Our Beginnings
Together with Mount Horeb, Carmel was a sacred mountain, central to the life of Elijah, the great Hebrew prophet. On Mount Carmel, he manifested the power of God in opposition to the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18). In later years, the heights of Carmel would become associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whom all the attributes of spiritual beauty and holiness converge.
Beginning in the eleventh century, Christians came from Western Europe to the Holy Land during the era of the Crusades. Around the year 1191, former Crusaders and other men came to live near the fountain of Elijah on Mount Carmel. They formed a group of hermits who dedicated themselves to a life of prayer and asceticism in the spirit of Elijah. In 1207 Albert, the Patriarch, gave them a Rule of Life. These first hermits dedicated a little chapel to the Blessed Virgin Mary on Mount Carmel.
Carmel in the Usa and California
From ocean to ocean, the charism of Carmel was carried by fervent missionaries. As early as 1602, Carmelites have stepped foot onto California’s shores when they traveled as chaplains with the Don Sebastián Vizcaíno expedition. The friars were struck with the similarity of the river and landscape to their Order’s original home base, Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. Vizcaíno graciously allowed the three Carmelite friars on board his flagship to name the river Carmelo in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, since she was the patroness of the voyage and her picture was prominently enshrined in the bow of the lead ship.
A century and a half later, St. Junípero Serra evangelized the area and recognized the exploratory work of the Carmelite friars by retaining the name “Carmelo” for the mission he established in the same area. Thus, a Carmelite identity was firmly established in this region at an early date but remained only as a tradition for many years until the arrival of the Carmelite nuns many centuries later.
The first Carmelite foundation in the United States was established at Port Tobacco in Maryland in 1790, and our monastery traces its origin to this monastery. In 1831, this community moved to Baltimore and proceeded to found seven other monasteries, including the Carmel of Boston in 1890. From the Boston Carmel, a Carmelite foundation was established in San Francisco in 1908 before permanently moving to Santa Clara, California in 1914.
Carmel of Our Lady and St. Therese
On May 17, 1925, a beautiful and holy young Carmelite from Lisieux, France, named Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, was canonized in Rome by Pope Pius XI. Bishop John Bernard MacGinley had just been appointed as the first bishop of the new diocese, Monterey-Fresno, in Central California. He was in Rome for the canonization and was so inspired that he petitioned the Holy Father for permission to found a Carmelite monastery in Carmel, California in honor of the newly canonized saint.
Armed with this permission, the bishop contacted Mother Augustine of the Santa Clara Carmelite Monastery to ask her if she would make a new foundation in Carmel. She was delighted with the idea and inquired among her nuns to see if any of them would like to go. Five of them volunteered, and in that same year, they made preparations to move into the small temporary frame house which Mother Augustine arranged to be built for them. Thus, on the feast of the Archangel Raphael, October 24, 1925, the five nuns began the new foundation in Carmel. The new monastery was founded under the title of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces and Saint Thérèse.
After six years in the temporary monastery (which they lovingly nicknamed “The Cracker Box”), a new, larger monastery was built for them. On the feast of All Saints, November 1, 1931, they moved into their new home to prepare for the coming of the young women whom God would call to lead the contemplative way of life. The beautiful new building was a gift of the Sullivan family as a memorial to Mr. Francis J. Sullivan, father of Mother Agnes Sullivan, who was a member of the Santa Clara Carmel.
"The truth is that the treasure (God) lies within our very selves."
(St. Teresa -Interior Castle V:1)