Monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone. A monastery includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, may serve as an oratory. Monasteries vary in size, comprising a small dwelling accommodating only a hermit, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex comprises a number of buildings which include a church, cloister, library and infirmary. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community; these may include a hospice, a school, a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge, or a brewery. In English usage, the term monastery is used to denote the buildings of a community of monks.
In modern usage, convent tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics communities of teaching or nursing religious sisters. A convent denoted a house of friars, now more called a friary. Various religions may apply these terms in more specific ways; the word monastery comes from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος – monasterios from μονάζειν – monazein "to live alone" from the root μόνος – monos "alone". The earliest extant use of the term monastērion is by the 1st century AD Jewish philosopher Philo in On The Contemplative Life, ch. III. In England the word monastery was applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Most cathedrals were not monasteries, were served by canons secular, which were communal but not monastic. However, some were run by monasteries orders, such as York Minster. Westminster Abbey was for a short time a cathedral, was a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation, its Chapter preserves elements of the Benedictine tradition.
See the entry cathedral. They are to be distinguished from collegiate churches, such as St George's Chapel, Windsor. In most of this article, the term monastery is used generically to refer to any of a number of types of religious community. In the Roman Catholic religion and to some extent in certain branches of Buddhism, there is a somewhat more specific definition of the term and many related terms. Buddhist monasteries are called vihara. Viharas may be occupied by men or women, in keeping with common English usage, a vihara populated by females may be called a nunnery or a convent. However, vihara can refer to a temple. In Tibetan Buddhism, monasteries are called gompa. In Thailand and Cambodia, a monastery is called a wat. In Burma, a monastery is called a kyaung. A Christian monastery may be a priory, or conceivably a hermitage, it may be a community of men or of women. A charterhouse is any monastery belonging to the Carthusian order. In Eastern Christianity, a small monastic community can be called a skete, a large or important monastery can be given the dignity of a lavra.
The great communal life of a Christian monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the anchoretic life of an anchorite and the eremitic life of a hermit. There has been under the Osmanli occupation of Greece and Cyprus, an "idiorrhythmic" lifestyle where monks come together but being able to own things individually and not being obliged to work for the common good. In Hinduism monasteries are called matha, koil, or most an ashram. Jains use the Buddhist term vihara. In most religions the life inside monasteries is governed by community rules that stipulate the gender of the inhabitants and require them to remain celibate and own little or no personal property; the degree to which life inside a particular monastery is separate from the surrounding populace can vary widely. Others focus on interacting with the local communities to provide services, such as teaching, medical care, or evangelism; some monastic communities are only occupied seasonally, depending both on the traditions involved and the local weather, people may be part of a monastic community for periods ranging from a few days at a time to an entire lifetime.
The life within the walls of a monastery may be supported in several ways: by manufacturing and selling goods agricultural products, by donations or alms, by rental or investment incomes, by funds from other organizations within the religion, which in the past formed the traditional support of monasteries. There has been a long tradition of Christian monasteries providing hospitable and hospital services. Monasteries have been associated with the provision of education and the encouragement of scholarship and research, which has led to the establishment of schools and colleges and the association with universities. Christian monastic life has adapted to modern society by offering computer services, accounting services and management as well as modern hospital and educational administration. Buddhist monasteries, known as vihāra i
Fray Juan de Torquemada
Juan de Torquemada was a Franciscan friar, active as missionary in Spanish colonial Mexico and considered the "leading Franciscan chronicler of his generation." Administrator, engineer and ethnographer, he is most famous for his monumental work known as Monarquía indiana, a survey of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of New Spain together with an account of their conversion to Christianity, first published in Spain in 1615 and republished in 1723. Monarquia Indiana was the "prime text of Mexican history, was destined to influence all subsequent chronicles until the twentieth century." It was used by historians, the Franciscan Augustin de Vetancurt and most by eighteenth-century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero. No English translation of this work has been published. There are few firm biographical details concerning Juan de Torquemada, most of which have to be deduced from his own work. Basic information is subject to uncertainty and controversy. Born at Torquemada, north central Spain, at an unknown date before 1566 he was brought by his parents to New Spain while still a child.
He took the Franciscan habit, as is agreed, in 1579, pursued a course of studies in Latin, theology and Nahuatl. Brief notices in his own works put him at the convent in Tlacopan in 1582 and at the convent in Chiauhtla - the presumption being that these relate to his novitiate, it is uncertain if he began his studies at the convento mayor de San Francisco in Mexico City, but it is presumed that part at least of his studies were conducted while resident at the convent of Santiago, Tlatelolco. Among his teachers he names Antonio Valeriano. At some time in the early 1580s he was sent by his superiors to Guatemala where he encountered the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo. By 1584 he was at the convent of San Francisco, where he assisted in the infirmary; the conjectured date of his priestly ordination is 1587 or 1588. He is certain to have known other notable Franciscan friars who were his contemporaries and who were animated, as he was, by a profound interest in the pre-hispanic life and culture of the conquered Indians in New Spain Andrés de Olmos, Gerónimo de Mendieta, Bernardino de Sahagún.
Shortly after ordination, he was sent as a missionary to Nueva Galicia, a large territory in central western New Spain, the capital of, Guadalajara and which extended north to Zacatecas and west to the Pacific. He is next heard of as guardian of the convent at Tlaxcala, although no dates can be assigned to his travels, at this time he is known to have been engaged in missionary work in the central region around Toluca and at various places in Michoacán. Among his achievements during this phase of his life was his role as one of the founders of the Confraternity of Nuestra Señora de Soledad, the indigenous members of which performed, on Sundays, edifying plays and scenes written in their own language by Torquemada for the purposes of inculcating in them and in spectators the Catholic faith. In 1600 and 1601 he was guardian of the convent of Zacatlán. In 1602 he was guardian of the convent of Tulancingo. In 1603, he was elected guardian of the convent of Santiago Tlatelolco, taking up his post there on 22 July.
While guardian of the convent at Tlatelolco, he assumed numerous heavy burdens, both intellectual and practical, not all of which related to the affairs of the Franciscans. Among those which did may be mentioned the fact that the guardian of the convent was ex officio President of the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, a post which entailed general oversight of the conduct of the institution under its rector; the College had, however, so far declined from the ambitious plans which attended its ceremonial opening in 1536 that, by the end of the 16th century, it had become an elementary school where local Indian children learnt reading, writing and good behaviour. In 1604 he visited Zacatecas to assist in the establishment of a Franciscan province to be headquartered there, in 1606 he spent time in Michoacán and Jalisco for the same purpose - the establishment of a new province in Jalisco, carved out of the province of San Pedro y San Pablo covering Michoacán-Jalisco. A surge of vocations from among the criollos as well as a renewed influx of friars from Spain had necessitated a new alignment of responsibilities.
A generation before, numbers of friars in Nueva Galicia had fallen to 16. In striking contrast to this long period of decline, in 1601 and 1602 alone, 14 friars had arrived from Spain destined for Nueva Galicia and 32 more for Zacatecas. Between 1610 and 1618 these numbers were augmented by another 40 arrivals. Abnormally high rainfall in August 1604 led to a devastating flood of Mexico City - one of several inundations from Lake Texcoco which sometimes took years to recede; the city was still an island at this time. Other such inundations occurred in 1555, 1580, 1607 and 1629 resulting in the decision in 1629 to drain part of the lake; as an emergency measure, Viceroy Juan de Mendoza asked the Fr
Cardinal Vicar
Cardinal Vicar is a title given to the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome for the portion of the diocese within Italy. The official title, as given in the Annuario Pontificio, is "Vicar General of His Holiness"; the Bishop of Rome is responsible for the spiritual administration of this diocese, but because the Bishop of Rome is the Pope, with many other responsibilities, he appoints a Cardinal Vicar with ordinary power to assist in this task. Canon law requires all Catholic dioceses to have one or more vicars general, but the Cardinal Vicar functions more like a de facto diocesan bishop than do other vicars general; the holder has been a cardinal. A similar position exists to administer the spiritual needs of the Vatican City, known as the Vicar General for Vatican City, or more Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City, it seems certain that in the twelfth century vicars were named only when the pope absented himself for a long time from Rome or its neighbourhood. When he returned, the vicar's duties ceased.
This may have lasted to the pontificate of Pope Innocent IV. Thus the nomination of a vicar on 28 April 1299, is dated from the Lateran; the office owes its full development to the removal of the Roman Curia to Southern France and its final settlement at Avignon. Since the list of vicars is continuous; the oldest commissions do not specify any period of duration. It is only in the sixteenth century; the nomination was by Bull. The oldest Bull of nomination known bears the date of 13 February 1264. An immemorial custom of the Curia demands that all its officials shall be duly sworn in, this was the case with the vicars. In all probability during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries such oaths were taken at the hands of the pope himself; the duty fell to the Apostolic Camera. The oath, whose text first appears in a document of 21 May 1427 resembles, in its first part, the usual episcopal oath; the oath is conceived in general terms and lays but slight stress on the special duties of the vicar. The official named on 18 October 1412, as representative of the vicar was sworn in, before entering on his office was admonished to take, in presence of a specified cardinal, the usual oath of fidelity to the pope and of a faithful exercise of the office.
According to the oldest known decree of nomination, 13 February 1264, both Romans and foreigners were subject to the jurisdiction of the vicar. In this document, neither the special rights of the vicar nor the local extent of his authority are made known, but it is understood that the territory in question is the city of Rome. On 27 June 1288, the vicar received the rights of "visitation and reformation in spiritual matters..... of dedicating churches and reconciling cemeteries, consecrating altars, blessing and ordaining suitable persons from the city". On 21 July 1296, Pope Boniface VIII added the authority to hear confessions and impose salutary penances. On 6 July 1202, the following variant is met with: "to reform the churches and people of Rome itself", the additional right to do other things pertaining to the office of vicar, his jurisdiction over all monasteries is first vouched for 16 June 1207. The inclusion among these of monasteries and non-exempt and their inmates, without the walls of Rome, was the first step in the local extension of the vicar's jurisdiction.
He was empowered to confer vacant benefices in the city. For a considerable length of time the above-mentioned rights exhibit the fulness of the vicar's authority. Special commissions, multiply in this period, bearing with them in each case a special extension or new application of authority. Under Pope Clement VI the territory of the vicar-general's jurisdiction was notably increased by the inclusion of the suburbs and the rural district about Rome; until the time of Pope Benedict XIV this was the extent of the vicar's jurisdiction. By the "district of the city of Rome" was understood a distance of forty Italian miles from the city walls. Since, the territory of the suburbicarian sees lay within these limits, the vicar came to exercise a jurisdiction concurrent with that of the local bishop and cumulatively; this was a source of frequent conflicts, until 21 December 1744, when the local jurisdiction of the suburbicarian bishops was abolished by Benedict XIV, insofar as their territory fell within the above-mentioned limits.
In the course of time the vicar acquired not only the position and authority of a vicar-general, who has ordinary but delegated power, but the right of subdelegation, whereby he named a vicegerent, his representative not alone in pontifical ceremonies, but in jurisdiction. For the rest, being delegatus a principe he can canonically subdelegate. By a Constitution of Clement VIII, 8 June 1592, the vicar's right to hold a visitation ordinary and extraordinary of churches, monasteries and the people was withdrawn in favour of the Congregatio Visitationis Apostolicæ, newly founded, for the current affairs of the ordinary visitation. Henceforth this duty pertains to the vicarius urbis only in
Cloister
A cloister is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church against a warm southern flank indicates that it is part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went forward outside and around the cloister."Cloistered life is another name for the monastic life of a monk or nun. The English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law translations to mean cloistered, some form of the Latin parent word "claustrum" is used as a metonymic name for monastery in languages such as German; the early medieval cloister had several antecedents, the peristyle court of the Greco-Roman domus, the atrium and its expanded version that served as forecourt to early Christian basilicas, certain semi-galleried courts attached to the flanks of early Syrian churches.
Walter Horn suggests that the earliest coenobitic communities, which were established in Egypt by Saint Pachomius, did not result in cloister construction, as there were no lay serfs attached to the community of monks, thus no separation within the walled community was required. In the time of Charlemagne the requirements of a separate monastic community within an extended and scattered manorial estate created this "monastery within a monastery" in the form of the locked cloister, an architectural solution allowing the monks to perform their sacred tasks apart from the distractions of laymen and servants. Horn offers as early examples Abbot Gundeland's "Altenmünster" of Lorsch abbey, as revealed in the excavations by Frederich Behn. Another early cloister, that of the abbey of Saint-Riquier, took a triangular shape, with chapels at the corners, in conscious representation of the Trinity. A square cloister sited against the flank of the abbey church was built at Inden and the abbey of St. Wandrille at Fontenelle.
At Fulda, a new cloister was sited to the liturgical west of the church "in the Roman manner" familiar from the forecourt of Old St. Peter's Basilica because it would be closer to the relics. Coomans, Thomas. "Life Inside the Cloister. Understanding Monastic Architecture: Tradition, Adaptive Reuse". Leuven University Press. ISBN 9789462701434. Horn, Walter. "On the Origins of the Medieval Cloister". Gesta. 2: 13–52. Doi:10.2307/766633. JSTOR 766633; the Code of Canon Law, cf canons 667 ff. New Advent Encyclopaedia III ff. on "Nuns, properly so called "Cloister" in the New Advent encyclopaedia New Advent Encyclopaedia on "Religious Life Photos and information on cloisters in France and Spain
Pope
The pope known as the supreme pontiff, is the Bishop of Rome and ex officio leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. Since 1929, the pope has been head of state of Vatican City, a city-state enclaved within Rome, Italy; the current pope is Francis, elected on 13 March 2013, succeeding Benedict XVI. While his office is called the papacy, the episcopal see and ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the Holy See, it is the Holy See, the sovereign entity of international law headquartered in the distinctively independent Vatican City State, established by the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between Italy and the Holy See to ensure its temporal and spiritual independence. The primacy of the Bishop of Rome is derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, giving him the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the church would be built; the apostolic see of Rome was founded by Saint Peter and Saint Paul in 1st century, according to Catholic tradition.
The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history. In ancient times the popes helped spread Christianity, intervened to find resolutions in various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of secular importance in Western Europe acting as arbitrators between Christian monarchs. In addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, the defense of human rights. In some periods of history, the papacy, which had no temporal powers, accrued wide secular powers rivaling those of temporal rulers. However, in recent centuries the temporal authority of the papacy has declined and the office is now exclusively focused on religious matters. By contrast, papal claims of spiritual authority have been firmly expressed over time, culminating in 1870 with the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility for rare occasions when the pope speaks ex cathedra—literally "from the chair"—to issue a formal definition of faith or morals.
Still, the Pope is considered one of the world's most powerful people because of his extensive diplomatic and spiritual influence on 1.3 billion Catholics and beyond, as well as the official representative of the Catholic Church being the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world, with a vast international network of charities. The word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning "father". In the early centuries of Christianity, this title was applied in the east, to all bishops and other senior clergy, became reserved in the west to the Bishop of Rome, a reservation made official only in the 11th century; the earliest record of the use of this title was in regard to the by deceased Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope Heraclas of Alexandria. The earliest recorded use of the title "pope" in English dates to the mid-10th century, when it was used in reference to the 7th century Roman Pope Vitalian in an Old English translation of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum.
The Catholic Church teaches that the pastoral office, the office of shepherding the Church, held by the apostles, as a group or "college" with Saint Peter as their head, is now held by their successors, the bishops, with the bishop of Rome as their head. Thus, is derived another title by which the pope is known, that of "Supreme Pontiff"; the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus appointed Peter as leader of the Church, the Catholic Church's dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium makes a clear distinction between apostles and bishops, presenting the latter as the successors of the former, with the pope as successor of Peter, in that he is head of the bishops as Peter was head of the apostles. Some historians argue against the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, noting that the episcopal see in Rome can be traced back no earlier than the 3rd century; the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD 180 reflect a belief that Peter "founded and organized" the Church at Rome.
Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peter's presence in the early Roman Church. Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the "struggles in our time" and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, "first, the greatest and most just columns", the "good apostles" Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, such as Emperor Constantine's erection of the "Old St. Peter's Basilica" on the location of St. Peter's tomb, as held and given to him by Rome's Christian community, many scholars agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero, although some scholars argue that he may have been martyred in Palestine. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches. Episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas.
Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome. In Rome, there were many who claimed to be the rightful bishop, though again Irenaeus stressed the validity of one line of bishops from the time of St. Peter up to his contemporary Pope Victor I and listed them; some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus and Clement were prominent presbyter-bishops
Patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church, the Church of the East are termed patriarchs. The word is derived from Greek πατριάρχης, meaning "chief or father of a family", a compound of πατριά, meaning "family", ἄρχειν, meaning "to rule". A patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family; the system of such rule of families by senior males is termed patriarchy. A patriarch has been the logical choice to act as ethnarch of the community identified with his religious confession within a state or empire of a different creed; the term developed an ecclesiastical meaning, within the Christian Church. The office and the ecclesiastical circumscription of a Christian patriarch is termed a patriarchate. Abraham and Jacob are referred to as the three patriarchs of the people of Israel, the period during which they lived is termed the Patriarchal Age; the word patriarch acquired its religious meaning in the Septuagint version of the Bible.
In the Catholic Church, the bishop, head of a particular autonomous Church, known in canon law as a Church sui iuris, is ordinarily a patriarch, though this responsibility can be entrusted to a Major Archbishop, Metropolitan, or other prelate for a number of serious reasons. Since the Council of Nicaea, the bishop of Rome has been recognized as the first among patriarchs; that Council designated three bishops with this'supra-Metropolitan' title: Rome and Antioch. In the Pentarchy formulated by Justinian I, the emperor assigned as a patriarchate to the Bishop of Rome the whole of Christianized Europe, except for the region of Thrace, the areas near Constantinople, along the coast of the Black Sea, he included in this patriarchate the western part of North Africa. The jurisdictions of the other patriarchates extended over Roman Asia, the rest of Africa. Justinian's system was given formal ecclesiastical recognition by the Quinisext Council of 692, which the see of Rome has, not recognized. There were at the time bishops of other apostolic sees that operated with patriarchal authority beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, such as the Catholicos of Selucia-Ctesephon.
Today, the patriarchal heads of Catholic autonomous churches are: The Bishop of Rome, as head of the Latin Catholic Church The Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia and head of the Armenian Catholic Church, formed 1740, recognised 1742 The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, formed 1552, recognised 1553 The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Catholic Church, established 1824 The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and head of the Maronite Catholic Church, established 685 The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. However, differences exist in the mode of accession. Whereas the election of a major archbishop has to be confirmed by the pope before he may take office, no papal confirmation is needed for a newly elected patriarch before he takes office. Rather, a newly-installed patriarch is required to petition the pope as soon as possible for the concession of what is called ecclesiastical communion.
Furthermore, patriarchs who are created cardinals form part of the order of cardinal bishops, whereas major archbishops are only created cardinal priests. Titular patriarchs do not have jurisdiction over other Metropolitan bishops; the title is granted purely as an honor for various historical reasons. They take precedence after the heads of autonomous churches in full communion, whether pope, patriarch, or major archbishop; the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, established 1099. The Patriarch of the East Indies a titular patriarchal see, united to Goa and Daman, established 1886; the Patriarch of Lisbon, established 1716. The Patriarch of Venice, established 1451; the Patriarch of Aquileia – with rival line of succession moved to Grado - dissolved in 1752. The Patriarch of Grado – in 1451 merged with the Bishopric of Castello and Venice to form the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Venice; the Patriarch of the West Indies – a titular patriarchal see, vacant since 1963. The Latin Patriarch of Antioch – title abolished in 1964.
The titular Latin Patriarch of Alexandria – title abolished in 1964. The Latin Patriarch of Constantinople – title abolished in 1964; the Latin Patriarchate of Ethiopia – 1555 to 1663, never effective, only held by Iberian Jesuits The pope can confer the rank of Patriarch withou
Carmelites
The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order founded in the 12th century, on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States, hence the name Carmelites. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain. Berthold of Calabria has traditionally been associated with the founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived; the charism of the Carmelite Order is contemplation. Carmelites understand contemplation in a broad sense encompassing prayer and service; these three elements are at the heart of the Carmelite charism. The most recent statement about the charism of Carmel was in the 1995 Constitutions of the Order, in which Chapter 2 is devoted to the idea of charism. Carmel understands action to be complementary, not contradictory. What is distinctive of Carmelites is the way that they practice the elements of prayer and service, taking particular inspiration from the prophet Elijah and the Blessed Virgin Mary, patrons of the order.
The order is considered by the Catholic Church to be under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, thus has a strong Marian devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As in most of the orders dating to medieval times, the First Order is the friars, the Second Order is the nuns, the Third Order consists of laypeople who continue to live in the world, can be married, but participate in the charism of the order by liturgical prayers and contemplative prayer. There are offshoots such as active Carmelite sisters. Carmelite tradition traces the origin of the order to a community of hermits on Mount Carmel, which succeeded the schools of the prophets in ancient Israel or the Crusader states. There are no certain records of hermits on this mountain before the 1190s. By this date a group of men had gathered at the well of Elijah on Mount Carmel; these men, who had gone to Palestine from Europe either as pilgrims or as crusaders, chose Mount Carmel in part because it was the traditional home of Elijah.
The foundation is believed to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some time between 1206 and 1214 the hermits, about whom little is known, approached Albert of Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and papal legate, for a rule. Albert created a document, the Rule of St Albert, both juridically terse and replete with Scriptural allusions, thereby grounding the hermits in the life of the universal Church and their own aspirations; the rule consisted of sixteen articles, which enjoined strict obedience to their prior, residence in individual cells, constancy in prayer, the hearing of Mass every morning in the oratory of the community, vows of poverty and toil, daily silence from vespers until terce the next morning, abstinence from all forms of meat except in cases of severe illness, fasting from Holy Cross Day until the Easter of the following year. The Rule of St. Albert addresses a prior whose name is only listed as "B." When required to name their founders, the Brothers referred to both Elijah and the Blessed Virgin as early models of the community.
Under pressure from other European mendicant orders to be more specific, the name "Saint Berthold" was given drawn from the oral tradition of the order. Nothing is known of the Carmelites from 1214, when Albert died, until 1238; the Rule of St. Albert was approved by Pope Honorius III in 1226, again by Pope Gregory IX in 1229, with a modification regarding ownership of property and permission to celebrate divine services; the Carmelites next appear in the historical record, in 1238, when with the increasing cleavage between the West and the East, the Carmelites found it advisable to leave the Near East. Many moved to Sicily. In 1242, the Carmelites migrated west, establishing a settlement at Aylesford, Kent and Hulne, near Alnwick in Northumberland. Two years they established a chapter in southern France. Settlements were established at Losenham and Bradmer, on the north Norfolk coast, before 1247. By 1245 the Carmelites were so numerous in England that they were able to hold their first general chapter at Aylesford, where Simon Stock eighty years old, was chosen general.
During his rule of twenty years the order prospered: foundations were made at London and Cambridge, Cologne, Monpellier, Norwich and Bristol, elsewhere. By 1274, there were 22 Carmelite houses in England, about the same number in France, eleven in Catalonia, three in Scotland, as well as some in Italy and elsewhere. Acknowledging the changed circumstances of life outside the Holy Land, the Carmelites appealed to the papal curia for a modification of the Rule. Pope Innocent IV entrusted the drafting of a modified Rule to two Dominicans, the new Rule was promulgate
