CARMELITES. An order of monks founded about 1156 A.D. at the Well of Elijah on Mount Carmel by a crusader named Berthold. There seem to have been hermits there already. The community established by Berthold received in 1209 a rule in sixteen articles from Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem. By this the monks were required to live in separate cells, to renounce the posses sion of property, to abstain from meat, and to observe a strict fast for a certain period. They were recom mended also to work with their hands and to observe silence. The rule was confirmed by Pope Honorius III. in 1224. In 1238 the Muhammadan danger made it neces sary for them to leave Mount Carmel and establish them selves in Europe. The change required them also to abandon the life of hermits. In 1247. therefore, their rule was changed with the approval of Innocent IV., and they were confirmed under the title of Friars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. They now became a mendicant order, and adopted a brown habit with white cloak and scapular. In England they became known as the White Friars. The scapular " consists of two stripes of gray cloth, worn on the breast and on the back, and connecting with each other on the shoulders " (Schaff-Herzog). It was
believed that the pattern of this piece of dress was re vealed to St. Simon Stock, general of the order (1245), by Our Lady herself. In 1431 the rule of the order was further relaxed by Pope Eugenics IV. This led to divis ions. There arose Observantines or Discalced Car melites who followed the stricter rule, and Conventuals or Calved Carmelites who followed the milder rule. In dependent congregations were founded for the observance of the strict rule, such as the Congregation of Mantua, which owed its origin to Thomas Connecte. In 1452 an order of Carmelite Nuns was founded in France, but in course of time the strict rule was relaxed. St. Teresa, desiring a return to the strict rule, founded the Dis calced Carmelite Nuns in Spain. With the help of St. Peter of Alcantara she founded there also reformed con vents for men. In England there were at one time fifty two Carmelite houses. See Schaff-Herzog; the Cath. Diet.