I haven’t found much in the way of prayers to St. Joachim but many to St. Anne:

Novena to St. Anne, Grandmother of Our Lord

Prayer said every day with First-Ninth Day Prayer:

O glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.

Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at the hour of my death. Good St. Ann, intercede for me.

FIRST DAY

Dear St. Ann, though I am but a prodigal child, I appeal to you and place myself under your great motherly care. Please listen to my prayers and grant my requests. See my contrite heart, and show me your unfailing goodness. Deign to be my advocate and recommend me to God’s infinite mercy. Obtain for me forgiveness of my sins and the strength to begin a new life that will last forever. Blessed St. Ann, I also beg of you the grace to love, to serve, and to honor your daughter, the most holy Virgin Mary. Please recommend me to her and pray to her for me. She refuses none your requests but welcomes with loving kindness all those for whom you intercede. Good Jesus, be merciful to the faithful servants of Your grandmother St. Ann.

SECOND DAY

From the depths of my heart, good St. Ann, I offer you my homage this day and ask you to shelter me under the mantle of your motherly care. You know, good mother, how much I love you, how gladly I serve you, how happy I am to praise you, how eager I am to call on you in time of distress. Good St. Ann, be pleased to extend your helping hand in all my wants. Listen to my prayers, for I place my trust in your gracious bounty. Make all my thoughts and desires worthy and righteous. Jesus, I thank You for all the graces which in Your infinite goodness You have lavished upon St. Ann; for having chosen her, among all women, to be Your grandmother on earth and exalted her in heaven with such great and miraculous powers. In the name of her merits, I humbly recommend myself to Your infinite mercy.

THIRD DAY

Hail, good St. Ann, who first responded to the needs of Mary, Mother of our Savior and Queen of Angels. Hail to you and to your husband St. Joachim, who watched over her infancy, presented her to the Lord in the temple and, according to your promise, consecrated her to the service of God. Hail St. Ann, good mother! I rejoice in the marvels you continually perform, because they encourage all to seek your intercession. Good St. Ann, by the great power that God has given you, show yourself my mother, my consoler, my advocate. Reconcile me to the God I have so deeply offended. Console me in my trials; strengthen me in my struggles. Deliver me from danger in my time of need. Help me at the hour of death and open to me the gates of paradise.

FOURTH DAY

Good St. Ann, you offered your pure and holy daughter Mary in the temple with faith, piety and love. By the happiness which then filled your heart, I beg you to present me to your Grandson Jesus. Offered by you, I will be agreeable in His sight. Kind St. Ann, take me forever under your protection. Deliver me from the temptations which continually assail me. Above all, attend me in my last hour. As I lie on my deathbed, be present with your daughter to console and strengthen me. Holy Mary and good St. Ann, show yourselves to be mothers indeed by obtaining for me the grace of a good death. When my soul goes forth, lead it to God’s tribunal so that, by your powerful help and intercession, it may obtain a favorable judgment.

FIFTH DAY

Hail, all-powerful Lady. By God’s special favor, grant consolation to those who invoke you. Procure for them the eternal riches of heaven, and like a good mother, success in their temporal affairs as well. Good St. Ann, obtain my deliverance from the punishment which my sins deserve. Obtain for me success in my temporal affairs; especially see to the salvation of my soul. St. Ann, by your influence with Mary’s son Jesus, you have won the gift of conversion for many sinners. Will you then abandon me, who have chosen you as my mother? No, St. Ann. Your name alone, which signifies grace, assures me of the help of your prayers, and these prayers will surely procure pardon and mercy from Jesus. You will pray for me now and at the hour of my death.

SIXTH DAY

Good St. Ann, do not allow my soul, a masterpiece of God’s creative power, to be lost forever. Free my heart of pride, vanity, self-love. May I know myself as I really am and learn meekness and simplicity of heart. God’s great love for me leaves me cold and unresponsive. I must reflect this love through works of mercy and charity toward my neighbor. In your boundless charity, good St. Ann, help me to merit the glorious crown which is given to those who have fought the good fight against the world, the devil and the flesh. Assist me to preserve purity of heart and body. With Mary and her divine Son, protect me always.

SEVENTH DAY

Once again, Good St. Ann, I choose you for my advocate before the throne of God. By the power and grace that God has placed in you, extend to me your helping hand. Renew my mind and my heart. Dear St. Ann, I have unbounded confidence in your prayers. To your blessed hands I entrust my soul, my body and all my hopes for this world and the next. Direct my actions according to your goodness and wisdom. I place myself under your motherly care. Receive me, good mother. Cover me with the mantle of your love. Look kindly on me. By your powerful intercession, may I obtain from God grace and mercy. Obtain for me remission for sin and release from the punishment my offences have deserved.  Pray that I may receive grace to lead a devout life on earth and that I may obtain the everlasting reward of heaven.

EIGHTH DAY

Hail, St. Ann! I rejoice at your exalted glory. You gave birth to Mary, whose divine Son brought salvation to our lost world by conquering death and restoring life and hope to sinners. Pray to Him who, for love of us, clothed Himself with human flesh in the chaste womb of your daughter. Glorious St. Ann, with your blessed daughter, deliver me from everything that is displeasing in the sight of God. Pray to your gentle and powerful Grandson that He may cleanse my soul in His precious blood, that He may send His Holy Spirit to enlighten and direct me in all that I do, always obedient to His holy inspirations. Good mother, keep a watchful eye on me. Help me bear all my crosses. Give me the fullness of your bounty and sustain me with courage.

NINTH DAY

Good St. Ann, I have reached the end of this novena in your honor. I have asked and ask again. Good mother, let not your kind ear grow weary of my prayers, though I repeat them so often. Bounteous Lady, implore for me from divine Providence all the help I need through life. May your generous hand bestow on me the material means to satisfy my own needs and to alleviate the plight of the poor. Good St. Ann, fortify me by the sacraments of the Church at the hour of my death. Admit me into the company of the blessed in the kingdom of heaven, where I may praise and thank the adorable Trinity, your grandson Christ Jesus, your glorious daughter Mary, and yourself, dear St. Ann, through endless ages.

Litany of St. Anne

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, spotless child of St. Joachim and St. Anne,
Pray for us*

St. Joachim, father of the Blessed Virgin Mary,*
St. Joachim, promised descendant of Abraham and David,*
St. Joachim, venerable patriarch,*
St. Joachim, holy spouse of St. Anne,*
St. Joachim, and St. Anne, shining models of Christian spouses,*
St. Anne, royal lady,*
St. Anne, glory of the House of David,*
St. Anne, faithful and loving wife,*
St. Anne, venerable model of meekness and humility,*
St. Anne, brilliant example of holy obedience,*
St. Anne, sparkling mirror of patience and resignation,*
St. Anne, perfect type of devotion and piety,*
St. Anne, fruitful vine,*
St. Anne, giving wise instruction and careful training to your child,*
St. Anne, worthy mother of the Mother of God,*
St. Anne, tender mother of all virgins,*
St. Anne, mother lending aid to all Christian mothers,*
St. Anne, consoling mother of all widows,*
St. Anne, kind mother of us all,*
St. Anne, refuge of the suffering,*
St. Anne, guiding star of widows,*
St. Anne, harbor of safety in the storms of this life,*
St. Anne, bulwark of the Church,*

Through your virtues and merits,
Pray for us and for our children.**

Through your goodness and compassion,**
Through all your gifts and prerogatives,**
Through your high vocation,**
Through your miraculous maternity,**
Through Mary, your child full of grace,**
Through the joys prepared for you on earth by Jesus and Mary,**
Through the honor they now render you in heaven,**
Through your exceedingly great rapture and bliss,**

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us

Christ hear us!
Christ graciously hear us!

Let us pray:

St. Anne, my dear mother and most compassionate protectress, deign to receive graciously my poor efforts to do you honor. May I ever be devoted to you with a heart full of childlike humility and submission! May your example encourage me, your intercession strengthen me, your goodness console me! Permit me with all my heart to commend to you my children. As you consecrated Mary, your child of grace, entirely to God, I beg you to obtain for me the grace to train my children for Him, and with them to labor perseveringly for heaven. As you lived in holy harmony and peace with St. Joachim, so may love, union, devotion, and zeal for virtue reign in my household, that we may belong to that host of blessed spouses who with you will love, praise, and glorify the Most High forever and ever. Amen

PRAY YOUR EVERY DAY!  AS MANY TIMES A DAY AS YOU CAN!

Elijah is the solitary Prophet who cultivated the thirst of the only God and lived in His presence. He is the contemplative enraptured by the ardent passion for the absolute of God, whose “word burnt like a torch”. He is the mystic who, after a long and tiresome road, learns and reads the new signs of the presence of God.

He is the prophet who is involved in the life of the people and, fighting against the false idols, he brings them back to the fidelity of the Covenant with the only God. He is the prophet in solidarity with the poor and those far away and he defends those who suffer violence and injustice. From the origin of the Order of the Carmelites inspiration is found in his person, who then permeates the whole history, so much so that justly the Prophet can be considered its ideal Founder.

ELIAS AND THE CARMELITES.

At the time of the Crusades some warriors, attracted by the beauty of Carmel, by its geographical position and also by the memory of the prophet, retired to the mount. At the beginning of the XIII cent. James de Vitry traced a retrospective picture of the spiritual rebirth of the Holy Land after the Crusades of the XI and XII centuries: «Pilgrims devoted to God and religious men streamed to the Holy Land from the various parts of the world… Some holy men, however, renounced the world, drawn as they were by various affections and desires and inflamed with religious fervor; they chose for themselves places more suited to their purpose and devotion. … Others, after the example and in imitation of the holy and solitary man, Elias the prophet, led a solitary life on Mount Carmel, and especially on that part which overlooks the city of Porphyria, which today is called Haifa, near the fountain, which is called the fountain of Elias, not far from the monastery of the blessed virgin Margaret. Like bees of the Lord, they produced the honey of spiritual sweetness in their honeycombs of modest cells» (Historia orientalis sive hierosolymitana I, capp. 15-52; ed. J. Bongers, Gesta Dei per Francos, Hanover, 1611, p. 1075).

Between the years 1206-14 a group of Latin hermits, who lived «near the fountain on Mount Carmel» received from the hands of Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, a «formula of life,» confirmed in 1226 by Pope Honorius HI. They are the Carmelites, the Friars of Our Lady of Carmel and the sons of Elias. It is not certain whether it was veneration of the prophet Elias that led these hermits to Carmel. The rule does not speak of the Carmelite life as inspired by Elias. Later, in his Fiery Arrow, Nicholas of Gaul, wishing to bring the Carmelites back to the purity of the hermitical life, will not evoke the example of the great solitary of the Old Testament. More probably, the fact of finding themselves on Mount Carmel and, later, the memory of this fact contributed to the birth and development of the hermits’ devotion to St. Elias. Only in the course of their history did the theme of Elias become an «integral part» of Carmelite spirituality. Some allusion to the progressive legend of an hermitical life continued on Mount Carmel, from the times of Elias until the Crusades, is found in the first rubric of the Constitutions of the chapter of London in 1281: «We declare, therefore, in order to witness to the truth, that, beginning with the prophets Elias and Eliseus, who were devout dwellers on Mount Carmel, a number of saintly fathers of both the Old and New Testaments, duly impressed by the solitude of this mountain so well adapted to the contemplation of heavenly things, have doubtlessly lived there, near the fountain of Elias, in a laudable manner in uninterrupted, holy penance with holy results. During the time of Innocent III, Albert, patriarch of the church of Jerusalem, united their successors into one community (collegium) and wrote a rule for them which Pope Honorius, the successor of Innocent, and numerous others after him, in approving this Order, confirmed. This devout approval of the Order is evidenced by their various bulls. It is in this profession that we, their disciples, serve the Lord until today in various parts of the world» (Latin text in Anal. 0. C, XV /1950/, p. 208).

There was still a difference between the first hermits of the Old and New Testaments, and their successors in the epoch of Pope Innocent III. In the first rubric of the constitutions of 1324, however, the successors already appear at the time of Christ. It is thus that the idea was formed of the uninterrupted hereditary succession of the Carmelite Order. This conviction will lead to the sad struggle between the Carmelites and D. Papenbroeck. Meanwhile the figure of Elias became ever more significant in the spirituality of the Order; in the XV cent. Thomas of Walden wrote, without any further distinctions: «Our profession spurs us on to his outlook» (Mhc, p. 446).

It seems that it was John Baconthorp, who died in 1346, who for the first time united the Marian devotion of the Order of Carmel with the memory of the prophet Elias: «According to the prophets (prophecies?), the friars of Carmel originated especially for the veneration of the blessed Mary… And since /the blessed Mary/ is honored and preached through Carmel, it is fitting that on Carmel, which is dedicated to her, she should have the Carmelites who venerate her in a special way. This is how it was in ancient times; in reality, prophecies are understood in the light of subsequent facts… How many prophets and kings has Carmel had who through their deeds rendered honor to the Lady of the place, the blessed Mary! It was in order to continue the cult of the blessed Mary on Carmel that the Order of the Friars of Carmel had its origin. For, veneration given in places sacred to the saints is attributed, after God, to the saints themselves… But even if all those who were to be saved at the time of the prophets rendered honor to the Son Who was to come through the blessed Mary…, nevertheless, it was the friars of Carmel, venerating Him Who was to come at the time of Elias and Eliseus, who began their Order of the blessed Mary on Carmel… Therefore, it is by reason of this veneration that they took root» (Speculum de institutione Ordinis /Mirror on the institution of the Order/, cap. 1; the Latin text also in Élie, t. II, pp. 42-43).

The most complete form of this Elian and prophetic spirituality is found in a book of the XIV century, the Liber de institutione primorum monuchorum /Book on the institution of the first monks/; the text also in Anal. O. C, III /1914-16/, pp. 347-49.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Élie le prophete, (etudes carmelitaines), 2 voll. (Bruges-Paris) 1956; E. Magennis, The Life and the Times of Elias, the Prophet of Carmel, Dublin 1925; Soeur Jeanne d’Arc Élie dans I’histoire du salut, VS, LXXXVII, 1952, pp. 136-147; Élie et nous, p. 289-295; T. Brandsma, Canines, in DS II, coll. 157 ff.

For the Carmelite Proper Offices (for the Divine Office) of St. Elijah’s feast and for other Carmelite saints, blesseds and martyrs, click on:

Carmelite Proper Offices for the Divine Office

Scroll down to Page 84 for the beginning of St. Elijah’s feast.

Those to whom Elijah is little more than a myth, should visit Mount Carmel on July 20 — his Feast. They would behold a revelation. The chronicles of the Order give accounts of it each year, for it is a thing not of the past but of the present. The Holy Mountain is a teeming mass to celebrate Mar Elijah, as it is called. It is not by hundreds, but by thousands, the people are counted. For centuries, they have come on foot, on asses, on camels, on horseback, in carriages, and now, in automobiles! They come in caravans on pilgrimages, and singly on the eve, the pilgrims take their places nearest the Monastery, in every possible costume. The accounts are fascinating, and the ceremonies lend themselves to vivid description, but they would over-pass our space. The tone of the Feast is of innocent joy and profound veneration. There are two statues of Elijah, one in the original grotto under the Sanctuary, reached by steps from the Basilica, another exposed in the Basilica itself; they go from one to the other, praying and asking protection — the devotion to the Prophet enters into the very life of the people.

The good Fathers lend themselves with the utmost charity to all harmless local customs. The archives of the Monastery record many well-authenticated incidents of miraculous favors, and even of apparitions of the Prophet. Children are dedicated to him and offered to God in his grotto. There are always many baptisms. The Arabs of the Greek Catholic Rite wish their children baptised in that spot, and often defer the Sacrament until their yearly pilgrimage.

The closing of the Feast leaves a beautiful picture; the sun sets in the deep blue of the Mediterranien; the Mountain, so lovely in form that the Canticle says of the Bride, “Thy head is as Carmel,” is veiled in shadow, the moon rises over the olives, and it is night! The monks come out upon the terrace, and the traditional illumination takes place, the Monastery is outlined in fire, and as it fades away once more, the pilgrims in their turn continue the display far into the night.

Devotion to the Holy Prophet was brought into the West with the advent of Carmel, and probably no living man has so many adherents, followers, and devotees as he. East and West combine to do him homage: East, because of traditions which hang without dispersion, as clouds in summer, over those dreamy, non forgetting, changeless peoples; West, because of the diffusion of Carmel throughout every nation.

A volume might be filled, indeed many have been filled, with memories of Elijah. The Prophet had no home, but a solitary cave in the mountain, and divine hospitality has opened a home for him in every quarter of the world. And what more in keeping with the idea of divine economy than to believe that when an ambassador of God returns to earth after thousands of years, God should thus provide for him, and how better provide than by constituting him the father of innumerable children who everywhere claim him as their own; who treasure every detail of his life, and, what is most sublime, who offer the supreme Sacrifice many times each day in the humble cave wherein he dwelt, which has be come a Sanctuary enclosed in the Basilica of Carmel. There in the Tabernacle, he will find his Master awaiting him.

The Manual of the Carmelite Order contains prayers for a procession to be made in time of drought or flood, for the holy Prophet both opened and closed the heavens, and in many countries messages are sent to the Monasteries for prayers in either necessity. In May, 1779, there was a great drought in Rome and a Triduum was inaugurated at the four Carmelite Churches in the City. Prayers were said in honor of Elijah, and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome urged the faithful to follow the exercises. The people came in crowds to the statue of the Thaumaturgus, and from the first day the prayer was granted, rain began to fall, and the devotions were continued in thanksgiving. This is only one of many analogous cases.

The Holy Prophet is invoked against pestilence, to avert public calamities, to restore peace of soul, and to draw down the blessings of God on those aspiring to perfection, as is proved in innumerable cases among the Saints and Blessed of Carmel. He is also called upon to avert wars and a remarkable instance is given when Roger of Sicily had to sustain terrible combats against the Saracens. So immediate was the answer of his prayers, that the pious Count built a Church and Monastery in honor of Elijah and presented it to the Carmelites. Many churches, altars, and statues have been erected in his name; states and cities have chosen him for Patron.

This devotion is proper to these latter times when the crimes of men are such as to weary the Divine patience and draw down calamities upon the human race. It is well to seek the charitable aid of him “who has been chosen to appease the wrath of God.” (Ecclesiasticus) Then, too, each day brings us nearer the time when he will come among us with the last message of mercy and forgiveness, ere he sheds his blood for the Lord “in whose sight he stands.”

PRAYER TO ST. ELIJAH

Holy Prophet of God Elijah, Leader and Father of Carmelites, intercede
for us and for the salvation of all.

V: Pray for us, O holy Father Elijah.
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech You, O Almighty God, that we who believe that the
Blessed Elijah Your Prophet and our Father was wonderfully carried up in
a fiery chariot, may by his intercession be raised to the desire of
heavenly things and rejoice in the society of Your saints. We ask this
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: “Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints” (NEW YORK: P.J. KENNEDY & SONS, 1927), pp 240-42.

Brother Lawrence -  (1614 -1691), Carmelite lay brother

Brother Lawrence was born Nicholas Herman in the region of Lorraine, located in modern day eastern France. He received a revelation of the providence and power of God at the age of 18, but it would be another six years before he joined the Discalced Carmelite Prior in Paris. In this intervening period he fought in the Thirty Years’ War and later served as a valet.

Nicholas entered the priory in Paris as a lay brother, not having the education necessary to become a cleric, and took the religious name, “Lawrence of the Resurrection”. He spent almost all of the rest of his life within the walls of the priory, working in the kitchen for most of his life and as a repairer of sandals in his later years.

Yet despite, or perhaps because of, his somewhat lowly position, his character attracted many to him. He was known for his profound peace and many came to seek spiritual guidance from him. The wisdom that he passed on to them, in conversations and in letters, would later become the basis for the book, The Practice of the Presence of God. This work was compiled after Brother Lawrence died by one of those whom he inspired, Father Joseph de Beaufort, later vicar general to the Archbishop of Paris. It became popular among Catholics and Protestants alike, with John Wesley and A. W. Tozer being among those who recommended it.

As a young man, Herman’s poverty forced him into joining the army, and thus he was guaranteed meals and a small stipend. During this period, Herman had an experience that set him on a unique spiritual journey; it wasn’t, characteristically, a supernatural vision, but a supernatural clarity into a common sight.

In the deep of winter, Herman looked at a barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit, waiting silently and patiently for the sure hope of summer abundance. Gazing at the tree, Herman grasped for the first time the extravagance of God’s grace and the unfailing sovereignty of divine providence. Like the tree, he himself was seemingly dead, but God had life waiting for him, and the turn of seasons would bring fullness. At that moment, he said, that leafless tree “first flashed in upon my soul the fact of God,” and a love for God that never after ceased to burn. Sometime later, an injury forced his retirement from the army, and after a stint as a footman, he sought a place where he could suffer for his failures. He thus entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Paris as Brother Lawrence.

He was assigned to the monastery kitchen where, amidst the tedious chores of cooking and cleaning at the constant bidding of his superiors, he developed his rule of spirituality and work. In his Maxims, Lawrence writes, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?”

For Brother Lawrence, “common business,” no matter how mundane or routine, was the medium of God’s love. The issue was not the sacredness or worldly status of the task but the motivation behind it. “Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. . . We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.”

Brother Lawrence retreated to a place in his heart where the love of God made every detail of his life of surpassing value. “I began to live as if there were no one save God and me in the world.” Together, God and Brother Lawrence cooked meals, ran errands, scrubbed pots, and endured the scorn of the world.

He admitted that the path to this perfect union was not easy. He spent years disciplining his heart and mind to yield to God’s presence. “As often as I could, I placed myself as a worshipper before him, fixing my mind upon his holy presence, recalling it when I found it wandering from him. This proved to be an exercise frequently painful, yet I persisted through all difficulties.”

Only when he reconciled himself to the thought that this struggle and longing was his destiny did he find a new peace: his soul “had come to its own home and place of rest.” There he spent the rest of his 80 years, dying in relative obscurity and pain and perfect joy.

by Jordan Aumann, O.P.  -  http://www.domcentral.org/study/aumann/teresasgr.htm

When Pope Paul VI proclaimed St. Teresa of Avila the first woman Doctor of the Church on September 27, 1970, he selected one of her many titles as the basis for conferring that honor on her: Teresa of Avila, Teacher of Prayer. The same sentiment was expressed by Pope John Paul II in a letter to the Superior General of the Discalced Carmelite Friars to mark the fourth centenary of the death of Teresa:

“Teresa considered that her vocation and her mission was prayer in the Church and with the Church, which is a praying community moved by the Holy Spirit to adore the Father in and with Jesus “in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23). . . . Saint Teresa considered the life of prayer to be the greatest manifestation of the theological life of the faithful who, believing in the love of God, free themselves from everything to attain the full presence of that love “. (L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, November 9, 1981)

In all of her major works—The Life, The Way of Perfection, The Interior Castle—St. Teresa explains the practice of prayer. And it is noteworthy that she did not begin to write until she was 47 years old, after her second conversion and when she was already well-versed in the practice of prayer. Her teaching flows from her own experience and not from books on prayer. She does, however, acknowledge her indebtedness to two authors: Francisco de Osuna, the author of The Third Spiritual Alphabet, and Bernardino de Laredo, the author of The Ascent of Mount Sion. The book by Osuna treated of the prayer of recollection, and St. Teresa states that she was “delighted with the book and resolved to follow that way of prayer with all my might” (cf. The Life, chap. 4). The treatise by Laredo described the prayer of union, to which St. Teresa had attained “after almost twenty years of experience in the practice of prayer” (cf. The Life, chap. 23).

As we have noted, Teresa began writing her first work, The Life, at the age of 47, and she finished it three years later. In that same year (1565) she began The Way of Perfection, since the nuns of the first monastery of the reform has asked her to teach them about mental prayer. In these first two works, St. Teresa concentrates on the ascetical grades of prayer, but in The Interior Castle, written when she was 62 years old, she gives detailed descriptions of the mystical grades of prayer. Thus, in the Second Mansions of The Interior Castle she says: “I want to say very little to you about [the prayer of the Second Mansions] because I have written of it at length elsewhere.”

St. Teresa realized that not all souls travel by the same path to perfection, but that God leads souls by many different roads. At the same time she knew that in order to teach the theology and practice of prayer, one has to follow a basic pattern or structure. The journey to spiritual perfection is a progressive passage from the lower to the higher stages of prayer, from ascetical to mystical prayer. And since St. Teresa treats only briefly of the lower grades of prayer in her definitive work, The Interior Castle, it is necessary to turn to her two earlier works for a fuller description of the ascetical grades of prayer.

The Life

In her first work St. Teresa explains the grades of prayer by using the symbol of the “four waters,” or more precisely, the four methods of watering a garden. The first method is by drawing water from a well by means of a bucket attached to a rope. This is the first stage of prayer and it includes vocal prayer and discursive meditation. The individual is active, exercising the faculties and reaping what benefit it can through one’s own efforts. But lest the beginners think too much and turn their discursive meditation into an intellectual exercise, St. Teresa advises them “not to spend all their time in doing so. Their method of prayer is most meritorious, but since they enjoy it so much, they sometimes fail to realize that they should have some kind of a sabbath, that is, a period of rest from their labors. . . . Let them imagine themselves, as I have suggested, in the presence of Christ, and let them continue conversing with him and delighting in him, without wearying their minds or exhausting themselves by composing speeches to him” (The Life, chap. 13).

The second method of watering a garden is by means of a waterwheel to which dippers are attached. As the wheel is turned, the water is poured into a trough that carries the water to the garden. St. Teresa explains that this stage, in which “the soul begins to recollect itself, borders on the supernatural. . . . This state is a recollecting of the faculties within the soul, so that its enjoyment of that contentment may provide greater delight” (The Life, chap. 13).

The third type of watering a garden is by irrigation by means of a running stream. It doesn’t call for human effort as in the two previous methods. Prayer at this stage is mystical; that is, all the faculties are centered on God. “This kind of prayer,” says St. Teresa, “is quite definitely a union of the entire soul with God” (The Life, chap. 17). She calls it a “sleep of the faculties” because they are totally occupied with God. “Not one of them, it seems, ventures to stir, nor can we cause any of them to be active except by striving to fix our attention very carefully on something else, and even then I don’t think we could succeed entirely in doing so” (The Life, chap. 16).

The fourth and final method for watering a garden is by means of falling rain. This stage of prayer is totally mystical, meaning that it is infused by God and is not attained by human effort. It is called the prayer of union, and it admits of varying degrees.

The grades of prayer described by St. Teresa in The Life do not correspond to the division of prayer that is usually given in manuals of spiritual theology. There are several reasons for this, and the first one is possibly the fact of the discrepancy of 15 years between her first and the last major work. Secondly, the precise terminology to describe some the transitional grades of prayer between discursive mental prayer and the prayer of the transforming union did not come into common use until the seventeenth century. Thirdly, since she was writing from her own experience, it is possible that St. Teresa had passed immediately from discursive meditation to a high degree of infused, mystical prayer.

The Way of Perfection.

When we turn to The Way of Perfection, which St. Teresa began in 1565, we notice that there are some adjustments in her division. Since the first nuns of the Teresian reform had asked her to teach them about mental prayer, it is logical that she would be more precise and detailed, especially when speaking of the earlier stages of mental prayer. One of the most obvious differences in The Way of Perfection is that St. Teresa tries to distinguish between the prayer of active recollection and the prayer of infused recollection.

In Chapters 28 and 29 she discusses the prayer of active recollection. After recalling that St. Augustine had said that he had looked for God in many places and finally found God within himself, St. Teresa asserts that one need not go to heaven to speak to God, nor is it necessary to speak in a loud voice. “However quietly we speak, he is so near that he will hear us. We need no wings to go in search of him, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon him present within us” (chap. 28).

If one prays in this way, conversing with God who dwells in the soul through sanctifying grace, even if the prayer is vocal, the mind will be recollected. It is called prayer of recollection because “the soul gathers together all its faculties and enters within itself to be with its God” (loc. cit.). This may prove to be something of a struggle in the beginning, says St. Teresa, but if a person cultivates the habit of recollection, the soul and the will gain such power over the senses that “they will only have to make a sign to show that they wish to enter into recollection and the senses will obey and let themselves be recollected” (ibid.).

When St. Teresa spoke of the prayer of recollection in Chapter 15 of The Life, she said that “this quiet and recollection. . .is not something that can be acquired.” But in Chapter 29 of The Way of Perfection she says: “You must understand that this is not a supernatural state, but depends on our will, and that, by God’s favor, we can enter it of our own accord. . . . For this is not a silence of the faculties; it is an enclosing of the faculties within itself by the soul.” In other words, it is an ascetical, acquired grade of prayer, and not a mystical, infused grade.

What St. Teresa calls the prayer of quiet in Chapter 31, on the other hand, is definitely the prayer of infused recollection, a type of mystical, infused contemplation. Later on, she will further refine her terminology, but for the moment we should read her description of this “prayer of quiet.”

I still want to describe this prayer of quiet to you in the way that I have heard it explained and as the Lord has been pleased to teach it to me. . . . This is a supernatural state and however hard we try, we cannot acquire it by ourselves. . . . The faculties are stilled and have no wish to move, for any movement they make seems to hinder the soul from loving God. They are not completely lost, however, since two of them are free and they can realize in whose presence they are. It is the will that is captive now. . . . The intellect tries to occupy itself with only one thing, and the memory has no desire to busy itself with more. They both see that this is the one thing necessary; anything else will cause them to be disturbed (chap. 31).

The predominant characteristics of the prayer of quiet are peace and joy, for the will is totally captivated by divine love. The faculties of intellect and memory are still free and may wander, but the soul should pay no attention to the operations of these faculties. To do so would cause distraction and anxiety. Later on, in the prayer of union, it will be impossible for the intellect and memory to operate independently, because all the faculties will be centered on God. But to learn St. Teresa’s teaching on the prayer of union, we must consult her final major work.

The Interior Castle.

Using the symbol of a castle containing seven apartments or suites (las moradas), St. Teresa identifies the first three as the stages of prayer in the ascetical phase of the spiritual life, and the treatment is very brief because she has already discussed the lower degrees of prayer in her previous works. The last four stages of prayer, from the fourth to the seventh moradas, represent the various degrees of mystical prayer. And at the very outset of her discussion of the grades of mystical prayer, St. Teresa advises the reader:It may be that I am contradicting what I myself have said elsewhere. This is not surprising, because almost fifteen years have passed since then, and perhaps the Lord has now given me a clearer realization of these matters than I had at first (Fourth Mansions, chap. 2).

The most noteworthy changes in The Interior Castle are a clear distinction between acquired and infused recollection, further precisions concerning the prayer of quiet, and the description of sensible consolations and infused spiritual delights.

St. Teresa had previously discussed the prayer of recollection in Chapters 15 and 16 of The Life and in Chapters 28 and 29 of The Way of Perfection. Consequently, in The Interior Castle she makes only a brief reference to it, saying that “in the prayer of [acquired] recollection it is unnecessary to abandon [discursive] meditation and the activity of the intellect” (Fourth Mansions, chap. 3). In the subsequent literature on the practice of prayer this acquired recollection will be called by various names: prayer of simplicity, prayer of simple regard, acquired contemplation, and the loving awareness of God.

It is in the Fourth Mansions of The Interior Castle, says St. Teresa, that “we now begin to touch the supernatural.” She is preparing to discuss the prayer of quiet, which she also calls the “prayer of consolations from God.” However, before doing so, she turns back to describe the prayer of infused recollection.

First of all, I will say something (though not much, as I have dealt with it elsewhere) about another kind of prayer, which almost invariably begins before this one. It is a form of recollection which also seems to me supernatural. . . . Do not think that the soul can attain to him merely by trying to think of him as present within the soul. This is a good habit and an excellent kind of meditation, for it is founded on a truth, namely, that God is within us. But it is not the kind of prayer that I have in mind. . . . What I am describing is quite different.

As I understand it, the soul whom the Lord has been pleased to lead into this mansion will do best to act as I have said.. Let it try, without forcing itself or causing any turmoil, to put a stop to all discursive reasoning, yet not to suspend the intellect nor to cease from all thought, although it is good for it to remember that it is in God’s presence and who this God is. If this experience should lead to a state of absorption, well and good, but it should not try to understand what this state is, because it is a gift bestowed on the will. Therefore, the will should be allowed to enjoy it and should not be active except to utter a few loving words (Fourth Mansions, chap. 3).

Thus, the prayer of infused recollection is the first grade of mystical prayer in the Teresian schema of the degrees of prayer. In this Fourth Mansion of the spiritual life she also clearly distinguishes the prayer of infused recollection from the prayer of quiet, wherein the human will is completely captivated by divine love. And since the will is now operating on the mystical level, the individual experiences peace, sweetness and spiritual delight, which are fruits of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the experience is so intense that the individual passes into a swoon or a state of languor which St. Teresa calls a “sleep of the faculties.” However, she also warns that hypersensitive persons of a weak constitution, bad health or an excessively austere life may sometimes think that they are experiencing a “sleep of the faculties” when in reality it is caused by one of the aforesaid conditions (Fourth Mansions, chap. 3).

Although some authors classify “sleep of the faculties” as a distinct grade of mystical prayer, St. Teresa makes so little of it that it seems to be merely an intensification of the prayer of quiet.

From the Fifth to the Seventh Mansions, St. Teresa treats of the final and highest grade of mystical prayer: the prayer of union. In this grade of mystical prayer there are various degrees of intensity and St. Teresa identifies them and describes the phenomena that normally accompany the prayer of union. In the Fifth Mansions she describes the prayer of simple union by saying that “God implants himself in the interior of the soul is such a way that, when it returns to itself, it cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God” (chap. 1). It should be noted, however, that although St. Teresa is here discussing the mystical prayer of union, she urges the nuns to “ask our Lord to give you this perfect love for your neighbor,” because “if you are lacking in this virtue, you have not yet attained union” (chap. 3).

In the Sixth Mansions the soul experiences the spiritual betrothal (mystical espousal) which is usually accompanied by mystical phenomena such as painful trials and wounds of love, ecstasy and rapture, flights of the spirit, or even locutions and visions. This is the longest section of The Interior Castle—eleven chapters—because St. Teresa describes and explains the phenomena that accompany the mystical espousal. She also points out the dangers of such gifts, but admits that if they are received in the proper spirit, they can contribute greatly to the soul’s purification and sanctification. The basic characteristic of this grade of mystical prayer is that the soul is wounded with love for the divine Spouse and seeks every opportunity to be alone with him. It willingly renounces everything that could possibly disturb its solitude.

Finally, in the Seventh Mansions, the soul experiences the transforming union or mystical marriage. This is the highest state of prayer that can be reached in this life on earth. St. Teresa begins by discussing the indwelling of the Trinity. The soul “sees these three Persons, individually, and yet, by a wonderful kind of knowledge which is given to it, the soul realizes that most certainly and truly all these three Persons are one Substance and one Power and one Knowledge and one God alone” (chap. 1). She then describes the various effects of the prayer of the Seventh Mansions, and she concludes The Interior Castle with some very important observations:

“You must not build on foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs. . . . Anyone who fails to go forward begins to fall back, and love, I believe, can never be content for long where it is. You may think that I am speaking about beginners, and that later on one may rest; but. . .the only repose that these souls enjoy is of an interior kind; of outward repose they get less and less. . . . We should desire and engage in prayer, not for our enjoyment, but for the sake of acquiring the strength which fits us for service. . . . Believe me, Martha and Mary must work together. . . . I will end by saying that we must not build towers without foundations, and that the Lord does not look so much at the magnitude of anything we do as at the love with which we do it. If we accomplish what we can, His Majesty will see to it that we become able to do more each day” (Seventh Mansions, chap. 4).

By collating all the material contained in the works of St. Teresa and taking into account the contributions by later authors on the practice of prayer, we can offer the following schema of the grades of prayer:

>Vocal Prayer, with attention to what one is saying or reading and God, whom one is addressing.

>Discursive Meditation: consideration of a spiritual truth; application to oneself, and resolve to do something about it.

>Affective Mental Prayer: one turns to “other,” namely, God, and prayer becomes “the language of love.”

>Acquired Recollection: also called prayer of simplicity, prayer of simple regard, acquired contemplation, the loving awareness of God.

>Infused Recollection: the first degree of infused, mystical contemplation. Prayer of Quiet: the will is totally captivated by divine love; sometimes all the faculties are likewise captivated (sleep or ecstasy).

>Prayer of Simple Union: both the intellect and the will are absorbed in God. Prayer of Ecstatic Union: this is the “mystical espousal” or “conforming union.”

>Prayer of Transforming Union: also called the “mystical marriage” because it is the most intimate union of the soul with God that is possible in this life.

This feast concludes the octave of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. We honor Mary as Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace since she is the Mother of the Son of God, the Author of Grace.

‘The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of the Incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. As decreed by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine Redeemer, His associate, uniquely generous, and the Lord’s humble servant. She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented Him to the Father in the Temple; and was united with Him in His suffering as He died on the cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, with our Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is Mother to us all in the order of grace’ (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, 61).

Prayer

Rough translation of this Spanish prayer to St. Maravillas:

PRAYER

Christ Jesus, who commanded us to learn from your Heart humility and gentleness! I thank you for having glorified in the Church your humble servant, St. Maravillas de Jesus. Thus, Lord, you’ve given in heaven the award because of the fidelity with which she served you on earth. Let the example of her virtues arouse in many souls the desire to follow the true Way, the Truth and the Life that You are. Deign to grant by her intercession the favors I ask. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be

Fr. Elias give the homily for the Feast day of St. Elias as he is called in Latin or in Hebrew Elijah, the prophet of the Old Testament. He explains the roles of the prophets. He was called the prophet of fire because he called down fire from heaven multiple times. Elijah is actually means a very short Creed in that it means “Yahweh is God” which is fitting for his mission which was to turn the Israelite from false Gods, the Baals. He says that today we need him again since the Baals have returned in form of Foot-Baal, Basket-Baal and even goof-baal, in that we worship ourselves. He finally associates Elijah with the End times in that he is taken to heaven on a fiery chariot near the valley of Armageddon whee the final battle between good and evil will take place and will come to an end with fire coming down to consume the army of the anti-Christ.

For the Carmelite Proper Office of the Divine Office for the feast day of Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, scroll down to Page 104 here at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-ueOC43HWcobW4xaFctY25TVkk/edit

“I would not miss Holy Communion for anything in the world.”

~ Mother Therese of Jesus, O.Carm with novice

This almost a year old now but just found this article among my million and one Bookmarks!  The picture is so beautiful as is the article on this lovely young woman giving her whole life to Jesus!  She is in the Carmelite Monastery in Alexandria, SD.

Catherine Clemen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Clemen and a proud graduate of Our Lady Star of the Sea School, will be making her first vows to become a Discalced Carmelite Nun in a few weeks.  Please pray the following novena for her, starting August 31st, as she makes her silent retreat before her vows:

“O Holy Spirit, Spirit of wisdom and divine love, impart Your knowledge, understanding, and counsel to youth that they may know the vocation wherein they can best serve God. Give them courage and strength to follow God’s holy will. Guide their uncertain steps, strengthen their resolutions, shield their chastity, fashion their minds, conquer their hearts, and lead them to the vineyards where they will labor in God’s holy service.”

Above taken from this site, http://www.starofthesea.net/index.php/our-parish/blog/555-the-discalced-carmelite-nuns-of-alexandria-sd-joyfully-announce-the-first-profession-of-sister-elizabeth-of-the-mother-of-god-ocd-catherine-lenoma-clemen

(Above, Our Lady of the Bowed Head, also called Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace)

OUR LADY OF THE BOWED HEAD

There have been miraculous images of Mary since the beginning of the Catholic Church, some of the very first ones having been painted by St. Luke, the Evangelist.

Since the time of St. Luke, thousands of pictures and statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary have been carved, painted, or fashioned in some way, by all kinds of different people from around the world. Some of these pictures become famous, usually due to some form of miraculous intervention. One such picture is Our Lady of the Bowed Head, from Vienna, Austria.

A Carmelite Monk, Venerable Dominic of Jesus and Mary, found one in 1610. He was looking over an old broken down house which he wanted to convert into a Carmelite Monastery. Fr. Dominic walked around the outside of the house and passed by a pile of garbage, but paid no attention to it. But as he entered the house and started looking over the rooms, suddenly he felt the urge to go back to the pile of garbage. Lighting his lantern, the good priest took a closer look at the heap of garbage.

Suddenly his eyes fell upon an old oil painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

He was shocked! “Who would throw a beautiful picture of Our Lady in the garbage,” he wondered. Then Fr. Dominic apologized to Mary, “I am sorry, dear Mother, that someone has treated thy image in such a terrible manner. I will take it back to the monastery with me and fix it up, and I will give thee the homage which thou so rightly deserve.” After returning to the monastery, Dominic cleaned the picture and repainted the damaged parts. Now he could hang the picture up in his cell and give Mary the devotion and attention which she deserved. He prayed to the Madonna with great confidence, asking her for many graces and blessings.

One evening when he had just finished sweeping his cell, Fr. Dominic noticed that the picture of Our Lady had some dust on it. He was crushed, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry my dearest Mother!” He exclaimed. “I humbly beg thy pardon for forgetting to dust thy picture.” Then taking out his handkerchief he began to dust the picture saying, “O purest and holiest of Virgins, nothing in the whole world is worthy to touch thy holy face. Dear Mother, I only have this coarse, old handkerchief and I beg of thee to please accept my good will in dusting thy image.” Fr. Dominic continued dusting the picture of Mary, when suddenly the face of Our Lady came to life! She smiled at the holy priest and nodded her head as a sign of thanksgiving. Dominic was afraid that what he was seeing was a trick of the devil. But Our Lady cleared up his doubts saying, “Fear not, my son, for your request is granted! (Dominic had earlier requested a favor of her.) Your prayer will be answered and will be part of the reward, which you will receive for the love that you have for my Son Jesus and myself. Now Dominic I want you to ask me with all confidence, what favor you would like me to give you.” The holy monk then fell upon his knees. “O my dear Mother, I offer myself entirely to thee and to thy dear Son Jesus, and I desire to do anything that thou and Jesus will ask of me. O my Lady, I know that the soul of a benefactor is suffering in Purgatory. Wouldst thou please be so kind as to deliver this soul from the fires of Purgatory?”

“Dominic, my son,” Our Lady encouraged, “I will deliver this soul from Purgatory, if you will make many sacrifices and will have many Masses offered for this soul.” Then the apparition of Mary faded away.

The good monk hurried to do as Our Lady had asked. Some time later, when all had been completed, he again knelt before the miraculous painting of Our Lady. Suddenly Mary appeared to him again, but this time she appeared with the soul of the special benefactor, whom she had delivered from Purgatory. The benefactor was grateful, “Thank you, Fr. Dominic, for helping to release my soul from the fires of Purgatory with your prayers and sacrifices.”

“Dominic,” Our Lady encouraged, “I would like you to ask me for more favors and blessings. I am the Mother of God and I delight in helping my children to obtain graces for their salvation.” Fr. Dominic thought for a moment and then spoke, “Dear Mother, wouldst thou please be so kind as to listen mercifully to the prayers of all those who will honor thy image and ask for thy help.” Our Lady replied, “All those who ask for my protection and honor this picture with devotion will obtain an answer to their prayers and will receive many graces. Moreover, I will pay special attention to the prayers which are offered to me, for the relief of the souls in Purgatory.”

The vision of Our Lady soon disappeared and Fr. Dominic thought about what he should do: “Our Lady made her promises to all who would honor and pray to her, before this miraculous image. Therefore, I can no longer keep this holy picture in my cell, I must have it put in a church, where the people can honor it.”

He then took the picture and had it placed in the Oratory of St. Charles, which was attached to the Church of Santa Maria de la Scale. Many people came to pray before the picture of Our Lady and it became a source of many graces and blessings. The holy image remained at the Oratory until Fr. Dominic’s death, which occurred in Vienna, on February 16, 1630. Some copies of the miraculous picture were painted and soon they were honored in many places.

Maximilian, the Duke of Bavaria, had been one of Dominic’s good friends, and also a friend of the Carmelites. One day he asked Fr. Nicholas, the Vicar General of the Carmelite Order, if he could borrow the miraculous image of Mary. The priest said he could borrow it and the Duke was overjoyed.

Arrangements were made, and Br. Anastasius of St. Francis was chosen to take the holy picture to Munich, Germany. He had been Fr. Dominic’s travelling companion for over 15 years, and was most worthy of this honor. On August 7, 1631, Br. Anastasius also wrote and signed a special document telling about all the things which Dominic had told him about the miraculous picture and all the miracles related to it.

The Duke of Bavaria took the miraculous picture when it arrived in Munich, and kept it for a while. He then gave it to the Carmelite Priests in Munich, who received it with great joy.

Some time later, in 1631, the Carmelites loaned it to Emperor Ferdinand II. He was a very generous man, who founded the Carmelite Monasteries in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Vienna, Austria. The Emperor and his wife, Empress Eleanor, were delighted when the picture of Our Lady arrived at the palace. They placed it in the palace chapel and had it richly adorned in a splendid fashion. Thus, they honored the Queen of Heaven in a most glorious manner, a manner that she so much deserved. The Emperor had great confidence in “Our Lady of the Bowed Head,” and always begged her to help him with all his difficulties. Ferdinand loved the Most Blessed Virgin very much and he is even supposed to have taken the picture with him every time he had to travel somewhere. Time passed, and one day the good Emperor died. Empress Eleanor then joined the convent of Carmelite Nuns, which she and her husband had founded in Vienna. The miraculous picture of Our Lady was also transferred to the convent, and Eleanor placed it in the chapel, over the main altar.

When the Empress died in June 1655, the picture was given back to the Carmelite Fathers. Now the picture was back in a public church where people could pray before this miraculous image of Our Lady. Soon crowds of people were coming to pray before the holy picture. Our Lady did not forget her promise that: “All those who ask for my protection and honor this picture with devotion, will obtain an answer to their prayers and will receive many graces. I will pay special attention to the prayers which are offered to me, for the relief of the souls in Purgatory.”

When people prayed to Our Lady of the Bowed Head, she heard their prayers and granted them special favors and graces; souls were comforted or released from Purgatory, people were cured and sinners were converted. In time a new Church and Monastery was built, and on December 14, 1901, the miraculous image of Our Lady was transferred to its new place of honor. Benefactors had built a beautiful altar in honor of Our Lady of the Bowed Head and the holy picture of Mary was placed by this altar. From here it can still be venerated by loving devotees and pilgrims.

Short Biography

Father Dominic of Jesus and Mary was born in 1559. He became a Carmelite at an early age, but desiring to live a stricter life, he joined the Discalced Carmelites founded by St. Teresa of Avila, and became its fifth General.

During the Thirty Years War between the Catholics and the Protestants, Pope Paul V sent Father Dominic to Emperor Ferdinand II, who was preparing to engage in what was hoped to be a decisive battle. Father Dominic brought with him a picture of the Nativity of Christ, in which the Protestants had poked the eyes out of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and the shepherds. “With a crucifix in one hand and the picture suspended around his neck, he moved among the combatants, animating the Catholics to fight for their Faith and to gain the victory he promised would be theirs.” The Catholics won a decisive victory.

He died on February 16, 1630, while on a mission for Pope Urban VIII to settle some differences between the nobles of Austria. His biographers relate numberless miracles alleged to have been wrought by him during his life for which he was called the “Thaumaturgus” (wonder-worker) of his time. Fr. Dominic was declared Venerable by St. Pius X, in 1907.

(the above taken from http://www.salvemariaregina.info/MarianShrines/BowedHead.html)

I am teaching myself Liturgical Latin – as this IS different from regular Latin – so I and you do not have to go to a Latin Mass (or listen to EWTN’s mass on TV) and not understand it.  Teach yourself!  I am using this book as a main source to teach myself liturgical Latin: from Lulu.com “Liturgical Latin: Church Latin and Your Missal”.  Even if you just want to learn how to pronounce, read and understand prayers like the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, etc.

Have you ever been asked why Traditional Catholics like to have Mass celebrated in a language which no one can understand? I have had it asked of me and heard it asked of others. This is a great answer to why we prefer to have Mass celebrated in the Latin language.

The video is taken from the consecration of the church of Saints Peter and Paul at the Fraternity of St. Peter seminary in Lincoln, Nebraska.