Saints of Carmel

A painting of some of Carmel’s holy men and women,

from the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Calle Real, El Salvador.

Across the centuries the Carmelite Order has given witness to the primacy of God. As is the case throughout the Church very many people pursue lives of faithful service and holiness. From these the Church chooses individuals whose witness to Christ can serve as an example to those of us still on our pilgrim way. A number of these come from the slopes of Carmel.

On the ‘patronal saints’ of Carmel, the prophet Elijah and the Blessed Virgin Mary, click here.

Readers may like to access the comprehensive article: Holy Men and Women of Carmel (a survey of saints from the earliest days of the Carmelite Family to the present; click on the blue link to download the file in PDF format). Another excellent resource is the collection of biographies Saints of Carmel compiled from various sources by Fr. Louis Saggi, O.Carm.

To the right you will find links to those of our sisters and brothers who are celebrated in the present day liturgy of the Carmelite Order with the rank of memoria or above (with the addition of Simon Stock whose feast is celebrated as a memorial in the British Province, and Edith Stein whose feast is celebrated as a patron saint of Europe). They are listed according to the date of the liturgical celebration of their memory with a brief biography and the Collect of each commemoration. Saints whose feast days are celebrated as optional memoria are not listed, but details about them can be found in the documents Holy Men and Women of Carmel and Saints of Carmel (follow the links above).

Extracts from the writings of Carmelite Saints can be found in the Carmelite Spirituality section.

Persons wishing to know when Carmelite saints are commemorated in the British Province can download (in PDF format) the Liturgical Ordo from the Carmelite Prayer page.

Christ and his mother Mary flanked by Carmelite saints, on a ‘predella’ painted for a Carmelite altarpiece in Siena, now in that city’s gallery (Pinacoteca Nazionale).

This icon written by the Carmelite nuns of Ravenna, now in York Carmelite Friary, shows saints of Carmel holding copies of their writings

Carmelite spirituality is focussed on Christ, and inspired in a particular way by the prophet Elijah and the Blessed Virgin Mary whom we regard as ‘patrons’ of our Order.

Over the centuries the Carmelite Family has been blessed with a large number of men and women of outstanding holiness. A significant number of these saints wrote about their relationship with God. Their writings have greatly formed the Order’s spirituality, and – particularly in the case of the three Carmelite ‘Doctors of the Church’ – they have influenced the development of Christian thought.

Biographical information about the Order’s holy men and women is available in the Carmelite Saints section of this website. A number of printed editions of Carmelite saints’ writings are available from Saint Albert’s Press in Faversham and the Carmelite Book Service in Oxford. The standard English editions of many Carmelite saints’ writings are those printed by ICS Publications. Below are links to some online editions of texts written by Carmel’s saints over the centuries (please note that these are mostly links to external sites; if links are broken please email the webmaster; other editions can often by found via a Google search).