one convents of friars and nine of
nuns, nearly all of which were secularized in 1834.
Missionary Work. — As has been said, the first two missionary undertakings came to a premature end, one on account of shipwreck, the members of the other being captured by privateers. When set free the missioners, instead of resuming their journey to the west coast of Africa, proceeded to Mexico, where they laid the foundation of a province which in the course of time embraced twenty convents of friars and ten of nuns, but was finally suppressed by the Gov- ernment. As early at 1563 Rubco had granted leave to the Calced friar, Francisco Ruiz, to make founda- tions in Peru, Florida, and elsewhere, nominating him at the same time vicar-general. By 1573 there were convents at Sante Fe (New Mexico), New Granada, and other places, and provision was made for further increase. The Chapter of 1660 took the matter seri- ously in hand and after certain reforms had been car- ried out the provinces of Bahia, Pernambuco, and Rio de Janeiro were erected in 1720. There were also convents in Guadeloupe and San Domingo, and there is evidence that foundations were contemplated, if not actually made, in the Philippine Islands as far back as 1705. The Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Span- ish congregation found their way to the states of South America as early as the beginning of the seven- teenth century; several of their convents are still in existence, and others have lately been erected in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The congregation of St. Elias of Discalced Carmel- ites, otherwise called the Italian congregation was erected at the instigation of Clement VIII. By a strange irony of fate Nicolo Doria, who afterwards resisted the spreading of the order beyond the Penin- sula and the Spanish colonies, had been commissioned in 1584 to establish a convent at Genoa. This was followed by one in Rome, Santa Maria della Scala, destined to become the nursery of a new congregation and the living example of perfect observance, and another at Naples. Several of the most prominent members of the Spanish congregation had been sent to these foundations, among them Yen. Peter of the Mother of God (1565-1608), and Ferdinand of St. Mary (1538-1631), who became the first superiors; Ven. John of Jesus Mary (1564-1615), whose instruc- tions for novices have become authoritative, and whose incorrupt body is still preserved in the convent of St. Sylvester near Monte Compatri; Ven. Dominie of Jesus Mary (1559-1630). the great wonder-worker of his time, and Thomas of Jesus (156S-1627) to whose genius for organization not only the order but the Catholic Church is deeply indebted. With men such as these at its head the congregation spread rapidly, not alone in Italy but through the length and bn adth of Europe, and attracted men of high social position. The Archduke Albert of Austria and his consort, the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia of Spain having applied in Rome for a colony of Discalced Carmelites, the
pope nominated Thomas of Jesus founder of the Bel- gian province. So successful was he that in the course of twelve years he erected ten convents of friars and six of nuns. The establishment in France was more difficult ; systematic opposition from various quarters
