A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF CARMELITES – OUR LADY VICTORIOUS: STATUES OF CARMELITE FOUNDERS IN COPPER AND GOLD

As you know, on my recent trip to Prague, I spent quite some time in the church of Our Lady Victorious where the celebrated statue of the Infant of Prague has its home. I attended Mass, prayed before the statue, in particular for families, for people in need and all who asked me to pray for them, and then took some photos. I reported on the church and statue in my column of Wednesday, August 8.

Today I want to tell the story of the Order of Carmelites, with a focus on the gold and copper statues of their founders that you will see in my photos. As I took each picture, I also took a photo of the church’ description of each statue that was on the altar railing – who the statue was, a quote from that person and a fact about them.

I was doing all this minutes before 7 pm when the church closes. I had no time to get the history of the statues and so I wrote to the Carmelites at Our Lady Victorious and they responded yesterday. Thus, accompanying my photo of each statue is what they sent me, in addition to a piece called “Gold and Copper” by the sculptor in charge of restoring the statues that will soon be returned to their place on the main altar. As you will see in this photo, that altar currently has canvas over it. This latter piece was in Czech and I used Google translation, tweaking the grammar just a bit in one or two places.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF CARMELITES

The Order of Carmelites has its origins on Mount Carmel in Palestine where, as we read in the II Book of Kings, the great prophet Elijah defended the true faith in the God of Israel, when he won the challenge against the priests of Baal. It was also on Mount Carmel that the same prophet, praying in solitude, saw the small cloud that brought life-giving rain after the long drought. From time immemorial, this mountain has been considered the lush garden of Palestine and symbol of fertility and beauty. Indeed, “Karmel” means “garden.”

In the 12th century (perhaps after the third crusade, 1189-1191), some penitents-pilgrims who had come from Europe, came together near the “spring of Elijah,” in one of the narrow valleys of Mount Carmel, to live out their Christianity as hermits after the example of the prophet Elijah in the very land of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then and in later times, the Carmelites did not acknowledge anyone in particular as their founder, but remained faithful followers of Elijah who was associated with Mount Carmel through biblical events and through Greek and Latin patristic tradition which saw in the prophet one of the founders of the monastic life.

In the middle of the cells they built a chapel that they dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus, thus developing a sense of belonging to Our Lady as Mistress of the place and as Patroness, and they became known by her name as “Brothers of Saint Mary of Mount Carmel.” Thus Carmel is deeply associated with Elijah and Mary.

In the 15th-16th centuries there was some relaxation of discipline in various communities, a fact greatly opposed by Priors General such as Blessed John Soreth (+1471), Nicholas Audet (+1562) and John Baptist Rossi (+1578), and by some reforms (among others those of Mantua and Monte Oliveti in Italy and of Albi in France) to put a stop to the spread of the abuses and the mitigations.

The most famous reform is certainly the one started in Spain by St. Teresa of Jesus for the reform of the nuns and then, helped by St. John of the Cross and Fr. Girolamo Gracian, for the reform of the friars. The most relevant aspect of this reform of Teresa is not so much that she opposed the mitigations introduced in the life of Carmel, but rather her ability to integrate in her project, vital and ecclesial elements of her time.

In 1592 this reform, called that of the “Discalced Carmelites” or of the “Teresians,” became independent from the Carmelite Order and grew rapidly in the congregations of Spain and Italy that were then united in 1875. Thus there are two Orders of Carmelites: “The Carmelites,” also known as of the “Ancient Observance” or “Calced,” and “The Discalced Carmelites” or “Teresians” who consider St. Teresa of Jesus their reformer and foundress.

(Source: Official webpage of Carmelites: http://ocarm.org/en/content/ocarm/brief-history-carmelites

OUR LADY VICTORIOUS: STATUES OF CARMELITE FOUNDERS IN COPPER AND GOLD

The statues of the founders of the Discalced Carmelite Order were restored into the original form, which combines gold and copper, in 2017. After the next phase of the restoration will have been finished, they will return to their posts on the main altar.

Currently, the four statues are on a side altar:

The restoration of the main altar is supported by the City of Prague.

ELIJAH: “The LORD Almighty lives, in whose presence I stand.“
“My God is Yahweh” in Hebrew. Prophet of the Old-Testament who has been zealous for the Lord on Mount Carmel. Spiritual father of the Carmelite Order.

ELISHA “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?”
“My God is salvation” in Hebrew. Prophet of the Old Testament, pupil of Elijah, on whom his spirit rests.

TERESA OF JESUS: “”Nothing disturbs you, nothing frightens you, everything passes, God does not move. Patience reaches everything, who has God, nothing lacks. God alone is sufficient.”
(1515-1582) Reformer of the Carmelite Order of Avila, Spain. Founder of 16 female monasteries and 2 male convents of the Discalced Carmelites. Author of numerous spiritual texts and Doctor of the Church.

JOHN OF THE CROSS: “When you notice something, you stop throwing yourself at everything.”
(1542 – 1591) Discalced Carmelite, contemporary and collaborator of Teresa de Jesús, first brother of the reformed Carmel. Poet, mystic and Doctor of the Church.

GOLD AND COPPER

By Dr. Petr Kuthan, academician. Sculptor, restorer

Restoration of the main altar into a polychromic form from the time of its construction.

“A few years ago, when I was restoring the interior of this temple (…), I was invited by the monastery as an expert to solve the overall concept and intent of restoring its space, especially all altars.

“Restoration is a very demanding process in which the preservation of the work itself, especially its essence, is sought and the path to the original presentation is sought, knowing what a landmark it was at the time of its creation. All movable monuments in the area of this temple have undergone many changes since its location in the 17th century, especially in the polychromes hues in the sculptural decoration of individual altars.

“The restoration process and the search for the right path were always preceded by extensive discussions with the representatives of the monumental institute, and all the restoration surveys that were the basis for the initial position were analyzed in great detail.

“The sculptural decoration of the altars, the figures of the saints and the angels, and later re-paintings, especially on the polychrome layers of incarnations, were captured. In many places, a new gilt layer was applied to the new underlying chalk layers. This chalk layer was very strong and therefore completely degraded the original bravur expressive carving and at the same time overlaid the fragmentary original layer on which the copper foil was laid. Here it was decided that the gilding, probably from the 19th century, should be removed and refurbished using that copper foil.

“As it is already evident, after the restoration of several previous stages, the restoration plan was chosen very well, authenticity is very positive in the church space.”

THE MARRIAGE OF ART AND ARCHITECURE IN PRAGUE’S BUILDINGS

At the end of a day with many unexpected happenings, I find there is no time left to finish the piece I have started on my visit to the Benedictine Monastery of Brevnov. I want to do it justice and accompany it by some of the many photos I took so I’ll dedicate special time to that story tomorrow.

I’m sure you saw my earlier post on vespers and the encounter by Pope Francis with 70,000 young altar servers from around the world. Perhaps you even saw some of it on TV or followed live coverage, as you can of similar papal events, on http://www.vaticannews,va

In addition to “programmed” work days and/or “unexpected happenings,” I have computer issues that enormously slow me down every single day – has been this way for months with no remedy in sight except to bring the computer to the tech people at the store where I bought it in December. However, I’m afraid the idea of turning my computer over to people I don’t know terrifies me. Yes, of course, I have a backup on an external hard drive.

Bearing in mind I’ve not dropped my computer or spilled anything on it, here and the three main issues I’m dealing with:

1. The cursor goes where it wants when it wants. I can be typing a story or an email or whatever and when I cannot see the last words I just typed, I search high and low on the page and voila, there it is, usually a couple of lines or a paragraph above the one I was writing.
2. The language changes whenever the computer feels that should be done. I am programmed for English UK – Italian keyboard. BUT, in the middle of a sentence (throughout my working day) it changes to English UK – UK keyboard – all the symbols are different – quote marks, parentheses, astericks, etc.
3. The absolute worst part is that, without any warning whatsoever, I can lose the last line or paragraph of whatever I have been typing. If I have failed to save a document for a line or two or a para or two, those lines or that para is gone (you cannot see it but my cursor just moved as I was typing those last words!). I have NO idea what key – or combination thereof! – I have touched – certainly not the ‘delete’ key!

All of the above have happened in each of the preceding paragraphs!

THE MARRIAGE OF ART AND ARCHITECURE IN PRAGUE’S BUILDINGS

Just for fun, here are a few of the photos I took during my time in Prague that will give you just a small idea of the variety, the charm and the beauty of the buildings in Prague.

I offer a few single pictures and then a slideshow:

And now a slideshow:

And this structure is know as the “the dancing couple” – sometimes called “Fred and Ginger” (as in Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from days well gone by)

THE MANY THREADS OF A TAPESTRY CALLED PRAGUE

THE MANY THREADS OF A TAPESTRY CALLED PRAGUE

I have only been back from magnificent, historical Prague, capital of the Czech Republic for two days but the memories, the visits, the sightseeing, the long wonderful conversations with new friends, the relaxing and delicious meals but especially the people are embedded deep in my mind and my heart.

This is a land that has been marked by Christianity for over 1000 years and I touched only the tip of this special iceberg

My first morning in Prague, I spent two wonderful hours with Cardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague, whose fascinating life story, especially the years under communism, could be made into a film.

As a seminarian and priest in the then Czechoslovakia, he was forced to work in various factories, at one point he was a locksmith, at another he worked in the design department of an automobile factory. He spent some time in prison and one cell-mate was the playright and dissident Vaclav Havel, who served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003.

Cardinal Duka spoke to me of the physical and spiritual rebuilding in the new Czech Republic that had to be done after the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism in 1989. Churches and schools, convents and monasteries had to be physically repaired or rebuilt. The Church had to re-build many of its services and pastoral ministries as well – those for families, vocations, youth, education to name but a few.

He emphasized two aspects of Church life – one was the very strong pro-life movement in his nation, citing in particular last spring’s 10,000-person March for Life in Prague. He also emphasized the importance and impact of Caritas in Czech society – an NGO in the Czech Republic and very respected by the government. Caritas has over 7,000 employees and large numbers of volunteers throughout the country. One of their big annual events is Christmas dinner in the archbishop’s place for 300 poor people and the cardinal plays an important role that day.

Photos from my first evening in Prague, a walk through the Franciscan Garden to a restaurant for dinner with Stanislav Zeman, the archbishop’s spokesman:

The restaurant –

As I mentioned Friday in my column, I visited two monasteries – the Benedictine monastery of Brevnov – founded in 993! – and the Premonstratensian monastery of Zeliv, about 85 kilometers from Prague, founded in 1139 by Prague’s Archbishop Otto and Prince Sobeslav.

I chose to visit the monasteries not only because of their amazing history but because of how they survived the darkest period of their lives, the communist decades, to come back and become thriving religious communities, closely linked to the cities and towns nearby.

I immensely enjoyed my time at the monasteries but my joy was doubled when I discovered my new friends from the Czech Bishops Conference had never been to either place!

Both were fully functioning monasteries up to the communist years when they were forced to close, the religious sent away (or imprisoned or in forced labor) and became offices for communist officials or, for example, Zeliv served as a prison from 1950 to 1956 and after that became a psychiatric hospital until 1990!

Today both Zeliv and Brevnov are fully functioning and financially autonomous monasteries – places of prayer, of course, but they have restaurants and small hotels and spaces for seminars and meetings, etc. Zeliv even has a terrific brewery!

I will be doing separate stories with photos on each of these monasteries, as I will of my visit with Cardinal Duka (once I listen to our 90-minute taped conversation!), and I’ll post photos of the city, the Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Our Lady Victorious church with its celebrated statue of the Infant of Prague!

Pix from my hotel balcony – the Jalta (prounounced Yalta) Boutique Hotel – that overlooks the famous Wenceslas Square which, as you can see, is not a square at all! It is a long, very wide boulevard with a broad meridian that has pathways, gardens, play areas for children and cafes. This is flanked by several lanes for traffic on either side and the street side houses hotels, restaurants, stores and offices.

St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle

I fully intend to return someday and that might even be this fall for a surprising reason. I learned something quite astonishing when I had dinner with Cardinal Duka’s spokesman, Stanislav, the night of my arrival….a fact the cardinal mentioned the next day when he was my host for two hours in the archbishop’s residence.

How many of you know that the former Eastern European country of Czechoslovakia was born in Washington, D.C. in 1918!? The Czech and Slovak peoples will jointly celebrate this 100th anniversary and many events have taken place, are underway or will take place in October this year, the actual anniversary month. Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, in what has been called “the velvet revolution,” a revolution without bloodshed.

The First Republic was declared on October 28, 1918, when novelist Alois Jirásek read the proclamation of the independence of Czechoslovakia in front of the Saint Wenceslas statue on Wenceslas Square. That will be the principal day of celebrations this year.

What has been called the Washington Declaration was drafted in the U.S. by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and American sculptor Gutzon Borglum and presented to the U.S. government on October 17, published in Paris on October 18, and read at the statue of St. Wenceslas in the square named for him on October 28.

The wesbite of the U.S. embassy to the Czech Republic tells the story nicely:

The year 2018 marks the centennial of the founding of Czechoslovakia and the formal beginning of U.S.-Czech diplomatic relations, and the U.S. Embassy in Prague will proudly celebrate the occasion throughout the year. We will mark 100 years of U.S.-Czech relations by supporting projects focused on the U.S.-Czech friendship and history, and by participating in events around the country that highlight the U.S.-Czech partnership.

There are many U.S. links to the founding of the Czechoslovakian state. The United States hosted Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, along with other prominent Czechs and Slovaks, for the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement on May 31, 1918 – the first step towards the establishment of the independent state of Czechoslovakia.

After Germany and Austria proposed peace negotiations in October, 1918, Masaryk issued a declaration of Czechoslovak independence while in the United States. Masaryk was then elected the first president of Czechoslovakia on November 14, 1918 and used the U.S. constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak Constitution.

Masaryk also had strong personal links with the United States through his marriage to an American citizen, Charlotte Garrigue (whose name he took as part of his own), and through his lectures at the University of Chicago in 1902 and 1907.

 

FAREWELL TO VIBRANT, BEAUTIFUL PRAGUE – VATICAN INSIDER: A WEEKEND OF “THE BEST OF” VI

FAREWELL TO VIBRANT, BEAUTIFUL PRAGUE

I leave the vibrant and beautiful city of Prague city tomorrow morning and will bring you a full account of my journey in the next week when I take a closer look at another nation, in the life of the Universal Church.

As you may recall, my first full day, Wednesday began with the visit to and conversation with Cardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague, a visit arranged by his spokesperson, Stanislav Zeman with whom I had dinner my first night in town

I’ve been blessed to spend the last two marvelous days with friends from the Czech Bishops Conference, Fr. Tomas Tetiva, Frantisek Jemelka and Nela Fabianova, who have shown me around some spots that were on my agenda as I prepared this brief visit to a magnificent city and wonderful land.

Brevnov monastery –

ZELIV monastery –

My intention was to explore everything Catholic about Prague and the Czech Republic – the millennia-old history of the Church in this nation (though it has had different names a nation over that time), in particular a look at the Church after the many decades of persecution by the communists, how it came back to life after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and how it is still working on restoring churches and bringing buildings and organizations back to life.

I’ve visited only a few of the churches in the city but did spend quite a bit of time yesterday and today at two wonderful and very old monasteries – the Benedictine Monastery of Brevnov, founded in 993 and today, about 85 kilometers from Prague, the Premonstratentian Monaster of Zeliv, founded in 1139 by Prague’s Archbishop Otto and Prince Sobeslav.

I chose to visit the monasteries not only because of their amazing history but because of how they survived the darkest period of their lives, the communist decades, to come back and become thriving religious communities, closely linked to the cities and towns nearby.

Those are the stories you will hear next week. I will go home with a great love in my heart for this nation, for the richness of its history, the beauty of this city of Prague and the countryside I saw today, for each and every person I have met, for the strength of a nation and its people that lived through the worst and keep on trying to be the best.

I’d write an in-depth portrait of today’s monastery visit but I only have a few hours left this evening and I want to enjoy the city, walk around a bit more, have a wonderful dinner and dream of coming back.

Before I leave you I want to tell you about an amazing encounter I had last night (I speak of it on a video I just posted on my Facebook page), After Mass at the Church of Our Lady Victorious which is home to the celebrated statue of the Infant of Prague, I had taken photos and prayed quite a bit and was about to leave when a gentleman came up to me and asked, “Are you Joan, Joan’s Rome of EWTN?”

You could have knocked me over with a feather: I replied yes and we began a conversation, He is British, lives and works in Prague and is a fan of EWTN. Just an hour earlier he had the TV on and saw me – seems it was a relay of At Home with Jim and Joy!

One of my goals was to cross the famous Charles Bridge – the oldest in Prague – a pedestrian bridge with striking views of the city – and it was nearby so we walked across together and I learned a lot about this country as we talked.

When you travel, the expression “it’s a small world” takes on new meaning!

But, think about it, you have to leave home for the world to become small!

VATICAN INSIDER: A WEEKEND OF “THE BEST OF” VI

While I am exploring Prague and the nearby couç_Vnd, allowing me to take full advantage of my time in this remarkable and extraordinarily beautiful city. I am very grateful to them for giving me the occasion to a truly “roamin” Catholic. I’ll be back next weekend in person with another special.

In the meantime, IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at http://www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio, or on http://www.ewtn.com. OUTSIDE THE U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” VI airs at 5am and 9pm ET on Saturdays and 6am ET on Sundays. On the GB-IE feed (which is on SKY in the UK and Ireland), VI airs at 5:30am, 12 noon and 10pm CET on Sundays. Both of these feeds are also available on the EWTN app and on http://www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: http://www.ewtn.com/multimedia/audio-library/index.asp (write Vatican Insider where it says Search Shows and Episodes)

DAY TWO IN PRAGUE: THE BENEDICTINES ARE ALIVE AND WELL

DAY TWO IN PRAGUE: THE BENEDICTINES ARE ALIVE AND WELL

I am about to go to Mass at Our Lady Victorious, the church in Prague that is home to the lovely Infant of Prague, a statue whose name is known the world over.

I have spent another amazing day in this very beautiful and hospitable country but time is short now so this is more of a “please come back tomorrow” column than it is a daily diary. You see, I want to write about my day at the historic Benedictine monastery of St. Adalbert and St. Margaret when I have time to do the story justice and post my photos, and tell you about my new friends, workers in the Lord’s vineyard.

I’ll be visiting another monastery tomorrow, well outside of Prague. These stories are all about the rebirth of the Catholic Church and religious congregations in the Czech Republic in the post-communist years.

Thanks for understanding! More tomorrow!

Blessings!

DAY ONE IN PRAGUE: A CONVERSATION WITH A CARDINAL – CELEBRATING HUMANAE VITAE AT 50

DAY ONE IN PRAGUE: A CONVERSATION WITH A CARDINAL

I had a long and wonderful conversation this morning with Cardinal Dominik Duka, the archbishop of Prague and, as soon as humanly possible, I’ll be listening to that tape and writing about that amazing interview.

I’ll only mention one thing I learned from the cardinal and am doing so because today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Humanae vitae, On Human Life. I did learn there is a very good pro-life movement here. After Easter this year, for example, over 10,000 people in Prague alone marched from the St. Vitus cathedral in the Prague Castle complex downhill to Wenceslas Square (where I am staying) quite an undertaking as I’ve discovered. The cardinal told me that other dioceses in the country have their own pro-life celebrations and marches.

Cardinal Duka is standing before the throne where Popes John Paul and Benedict XVI sat during their visits to Prague:

CELEBRATING HUMANAE VITAE AT 50

What better way to celebrate today’s 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae than to visit http://www.ewtn.com/prolife/ ! This HV50 site has everything you to know about the document, the pro-life movement, how we can participate, Humanae vitae videos and resources, etc.

Celebrating 50 years of anything is a wonderful milestone, 50 years of life, 50 years at a job, 50 years of marriage. Fifty years for a still very controversial document, born in a controversial context, is a miracle.

As we all know, either from experience or because we’ve read about it, the cultural and sexual revolution underway in the United States and elsewhere in the 60s was defined by a spirit of rebellion against tradition and authority, and if life was too difficult, you could do drugs to take the edge off. Drugs, doing your own thing, and divorcing yourself from law and order became the new and socially accepted way to escape reality. Self-indulgence was a key ingredient of those years and when did self-indulgence ever produce wonderful results?!

As I mentioned the other night on At Home with Jim and Joy in a segment about Humanae vitae and the context in which it was born, I lived through those years and I’m reasonably sure I came through unscathed because of my great family, the values they instilled, my strong Catholic upbringing. In all honesty, I was simply turned off by what I saw as it was antithetical to what I had been taught.

Pope Paul VI’s bombshell encyclical of July 1968, Humanae vitae, upholding the traditional Catholic ban on artificial birth control was born in this context, along with a widespread fear about overpopulation following World War II. Society in the 60s began to openly promote and support abortion rights and especially sterilizations in an attempt to curb population growth.

In rebellion typical of the decade, the use of contraceptives skyrocketed, also among Catholics. Dissent was massive, especially with Paul VI’s warnings of the harm that widespread use of contraception would cause in society – lowering of moral standards, marital infidelity, less respect for women.

For over a year now, in writings and symposiums dedicated to this week’s 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, many have praised the prophetic message of the document, saying it still “stands as a profound and affirmative” defense of traditional values and family life, and was prophetic in its warnings of the breakdown of the family and the depersonalization of sexual acts such as we see today.

Those who disagree, the naysayers, would only have to look at society today to see the breakdown, the lowering of moral standards, the legalization of abortion and huge numbers of abortions performed every year, marital infidelity, less respect for women – and a lot more.

I wonder how many of you know of Pope John Paul’s contribution to the commission that drafted this encyclical. At the time, he was archbishop of Krakow, Poland and he strove then – as he did as a priest and bishop and would do later as Cardinal and Pope – to emphasize the Church’s teachings on life and marriage and the family by always putting the person at the center.

Always the Number One fan of Humanae vitae, as Pope John Paul, his magnificent writings on marriage and the family, especially Familiaris consortio and his theology of the body catecheses, were actually a rampart against dissenters, and eventually became the Church’s formal teaching on life, family and marriage.

A number of dissenters of the teachings of Paul VI and John Paul II are alive and well today and, it seems, attempting a re-reading of Humanae vitae and other teachings. We saw some of this at the two synods on the family in 2014 and 2015 when the papal teachings of the past were basically ignored in favor of what is being called a “paradigm shift” towards a pastoral approach, rather than a strictly doctrinal one. Witness Amoris laetitia and its suggestion in a footnote that communion for those Catholics who divorced and civilly remarried – but technically still adultery – might be possible.

In 2017 a four-member commission was established by the Vatican with the Pope’s approval, to study Humanae vitae. Never formally announced, the Vatican only confirmed its existence after an Italian website was able to verify the rumors with a Vatican document signed by the then deputy secretary of State.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (an academy, by the way, founded by St. John Paul but totally restructured by Pope Francis), told Catholic News Agency that the initiative was aimed at “studying and deepening” the encyclical, it was not a “commission” whose purpose was to “reread or reinterpret” Humanae vitae. Paglia is known to want a “softer” approach to the teaching of Humanae Vitae.

I did not see anything from the Pope or Vatican today on this anniversary. …. Let’s see what is on the horizon.