COMMUNICATIONES N° 67
15 – 10 – 2006
CONTENTS
-Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross in the Vatican
-The City of Avila honours a Teresian scholar
-In the Centenary of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
-A Meeting of European Provincials
-Inauguration of Marosszentgyorgory Carmel, Romania
-The new Avila centre in Spain
SAINT TERESA BENEDICT OF THE CROSS IN THE VATICAN
On the eighth anniversary of her canonization, on the eve of the day of her birth, at midday on 11th October Pope Benedict XVI proceeded to bless the marble statue of Saint Edith Stein that has been placed in one of the niches outside the apse of the Vatican Basilica. It is the work of the sculptor Wolfgang Bialas. At the end of the Pope’s Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s square, on his way back to the apostolic palace he stopped in front of the statue, that he then blessed with a simple prayer. About one hundred people were present, coming from Cologne, Bergzabern, and Friedrichstahl; there was also a delegation of orthodox monks and nuns, and a number of rabbis guided by the rector of the “Abraham Geiger Kolleg”, Berlin; also, the Italian and international association of “Ediht Stein”. Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, led the German delegation. Accompanying them were cardinals Marchisano (Rome) and Cyprian Thorne (Lima) with other bishops and the new German ambassador to the Holy See. Fr. Xavier Jayaraj, Definitor General, represented the Order.
Within the Vatican basilica and outside there are already the statues of St. Elijah and St. Teresa, as founders. Next to St. Teresa Benedict of the Cross is the statue of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Andes, placed there three years ago.
THE CITY OF AVILA HONOURS A TERESIAN SCHOLAR
On September 15 the Premio de Letras Teresa de Avila(Teresa of Avila literary award)was given to Fr. Tomas Alvarez, ocd (Burgos Province). It is an award which the City of Avila gives annually evoking the figure of St Teresa the ‘Writer’. It was awarded to Fr. Thomas for his Teresian studies, as much for his recuperation of original Teresian manuscripts, as for his facsimile publications of the works of the Saint and his multiple studies on Teresian history and doctrine. At the same time as the award, the same City of Avila praised the publication of the last book of Fr. Thomas, entitled Cultura de mujer en el siglo XVI: el caso de Santa Teresa (pp 400) (Culture of women in the XVI century: the case of St. Teresa). It concerns a study on the process of the Saint’s formation, as well as her insertion into the Church and society of her time.
The presentation of the award took place on October 10 in the main auditorium, “San Francisco”, in Avila City. The event was presided over by the President of the Spanish Courts.
IN THE CENTENARY OF BL. ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY
Many celebrations, commemorations, and events have been organized, above all, within Carmelite circles for the first centenary of the death of our mystical Carmelite sister. We would like to highlight the celebration in Bourges (France), the Avord military camp is within the Bourges diocese.
It took place from October 7 to 8. It opened in the Carmelite chapel with the following programme in outline: 1) Personal testimony of the conversion-cure of Marie-Paul Stevens, a Belgian national, by the intercession of our Blessed. 2) A vigil-concert led by the cantor Theo Mertens and his ensemble. 3) A conference by the well known specialist Fr. Conrad De Meester, ocd, entitled “To live is to love”.
The following morning, still in the same Bourges Carmelite chapel, a spiritual concert was organized for the youth. It was led by the same musical ensemble that had played the day before, with intervening reflections by Fr. Conrad De Meester. That evening in the cathedral ahuge concert was given, with the participation of the diocesan parish choirs. More than 300 choristerssang homage to Elizabeth Catez, who at the age of 13 won first prize at the Dijon conservatory. It concluded with a solemn Eucharistic concelebration, presided by the Papal Nuncio. The homily was preached by the local archbishop, Mgr. Hubert Barbier, with the participation of the Bishop of Orleans and Fr. Abad de Fontgombault and many priests. 30 Discalced Carmelite nuns, who came for a talk on Elizabeth of the Trinity, joined in the singing and in the liturgy. There was also a representation from the Avord military camp, which, during the offertory, presented the baptismal certificate of the saintly daughter of the soldier; she was born in Burges.
Dijon celebrated the solemn opening of the centenary last June, with the participation of Fr. General. For November, the diocese and the Carmel of Flavignerot have prepared a Conference. It will take place from November 17 to 19 with the general theme of “Elizabeth of Dijon, captivated by God, close to all”. Speakers will be Fr. Didier-Marie Golay, the Benedictine Fr. Jean-Michel Grimaud, Pierre Auffret, a biblical scholar, Conrad de Meester, Mgr. Minnerath, archbishop of Dijon, Jean Clapier, Anthony Lille, Mrs Cladue Gillot-Schapperlr, from the Carmelite Secular Order, Mrs Marie-Paul Stevens and Don Christian Forster. The days will end with a concelebrated eucharist in the Dijon-Flavignerot Carmel.
The parish of St. Michael together with the Carmel of Flavignerot, are offering a series of celebrations from September to June, with special days for children, for youth, prayer vigils, veneration of the urn containing her relics, night walks, exposition, concerts which will be televised from the Carmel. The centenary will close with a concelebration on 3 June next in the Saint Benigno Cathedral.
The Interprovincial Carmelite Centre for Italy will organize another conference on the Blessed, 9th – 10th December in the Spirituality Centre, of Bocca di Magra (La Spezia), northern Italy. It will begin in the evening with a concert by the “St. Peter” choir, from Savona, directed by Piergiorgio Ladote, ocd, with texts from the writings of Elizabeth of the Trinity. The themes of the conference are as follows: 1)Elizabeth reads to St. Paul, St. Paul reads to Elizabeth, by Fr. Roberto Fornara, ocd; 2) “Is God in man? The meaning of the indwelling of the Trinity”, by Fr Ezio Bolis; 3) “In the depths of the eternal Trinity. St Catherine of Siena’s prayer to the Trinity”, by Jacqueline Richard; 4) “Itala Mela: Eucharist and Trinity” by Gianluigi Bagnasco; 5) “Trinity and family. A couple from the Team of Our Lady will read the Praise to the Blessed Trinity”; 6) “Heaven on earth. Christian experience and consecration” by Mgr. Luigi Palletti, auxiliary bishop of Genoa. The concluding eucharist will be presided by the same prelate.
MEETING OF EUROPEAN PROVINCIALS
26th – 28th September 2006
The European Conference of OCD Provincials met at a plenary assembly at our priory in Montecompatri, just south of Rome. The Provincials of Catalonia, Navarre, Malta and Holland were not present. The president, Fr. Gianni Bracchi, provincial of Venice, asked for support in solidarity with Lebanon. The fruit of this appeal was €27,000.00 ($34,000.00), which will be distributed among our Lebanese confreres for food, oil and some rebuilding.
The conference was based on Fr. General’s proposed objectives for the sexennium:
1) rediscover the unity of the Order around the charism, source of unity; a project to construct a common house for vocations; 2) reflect on the vocation of men and women to be in communion with God, which is the intimate nucleus of our dignity, and which becomes at the same time attention, love, and respect of same men and women. Reading the history of humankind, from the light given by the Carmelite charism, we direct ourselves to understand what kind of Europe we are building.
The conference began with a talk by Fr. Antonio Sicari, ocd, who offered us a way of re-reading Carmelite spirituality, a response which often has been both a counter-balance and theological support to the Church in different historical periods. Mgr. Jean-Benjamin-Sleiman, ocd, archbishop of Baghdad, gave the second talk, recalling that the evident interest of our Order in the Orient is not only due to the front pages of the current daily newspapers, nor is it due to a confrere becoming bishop of this area, but arises from our origins. Fr. Massimo Angelelli closed the first day with a multimedia presentation illustrating all the activities of the OCD Interprovincial Centre in Morena (near Rome), with the Discalced Bookshop near the John Lateran Basilica in Rome. Fr. Didier-Marie Golay, provincial of Paris, informed the meeting of the next encounter of European OCD students in Lisieux, in August 2007.
On the second day Prof. Renzo Gubert, ex Italian senator, professor of sociology at Trento university, and a representative of the European Council, besides being father of a Carmelite confrere, endeavoured to help us understand what kind of Europe is being born and we are developing. We learnt from him what are the great themes and problems across Europe today, on a political and institutional level. There followed a debate among ourselves, an exchange of views on each ones present situations in Europe; what kind of collaboration we are offering to our Carmelite provinces or to our local churches; what would we wish for: what are the difficulties, fears, opportunities and hopes.
In the afternoon of the second day Fr. General, Luis Arostegui arrived. In his presence we listened to a talk by Fr. Luigi Gaetani, Definitor General, with the title “Through diversity”. We were able to follow the considerations offeredus on the need to “de-construct” in order to construct for a new, lively situation for Carmel in Europe. Fr. General turned his observations, of a more practical kind, to the situation of our Order in Europe.
INAUGURATION OF THE CARMEL OF
MAROSSZENTGYORGORY IN ROMANIA
On the feast of St. Therese, October 1, the archbishop of Alba Julia presided at the consecration of the chapel of the new Carmelite convent in Marosszentgyorgory. The Carmel originated in Magyarszek in Hungary. We record that the location of the new Romanian carmel is in the Hungarian speaking-zone of the Transylvanian region or Siebenburgen. This is the address:
Romai Katolikus Plebania
Islota ut 316
Sangiorgiu de Mures
547530 Marosszentgyorgy
ROMANIA
Tel: + 40 6725 81460; Fax 6725 81461
LIFE IN THE NEW COLLEGE (CITeS) IN AVILA
At 18.00 on October 9 there took place the inauguration of the new academic course of the Sts. Teresa – John of the Cross International Centre (CITeS) of the Carmelite Friars in Avila, Spain. The Centre has built up its programme over a period of 20 years. This year 58 students matriculated, from 10 different nationalities. The 20th anniversary of the foundation will be marked by the centenary of the death of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity. CITeS is a Foundation that is a legally recognized academy in Spain.