Flos Carmeli, vitis florigera,
splendor caeli, Virgo puerpera singularis.
Mater mitis, sed viri nescia,
Carmelitis esto propitia, stella maris.
IN SOLLEMNITATE B.V. MARIAE DE MONTE CARMELO
Fernando Prior Generalis
Domusque Generalis Communitas
16. VII. 2013
On the 16th of July, 2013, the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the decision of the Prior General, with the consent of his Council, to erect the Province of the Philippines comes into effect. Up to now this had been a General Commissariat and before that a Provincial Commissariat of the Province of the Netherlands. Blessed Titus Brandsma will be the Patron of the new province.
The leaders who have been appointed to hold office until the first provincial chapter, in February 2014, are:
- Prior Provincial: Fr. Christian Buenafe, O.Carm.
- First Councillor: Fr. Rico Ponce, O.Carm.
- Second Councillor: Fr. Roberto Noel Rosas, O.Carm.
- Third Councillor: Fr. Gilbert Sabado, O.Carm.
- Fourth Councillor: Fr. Eduardo Albino, O.Carm.
The erection of the new province will take place on the 16th of July 2013 in Quezon City, Manila in the presence of the Vice-Prior General, Fr. Christian Körner, O.Carm., the Councillor General for Asia, Australia and Oceania, Fr. Albertus Herwanta, O.Carm., and of the Prior Provincial of the Province of the Netherlands, Fr. Ben Wolbers, O.Carm.
We offer our congratulations and prayer to the members of the new province.
Carmelite sister, Saint Edith Stein, was a born into an observant Jewish family. However, by her mid teens, became an atheist. On January 1, 1922, Edith Stein was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church.
Edith Stein was arrested in 1942 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she died in a gas chamber.
On May 1, 1987, Stein was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II and then canonized by him on October 11, 1998.
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As the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is approaching, the Prior General has written a letter to all Carmelite family expressing his best wish and inviting all members to celebrate the Feast by beginning with the Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Custom of making the Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel before the Feast is a long tradition and much observed by many Catholics.
In his letter we are reminded of the importance of the Feast and he asks the whole Carmelite family to "celebrate the Novena and the giving of the scapular, with conviction, affection and pastoral care and attention, with a sense of liturgy and catechesis."
The full text of the message and the Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel can be founded here:
http://ocarm.org/en/content/ocarm/letter-feast-our-lady-mount-carmel
The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Dumaguete City, Philippines, was held 22 June 2013. The following were elected:
- Prioress: Sr. Maria del Rosario C. Somoza, O.Carm.
- 1st Councilor: Sr. M. Angelica G. Verdugo, O.Carm.
- 2nd Councilor: Sr. M. Teresita M. Herrero, O.Carm.
- 3rd Councilor: Sr. M. Melba P. Bruno, O.Carm.
- 4th Couniclor: Sr. M. Joseliza B. Pagao, O.Carm.
- Director of Novices: Sr. M. Victorina C. Olmoguez, O.Carm.
- Treasurer: Sr. M. Joseliza B. Pagao, O.Carm.
