Communicationes No. 25
1-6-2004
CONTENTS
General Definitory
Creation of a new Commissariat: Delhi
Fr Pedro Zubieta: Golden Jubilee of Ordination
New members of the Association in Italy
Rome: 350 anniversary of Regina Coeli Carmel
The sixteen discalced carmelite martyrs of Toledo
GENERAL DEFINITORY
From the 18th - 22nd May the ordinary sessions of the General Definitory were held, during which Fr General and the Definitory discussed their recent pastoral and fraternal visitations.
The Definitory:
created the Commissariat of Delhi from the Regional Vicariate of Punjab in India (see information on the new Commissariat)
appointed Fr Flavio Caloi, OCD, of the Madagascar Commissariate, as Vicar of Mount Carmel (Haifa) and 2nd Councillor of the General Delegation of Israel
fixed the following dates for the future Definitory meetings:
2004 14th - 18th September 16th - 23rd December
2005 9th - 14th May 12th - 17th September 16th - 23rd December
3rd - 12th October: Extraordinary Definitory in Santiago, Chile
2006 1st - 6th May 4th - 9th September 15th - 20th December
On the 24th May the two Definitories, OCD - O.Carm, met at the Generalate of our O.Carm brothers.
COMMISSARIAT OF DELHI
Our Order has over 900 friars in India, distributed in 9 Circumscriptions:
5 Provinces: Malabar, Manjummel, Karnataka-Goa, Tamilnadu and South Kerala;
2 Regional Vicariates: Andhra Pradesh and Punjab;
2 provincial Delegations.
Of the Regional Vicariates, St.Therese Regional Vicariate of Punjab was raised as Commissariat of Delhi by the General Definitory on 21st May 2004. The Vicariate has been a mission region entrusted to the Malabar Province. The Commissariat of Delhi is situated in the North West of India, comprising the States of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.
The Commissariat counts 47 Professed members, of whom 21 are Priests, 1 non-cleric brother, 11 Theology Student, 3 Regents and 11 Philosophy Students. It also has one Novice, 15 postulants and 11 aspirants. The Commissariat has its own Philsophy House at Varanasi (Benares) in Uttar Pradesh, Novitiate House at Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal, Postulancy House at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, and 2 aspirants Houses, one at Una in Himachal Pradesh and the other at Ollur in Kerala. It has 5 canonically erected Houses, 1 residence, 14 Parishes and 10 mission stations with about 3.500 people, 12 Schools and a Spirituality Centre at Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
The Commissariat of Delhi was started as a Carmelite Mission in 1979 and was constituted Regional Vicariate of Punjab in 1993 in view of implanting our Order in this North West region of India. On 17th April 2004 the Vicariate members celebrated the Silver Jubilee of their presence in North India.
Our Congratulations to the New Commissar, Fr.Francis Kiliyampurackal and all the members of the new Commissariat.
50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORDINATION OF FR. PEDRO ZUBIETA O.C.D.
Fr. Pedro Zubieta, of the Navarre Province, celebrated his Golden Jubilee of Ordination on the 9th May in Lima, Peru. He was ordained in Rome on the same day in 1954, together with the present Apostolic Vicar of Kuwait, Mons. Adeodatus Francis Micallef.
Fr Pedro is well known in Rome where he spent many years, first as Professor and Formator at the Teresianum, then as General Secretary of the Order from 1967 to 1991 (24 years!). From 1992 he has been part of the Regional Vicariate in Peru. He has exercised his ministry in the parish of St James the Apostle, Cercado, and is presently Prior of the formation house, Pando, Lima. He is also Episcopal Vicar for Religious in the Archdiocese of Lima.
The celebrations for his Golden Jubilee were truly impressive. They began in the convent of the Carmelitas Nazarenas, which coincided with the Assembly of the Association, Nuestra Senora del Carmen, of our Nuns in Peru, for whom he is Religious Assistant. On the 8th May there was a celebration in the intimacy of the House of Prayer, Chaclacayo, with the Religious of the Vicariate.
The main celebration took place on the 9th May in the Parish of St James the Apostle, in the presence of the Archbishop of Lima, Card. Juan Luis Cipriani, two of the Auxiliary Bishops and a good number of Priests, Religious Men and Women. There was even another celebration in the Archbishops House, in Lima, together with the people with whom Fr. Pedro worked in the Archdiocese. On that occasion, Fr. Pedro received a special Papal Blessing from the Secretary of State.
We join in the congratulations for Fr. Pedro, and wish him and the Religious of Peru every success and blessing for the future.
AD MULTOS ANNOS!
ITALY: NEW MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
With the rescript No. 4973/2003 of the 10th December 2003 the Congregation for Institutes for Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life allowed the convent of Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Enna, in the Diocese of Piazza Armerina, Italy, to belong to the Association, Regina Pacis of the Italian Discalced Carmelite Convents.
With the rescript No. 5751/2004 of the 22nd April 2004 the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life agreed that the convent of the Discalced Carmelite Sisters of Gravina, Bari Diocese, belonging to the Neopolitan Province, can join the Association Mater Carmeli of the Italian Convents of the same Order.
SANTA MARIA REGINA COELI CONVENT 350 ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDATION
Rome, 14th May 1654-2004
On the 14th May the 350th anniversary was celebrated of the foundation of the Regina Coeli Convent, Rome. The following is part of Fr. Generals homily in which he gave a brief synthesis of the history:
In this eucharist of thankgiving we must try to record at least some points of the history of this foundation, Santa Maria Regina Coeli.
1. Foundation
Pope Urban VIII gave official permission for the foundation in 1642. But after the Pope died various difficulties arose. Under Innocent X all was completed on the date that we are celebrating, at Longara.
Three of the four founding Sisters came from Santa Maria del Monte Carmelo in St. Egidio; one of them was the Servant of God, Chiara Maria della Passione, another sister of the benefactors, both of them Pope Urban VIIIs nieces. The other came from the convent of St Joseph, Terni.
2. Historial Events
In 1810, following the decree supressing the Religious by Napoleon, the convent was confiscated and the Nuns had to seek refuge in the convent of Santa Teresa al Quirinale. They were able to return four years later, in 1814.
In 1873 the new Italian Government of Victor Emmanuel decreed that the convent should be suppressed and destined to become a prison. (Later a law was promulgated suppressing all Religious Orders). The community was put up in the nearby convent of the Servants of Mary, and when this was also confiscated the Sisters found a welcome with the Agustinian Nuns (at the SS. Coronati al Celio, 1881).
34 years after the forced expulsion from the convent, in 1907, the Nuns rejoiced to inaugurate a new convent in via Fracesco di Sales. The Church was not completed until 1925: dedicated to St. Therese of the Child Jesus, it was consecrated at the same time as the canonizzation was taken place in St. Peters of the Saint from Lisieux.
The building deteriorated and being surrounded by houses which looked into the convent grounds, in 1965 the community transfered to this new convent on via Monte Carmelo.
The records of the community register the visits of illustrious personages. We recall only the fact that twelve Popes came to visit (Benedict XIV around twenty times).
This convent, that had to seek refuge in other Religious houses, received, in 1866, the Carmel in Terni, and in 1871, that of Sant Teresa al Quirinale. From further afield they came seeking hospitality: in 1792, four Carmelites from Marseilles, and in 1782 two from Milan, who had been thrown out by Joseph II of Austria.
During the Second World War, in 1944, the Sisters of St. Giuseppe were welcomed here. And the Sisters from Ronciglione Carmel, between 1975 and 1979 found here a place to stay while their new convent was being built.
The community offered one Sister for the new foundation in Locarno (Switzerland).
These are just some of the events that had such a great influence on life of this Community, especially when it was supressed and transferred elsewhere.
But even if these events are important they do not record the day to day life of the Commuity during these three hundred and fifty years. This normal, religious life that was lived day after day, in a style that we call contemplative, integrated with prayer, work, fraternal life, in an atmosphere of silence and natural recollection.
After three hundred and fifty years, which were not lacking in events (vicissitudes), we can celebrate the date of your foundation and for this reason give thanks to God. This foundation has been the place where the Lord has been loved and praised, and thus has been a presence of faith and of hope in the midst of the People of God......
THE SIXTEEN DISCALCED CARMELITE MARTYRS OF TOLEDO
On the 25th May the offical presentation (la Positio) of the causes of the martyrdom of Fr. Eusebio of the Child Jesus and fifteen of his campanion martyrs was unanimously approved by the particular Congress (Special Congress of Theological Consultors). The next steps before Beatification are: 1. Congregation of Cardinals and Bishops and 2. Promulgation of the Decree by the Holy Father.