The Discalced Carmelites (ODC)

In his series about the Religious Congregations living and working in the Diocese of East Anglia, Fr Karol Porczak MS, Vicar for the Religious, introduces the Discalced Carmelites (ODC).

The Order of the Discalced Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Latin: Ordo Discalceatorum Carmelitarum – ODC). Discalced means ‘without shoes’, which indicates the reformed ie more strict religious life observance.

The Carmelite Order originated during the time of the crusades, when a group of pilgrims and ex-crusaders decided to remain in the Holy Land, living as hermits in one of the valleys of the Carmel range. They saw themselves as spiritual successors of the prophet Elijah, while the first chapel they built was dedicated to Mary, who has always occupied a special prominence in the Order. Around 1213 the hermits asked St Albert Avogadro, Patriarch of Jerusalem (1149-1214), for a Rule, and were given a simple formula for a life of constant prayer and solitude lived with community support.

It took 250 years before women were admitted to the Order, and it was St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) who devised the pattern of contemplative life that is followed today. She did not write for specially gifted women, but for women who, with all their faults and failings, would make it their aim to live solely for God after the example of those first hermits.

Teresa blended a strong and loving family-style community life with a hermit spirit of solitude, adapted to the women of her time. She wanted her nuns to be women totally given to prayer, but whose human growth matched their spiritual capacity. Moreover, she wanted them to help one another in the process. “In this house” she writes, “all must be friends, all helped, valued and loved.”

With Teresa’s contemplative spirit and her human warmth, Carmelites live in small vibrant communities, totally given to the apostolate of prayer. At Quidenham in Norfolk they sing the Divine Office daily, as well as having two hours of personal prayer and time for spiritual reading. Of course, this is balanced with work in the house, as well as making greeting cards, soap, and having joyful daily community recreation. It is a simple, prayerful lifestyle, where there is the opportunity to develop their gifts. And it is a life of great peace and joy – the vocation of a life of prayer, accepted from the Lord and freely given as their gift to the Diocese, the Church and the World of today.

The convent consists now of 17 sisters and one postulant, who is in preparation to join the community.

Pictured above from left to right, top row: Sr Teresa, Sr Kay Elizabeth, Sr Elizabeth Ruth, Sr Deborah, Sr Maria Joseph; middle row: Sr Paula, Sr Anna, Sr Stephanie (Prioress), Sr Eleanor, Sr Penelope; bottom row: Sr Angela, Sr Veronica, Sr Shelagh, Sr Diane, Jennifer (postulant), Sr Sarah. Missing from the picture are Sr Nicola and Sr Marian.

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