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The dossiers concerning the Saints whose feasts were celebrated in January were the first in the long series of hagiographic dossiers that Henschen published between 1643 and his death in 1681. It would seem that, when he published a revised version of the dossier on St Peter Thomas O.Carm. in 1659, sixteen years after the publication of the original, he had come to recognise some errors that needed correction, both in terms of positions that he had taken and in terms of the normative nature of the Life written by Philippe de Mézières. The more significant changes introduced concerned the structure and content of the introductory commentary, some minor changes to the text of the Life by de Mézières and more major changes to the attached notes, and a greatly extended treatment of the appendix to that Life to include edited versions of later texts associated with the original appendix and edited transcriptions of most of the papal bulls that had been included in Wadding’s Life.
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Balbino Velasco Bayón, O. Carm. nació en Lovingos (Segovia) en 1926. Ingresó en el seminario carmelita del Santuario de El Henar (Segovia). Cursó Humanidades, Filosofía y Teología en centros de la Orden del Carmen: Villarreal de los Infantes (Castellón), Osuna (Sevilla), Onda (Castellón). Profesó en 1942. Se ordenó de sacerdote en 1948 en Segovia. Estudió Filosofía y Letras en las universidades de Salamanca y Madrid y, tras varios años de labor docente, se dedicó plenamente a la investigación. Fue miembro correspondiente la Real Academia de la Historia y a la de San Quirce de Segovia y académico de mérito de la Academia de la Historia de Portugal. Fue también miembro del Instituto Carmelitano de Roma. Falleció en Madrid el 3 de noviembre de 2013.
“Es indiscutible que la visión de conjunto que compendia esta obra es inigualable. Lo es porque nos encontramos ante una obra de autor en el sentido amplio de la palabra, que recoge la labor de decenios de investigación y que nos da la medida del historiador que volcó con generosidad su saber para dejar memoria de la Historia de la Orden del Carmen y para enseñanza de las generaciones venideras” (Henar Pizarro Llorente, editora del Diccionario).
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La reforma de los regulares impulsada por el Concilio de Trento inspiró la fundación del Monasterio de San Juan Bautista de Villalba del Alcor, el primer convento carmelita recoleto de España, nacido hace ahora cuatrocientos años, tras la traumática escisión de los descalzos, en un modesto rincón del antiguo Reino de Sevilla. Precisamente por ello, el convento de Villalba carecía, a diferencia de la mayor parte de sus contemporáneos, de las inercias impuestas por los usos preconciliares, lo que convierte a su pequeño universo de intramuros en una muestra de excepcional valor para determinar el grado de influencia que pudo llegar a ejercer el espíritu reformador tridentino en las comunidades religiosas femeninas del Antiguo Régimen, para averiguar en qué medida pudo condicionar su estilo de vida, su organización interna, su evolución económica y demográfica. Pero además, el microcosmos de la clausura villalbera fue también una reproducción a pequeña escala de la sociedad de su tiempo, sometida como ésta a los avatares de la España Moderna: la crisis económica del siglo XVII, el impacto demográfico de los azotes epidemiológicos de 1649, 1709 y 1800 o la Guerra de Sucesión, el traslado de la Casa de la Contratación de Sevilla a Cádiz en 1717, la creciente animadversión de los gobiernos ilustrados hacia los mendicantes… Hijas de Trento pretende, por ello, ayudar al lector del siglo XXI a entender la trayectoria de una minúscula cáscara de nuez que navegó, al albur de rápidos y turbulencias, sobre el indómito y contradictorio torrente de la Historia. Pero, sobre todo, a comprender la de su pequeña comunidad humana, que intentó permanecer fiel a sus orígenes contra viento y marea, y que, pese a la implacable realidad de los tiempos, logró mantener la nave a flote, bogando a veces casi a la deriva pero sin permitir nunca que llegara a zozobrar.
PEDRO J. GODOY DOMÍNGUEZ
Es licenciado en Historia Medieval por la Universidad de Sevilla, Diploma Europeo de Estudios Medievales por la Federación Internacional de Estudios Medievales y máster en Administración Pública también por la Universidad de Sevilla. Cursó estudios de ciencias y técnicas historiográficas en el Archivo Secreto Vaticano y la Biblioteca Apostólica Vaticana. Ha sido profesor de los másteres de Archivística y Auditoría Pública de la Universidad de Sevilla. Pertenece al Cuerpo de Archiveros de la Junta de Andalucía y ha colaborado en distintas publicaciones especializadas en archivística, historia y narrativa histórica. En calidad de delegado de la comunidad carmelita y miembro de la comisión creada ad hoc, ha impulsado y coordinado los actos conmemorativos del IV Centenario de la fundación del Monasterio de San Juan Bautista de Villalba del Alcor.
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L’auteur évoque un Carme né et mort à Toulouse, le P. Ange, Provincial de Toulouse élu Prieur Général de son Ordre en 1704, témoin et parfois acteur de quelques-uns des événements qui troublèrent les dernières années du Grand Siècle: l’affaire de la Régale […] la querelle des ultramontains et des gallicans, la franchise des quartiers, la rétendue “excommunication secrète” du Roi, les Filles de l’Enfance, la filiation élianique, le Scapulaire,Bossuet et Fénelon devant le Saint-Office…
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The second of the January volumes of the Bollandist critical hagiography known as the Acta Sanctorum was published in 1643 and it included the dossier on the fourteenth-century papal diplomat and Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Peter Thomas O.Carm., compiled by Godfrey Henschen S.J. The dossier was in two parts, the first a critical review by Henschen of previous scholarship on the activity of St. Peter as papal legate and the second an edited transcript of the Life of St. Peter by his associate and friend, Philippe de Mézières, the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Cyprus, as found in the Cronicon Universale of Tierri Pauwels. Identifying the various later accounts of the Life of St. Peter Thomas and, in particular, those accounts by Carmelite authors that sought to represent him in a manner that was not consistent with the account by De Mézières, Henschen argues, for example, that the claim that St. Peter was martyred is inconsistent with the eye-witness acount of the last illness an death of the Saint by De Mézières. The Pauwels text on which Henschen bases his edition of the Life has, in more recent times, been recognised as flawed in some significant ways, and Henschen later revised the critical review that forms the first part of the present manuscript, but the 1643 dossier constitutes, nevertheless, the first truly critical study of the hagiography of St Peter and it continues to be the text that is most frequently mentioned and cited. This is the first English translation and edition of a document that is important, not only from the point of view of historiography, but also from the perspective of the history of the fourteenth-century. As far as possible, the various historical sources and individuals mentioned either in the Life of St. Peter or in the critical review by Henschen have been identified and indexed and notes have been provided to enable the modern reader to appreciate the significance of some obscure points in the text.
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Szymon Sułecki (1975), a history graduate from the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow (2000), PhD (2013), works at the Carmelite monastery at Piasek in Cracow (archive and special collections), his interests focus primarily on history of the Carmelites in Poland, as well as sphragistics and bibliological issues, author of scientific publications, participant of numerous scientific conferences, organizer of exhibitions devoted to Carmelite issues, member of The Carmelite Library Association.
The library of the Carmelite Convent at Piasek in Cracow is a unique treasure. It has survived in its basic shape from the 15th century, and almost entirely from the end of the 16th century. During the upheavals that befell the monastery throughout over 600 years of its existence (it was founded in 1397) its library would be moved to other places and hidden. The decoration scheme surviving in the library from the 17th century is a reflection of the special importance held by the book collection in the Cracow convent.
The Library of the Carmelite Monastery at Piasek in Cracow is the first monograph study on the library of the Cracow Carmelites at Piasek. It presents the first 400 years of its existence starting from its inception late in the 14th century, through its development in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries, to its flowering during the 17th and 18th centuries. The study deals with fundamental issues, such as the organization of the library, the Carmelite provisions regulating library issues, as well as reconstructs the contents of its book holdings over successive periods. Surviving manuscripts, including liturgical ones, are discussed. The Carmelite approach to the idea and the institution of a monastery library is traced throughout the ages, while the history of the book collection is linked both with specific events and developments within the monastery itself and with individuals who had the care and use of the library.
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Moreover, the Carmelite Rule has had many interpretations and readings. It is true that in recent decades, scientific studies have multiplied and we can assert without exaggeration, that today we know the Rule better than in any other period in our history. Nevertheless, because of that very richness, those multiple dimensions and readings (Biblical, canonical, spiritual, literary, prophetic and so on), because of the possibilities that the Rule contains for different ages, and above all because it is a living text that is still spoken of today, new perspectives and studies are always welcome.
For these reasons, then, we welcome in the heart of the Carmelite family this book on the Carmelite Rule prepared by Michelle M. Sauer and Kevin Alban. This is a collection of articles that from many diverse points of view can help us understand better the deep and metahistorical sense of our Rule. Suffice to look at the table of contents to have an idea of the wealth of this book and its interdisciplinary character. The origins of this work go back to the VII centenary of the Rule which was celebrated in 2007. To mark that event a series of meetings and conferences were organised and among them was a study day on the Rule during the International Medieval Congress which takes place every year in the university of Leeds in the UK. Seeing the quality of the different papers, a possible publication was planned which has only been realised now for various reasons. We are all glad that the outcome of that study day can now be published and distributed to a wider public in the whole world, thanks to Edizioni Carmelitane in Rome.Tabel of contents
Foreword: Fernando Millán Romeral
Introduction: Kevin J. Alban and Michelle M. SauerPart I: Devotion & the Rule
Patrick Mullins O.Carm.: The Carmelite Rule: Text and Authors
Patrick T. McMahon O.Carm.: The Hermit Community on Mount Carmel, c. 1207 CE
Markus Schürer: Monks, Mendicants, or Hermits: Who Were the Medieval Carmelites?
Paul Chandler O.Carm.: The Rule in the Context of Carmelite Identity Formation: Risking Existence, Establishing Identity
Michelle M. Sauer: The Fifteenth-Century Carmelite Rule of St. Linus for Hermits: Contexts, Controversies, and Albertine InfluencesPart II: Orthodoxy & Dissent in England
Kevin J. Alban O.Carm.: Fighting Lollardy with the Rule: Thomas Netter and the Doctrinale
Valerie Edden: Visual Images as a Way of Defining Identity: The Case of the Reconstructed Carmelite Missal
Naoë Kuki ta Yoshik awa: Margery Kempe and Felip Ribot’s “Liber de institutione primorum monachorum”
Tamás Karáth: Richard Misyn’s Transmission of Rollean Mysticism within and beyond the Carmelite Community
William Rogers: “Homo vanitati adsimilatus:” The Performance of Poverty and Payment in Richard Maidstone’s Penitential Psalms
The Rule of Saint Albert -
The large number of extant documents concerning the early thirteenth-century Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Albert degli Avogadri (c. 1150-1214), demonstrate both his impact on his times and the ways in which his life was shaped by his historical circumstances. Among the documents that were written or co-written by him were those that established, or sanctioned, the normative way of life of three particular groups within the Church of his time: the canons of Biella, in the county of Vercelli, the first (clerical), second (Religious), and third (lay) orders of the Humiliati, and the Latin hermits who became known later as the Carmelites. It is primarily because of his foundational influence on the Carmelites that Albert is remembered today but, together, the surviving documents reveal Albert’s different fields of expertise, his adroit handling of his ecclesiastical responsibilities and the historical circumstances that shaped both his early development and later life. Introducing the reader to the relevant features of the feudal period in which he lived, and to the complex social forces that shaped that age, this documentary biography traces his engagement with the society and Church of his time as a canon regular and Prior of the Holy Cross of Mortara, as Bishop of Vercelli, and as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Divided into two volumes, each of twelve chapters, the first section deals with the period before Albert’s appointment as Bishop of Vercelli in 1185 in two chapters. The three chapters of section two describe the first period of Albert’s ministry as Bishop of Vercelli, 1185-91. In five chapters, the third section presents the second period of Albert’s time in Vercelli, 1191-97, under Pope Celestine III. Section four outlines, in eight chapters, the final period of Albert’s episcopal ministry in Vercelli, 1197-1205, under Pope Innocent III. Albert’s ministry as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem under Pope Innocent III is the subject of the six chapters of section five. Focusing on his roles as mediator and judge in the resolution of conflict and his commitment to reform, the conclusion tries to identify the principal influences and values that shaped Albert’s life.
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The large number of extant documents concerning the early thirteenth-century Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Albert degli Avogadri (c. 1150-1214), demonstrate both his impact on his times and the ways in which his life was shaped by his historical circumstances. Among the documents that were written or co-written by him were those that established, or sanctioned, the normative way of life of three particular groups within the Church of his time: the canons of Biella, in the county of Vercelli, the first (clerical), second (Religious), and third (lay) orders of the Humiliati, and the Latin hermits who became known later as the Carmelites. It is primarily because of his foundational influence on the Carmelites that Albert is remembered today but, together, the surviving documents reveal Albert’s different fields of expertise, his adroit handling of his ecclesiastical responsibilities and the historical circumstances that shaped both his early development and later life. Introducing the reader to the relevant features of the feudal period in which he lived, and to the complex social forces that shaped that age, this documentary biography traces his engagement with the society and Church of his time as a canon regular and Prior of the Holy Cross of Mortara, as Bishop of Vercelli, and as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Divided into two volumes, each of twelve chapters, the first section deals with the period before Albert’s appointment as Bishop of Vercelli in 1185 in two chapters. The three chapters of section two describe the first period of Albert’s ministry as Bishop of Vercelli, 1185-91. In five chapters, the third section presents the second period of Albert’s time in Vercelli, 1191-97, under Pope Celestine III. Section four outlines, in eight chapters, the final period of Albert’s episcopal ministry in Vercelli, 1197-1205, under Pope Innocent III. Albert’s ministry as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem under Pope Innocent III is the subject of the six chapters of section five. Focusing on his roles as mediator and judge in the resolution of conflict and his commitment to reform, the conclusion tries to identify the principal influences and values that shaped Albert’s life.
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En el 2016 celebramos los 450 años del nacimiento de Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi (1566-1607). La carmelita florentina es una de las grandes figuras de la mística femenina del barroco, sin embargo, sigue siendo una gran desconocida en algunos ámbitos. Resulta paradójica esta situación, precisamente porque María Magdalena de Pazzi destacó por la comunicación de su experiencia mística (Se Dio è comunicativo…), que es atractiva e inspiradora en sí misma, y nos descubre todo un mundo de experiencias e interpretaciones. El libro que aquí presentamos se compone de un total de diez capítulos que hemos separado en tres bloques, atendiendo a su temática (vida, representación y mística), que trasladarán al público lector a momentos cruciales de la biografía de la carmelita, al modelo iconográfico de la Santa que trascendió en el arte, y por último, a desgranar un poco más la filigrana de su interior espiritual. Sin duda, esta obra ayudará a conocer mejor la vida y la doctrina de la santa carmelita con motivo de este 450º aniversario de su nacimiento.
Fernando Millán Romeral O.Carm.
Prior General -
Un breve profilo biografico del Carmelitano Francesco Maria Raiti (1864-1932), il quale fu vescovo di Lipari e di Trapani. Le lettere pastorali e altri scritti, qui ripubblicati, offrono la fisionomia di questo pastore, protagonista di un periodo della vita della Chiesa e della società siciliana, non facile per il contesto generale, ma ricco di possibilità e di speranze.
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The commentaries on the Saints (Acta Sanctorum) by Jean Bolland SJ and his fellow ‘Bollandists’ played a significant role in the development of critical hagiography during the seventeenth century. Because of the impact of its formal challenge to the claim by the Carmelites to have an unbroken succession linking them to their alleged founder, the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, Daniel Papenbroeck’s commentary on St Albert of Jerusalem (1675) has been perhaps the most influential of these commentaries. Demonstrating the lack of any historical evidence to support the existence of the Carmelites before the final decades of the twelfth century, and questioning the alleged antiquity of the authors who were cited in support of their existence, it recognised St Albert of Jerusalem (c. 1150-1214) Formula of Life (c. 1206-14) as the earliest extant document of the group who would later become known as the Carmelites. Although Papenbroeck’s dossier on St Albert was praised by those who reviewed it prior to publication, it led to a controversy between the Bollandists and the Carmelites that resulted in the formal excommunication of its author and the placing of the commentary on the index of forbidden books. In time, however, the lack of historical evidence highlighted by Papenbroeck could not be ignored and the alleged Carmelite Saints of the first millennium were eventually dropped from the Carmelite calendar of Saints. During the twentieth century, the Carmelites’ traditional claim to Elijah as their founder has effectively been abandoned and the key role of St Albert of Jerusalem in the origins of the Carmelites has been almost universally recognised. The central role of Papenbroeck’s text in clarifying our true origins and early history has only recently been recognised as misguided loyalty to traditions that have proved to be without foundation has given way to an appreciation that historically verifiable claims demand the verification of historical evidence. Papenbroeck’s Latin text has not been translated before and the introduction and notes accompanying this English translation are designed to provide the necessary context and background for the modern reader. For centuries, Papenbroeck was both the most significant and most neglected study of the origins of the Carmel Carmelites and it remains essential reading for those discerning the authentic sources of the Carmelite charism.