Carmelite Rite - Current Use

Current Use

The Order of Discalced Carmelites was formally erected on 20 December 1593 by Apostolic Constitution Pastoralis officii of Pope Clement VIII under its own Praepositus General, as such it had no formal relationship with the Carmelite rite. Although many of its early members had formerly been friars of the Province of Castille, still against the recommendations of St. John of the Cross who voted to keep the rite, the new Order effectively eschewed the rite and adopted the Roman rite. The reason they gave was that the principles of the Tridentine liturgical reforms was the attempt to tidy up the particular rites of Orders and Primatial Sees so that there was a greater conformity to Roman usage; this was not to stifle long-standing legitimate variation but to ensure that liturgy reflected theology (lex credendi, lex orandi).

After considering the question at its General Chapters of 1965, 1968 and 1971, the Order of Carmelites of the Ancient Observance (formerly styled "calced") decided in 1972 to abandon its traditional rite in favour of the Mass of Paul VI. . Over the last decade or so, a group of Carmelites living in North America (Lake Elmo, Minnesota and Christoval, Texas) adopted the eremitical life and have been experimenting with the new forms of the Carmelite rite according to the conciliar norms. The hermits see in it a return to something of the older usage, a liturgical pattern that is better suited in style and shape to the needs of a contemplative community that spends much longer in choir than the friars; this is an ongoing project.

On 15 October 2003 Fr. Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified founded the eremitical community of the "Carmelite monks" under the auspices of Most Rev. David Ricken, Bishop of Cheyenne, USA. This religious community, which is a religious institute of diocesan right, is neither part of nor has ever enjoyed affiliation with the Order of Carmelites under the Prior General, Most Rev. Fernando Millan Romeral,O.Carm. They have adopted the Carmelite missal of 1935.

A number of Masses were celebrated according to the Carmelite Rite in July 2012 at St Joseph's Church, Troy, New York by Fr Romaeus Cooney O.Carm.. This represented the first time that the Carmelite Rite has been celebrated publicly in over forty years.

There was an experiment with an 'ad expirimentum' revision of Holy Week that was published in 1953, issued by the then Prior General, Most Rev. Kilian E. Lynch, O.Carm. The entire missal was never republished, but used by the Carmelite Order from 1935 until 1972.