#Discalced Carmelites

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 14)

December 14 is the liturgical memorial of Saint John of the Cross, a 16th-century Carmelite priest best known for reforming his order together with Saint Teresa of Avila and for writing the classic spiritual treatise, “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

Honored as a Doctor of the Church since 1926, he is sometimes called the “Mystical Doctor,” as a tribute to the depth of his teaching on the soul's union with God.

The youngest child of parents in the silk-weaving trade, John de Yepes was born during 1542 in Fontiveros near the Spanish city of Avila.

His father Gonzalo died at a relatively young age, and his mother Catalina struggled to provide for the family.

John found academic success from his early years but failed in his effort to learn a trade as an apprentice.

Instead, he spent several years working in a hospital for the poor and continuing his studies at a Jesuit college in the town of Medina del Campo.

After discerning a calling to monastic life, John entered the Carmlite Order in 1563.

He had been practicing severe physical asceticism even before joining the Carmelites and got permission to live according to their original rule of life – which stressed solitude, silence, poverty, work, and contemplative prayer.

John received ordination as a priest in 1567 after studying in Salamanca but considered transferring to the more austere Carthusian order rather than remaining with the Carmelites.

Before he could take such a step, however, he met the Carmelite nun later canonized as Saint Teresa of Avila.

Born in 1515, Teresa had joined the Order in 1535, regarding consecrated religious life as the most secure road to salvation.

Since that time, she had made remarkable spiritual progress, and during the 1560s, she began a movement to return the Carmelites to the strict observance of their original way of life.

She convinced John not to leave the order but to work for its reform.

Changing his religious name from “John of St. Matthias” to “John of the Cross,” the priest began this work in November of 1568, accompanied by two other men of the Order with whom he shared a small and austere house.

For a time, John was in charge of the new recruits to the “Discalced Carmelites” – the name adopted by the reformed group, since they wore sandals rather than ordinary shoes as sign of poverty.

He also spent five years as the confessor at a monastery in Avila led by St. Teresa.

Their reforming movement grew quickly but also met with severe opposition that jeopardized its future during the 1570s.

Early in December of 1577, during a dispute over John's assignment within the Order, opponents of the strict observance seized and imprisoned him in a tiny cell.

His ordeal lasted nine months and included regular public floggings along with other harsh punishments.

Yet it was during this very period that he composed the poetry that would serve as the basis for his spiritual writings.

John managed to escape from prison in August of 1578, after which he resumed the work of founding and directing Discalced Carmelite communities.

Over the course of a decade, he set out his spiritual teachings in works such as “The Ascent of Mount Carmel,” “The Spiritual Canticle,” and “The Living Flame of Love” as well as “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

But intrigue within the order eventually cost him his leadership position, and his last years were marked by illness along with further mistreatment.

John of the Cross died in the early hours of 14 December 1591, nine years after St. Teresa of Avila's death in October 1582.

Suspicion, mistreatment, and humiliation had characterized much of his time in religious life, but these trials are understood as having brought him closer to God by breaking his dependence on the things of this world.

Accordingly, his writings stress the need to love God above all things – being held back by nothing — and likewise holding nothing back.

Only near the end of his life had St. John's monastic superior recognized his wisdom and holiness.

Though his reputation had suffered unjustly for years, this situation reversed soon after his death.

He was beatified in 1675, canonized in 1726, and named a Doctor of the Church in the 20th century by Pope Pius XI.

In a letter marking the 400th anniversary of St. John's death, Pope John Paul II – who had written a doctoral thesis on the saint's writings – recommended the study of the Spanish mystic, whom he called a “master in the faith and witness to the living God.”

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY Feast Day: November 8

"I can't find words to express my happiness. Here, there is no longer anything but God. He is All; He suffices and we live by Him alone."

She was born as Élisabeth Catez on July 18, 1880, at the military base at Avord (located in Farges-en-Septaine) in Cher as the first child of Captain Joseph Catez and Marie Rolland. She was baptized at the camp's chapel on the following July 22. Elizabeth's father died unexpectedly on October 2, 1887 and as a result, the family moved to Dijon.

As a child, Elizabeth had a terrible temper. After receiving her First Communion in 1891, she gained more self-control and had a deeper understanding of God and the world. She also gained a profound understanding of the Trinity to which she cultivated an ardent devotion. Elizabeth visited the sick, sang in the church choir and taught religion to children who worked in factories.

As she grew older, Elizabeth became interested in entering the Discalced Carmelite Order, though her mother strongly advised against it. Men had asked for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, but she declined such offers because her dream was to enter the Discalced Carmelite monastery that was located 200 meters from her home. Elizabeth entered the Dijon Carmel on August 2, 1901.

She said: 'I find Him everywhere while doing the wash as well as while praying.'

Her time in the convent amongst other Carmelites had some high times as well as some very low times. She wrote about when she felt she needed a richer understanding of God's great love.

At the end of her life, she began to call herself, 'Laudem Gloriae'. Elizabeth wanted that to be her appellation in Heaven because it means 'praise of glory.'

She said: 'I think that in Heaven my mission will be to draw souls by helping them to go out of themselves in order to cling to God by a wholly simple and loving movement, and to keep them in this great silence which will allow God to communicate Himself to them and to transform them into Himself.'

Her spirituality is considered to be remarkably similar to that of her contemporary and compatriot Discalced Carmelite sister and future Doctor of the Church, Thérèse of Lisieux, who was cloistered at the Carmel in Lisieux; the two share a zeal for contemplation and the salvation of souls.

Elizabeth died on November 9, 1906 in Dijon at the age of 26, due to Addison's disease, which had no cure. Though her death was painful, Elizabeth gratefully accepted her suffering as a gift from God.

Her last words were: "I am going to Light, to Love, to Life!"

She is beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on November 25, 1984 in Paris, France, and on October 16, 2016 - the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Elizabeth is canonized a saint by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square.

Her most famous prayer is: 'Holy Trinity Whom I Adore', written out of her love of the Most Blessed Trinity.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity is a patron against illness, of sick people, and of the loss of parents.

[traveltash]

St Michael

The Abbey of St Michael sits atop the hill in Siegburg. It was founded in 1060 and some of the buildings from the 1400s and 1650s still stand on the site. It was founded as a Benedictine Abbey, however, the Benedictine Order there dissolved in 2011. In 2013, a group of Discalced Carmelites from Kerala moved into the residential building. They celebrate masses in the abbey church, take…

[europeposts]

Trams in Porto, & Church of the Discalced Carmelites, Portugal: Tram on line 22 in Porto, Portugal. In the background are the Igrejas dos Carmelitas e do Carmo (Carmelitas and Carmo Churches). The Church of the Carmelites or��Church of the Discalced Carmelites is located in the parish of Vitória, in the city of Porto, Portugal. The tram system of Porto in Portugal is operated by the Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto (STCP). Wikipedia

[gothic-christcore]

The Great Veil of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns

[dramoor]

“Our sanctification does not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that God’s sake which we commonly do for our own....It is a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times.  We are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the same time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer.”

~Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection

(Art via stlouiscarmel.com)

[streetsofdublin]

I WAS WALKING ALONG BERKELEY STREET AND BERKELEY ROAD

I visited Berkeley Road today, Sunday, as I had hoped to photograph the interior of the Carmelite Church but it was closed as was the park beside the church.

AND WAS CAUGHT OUT IN AN AMAZINGLY SUDDEN THUNDER STORM The change in the weather caught me totally by surprise but the rain storm lasted less than five minutes. I visited Berkeley Road today, Sunday, as I had hoped to photograph the interior of the Carmelite Church but it was closed as was the park beside the church. St. Joseph’s Carmelite Church on Berkeley Road is the Roman Catholic church…

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Doctor of the Church

1873-1897

Feast Day: October 1 (New), October 3 (Trad)

Patronage: Missions

St. Therese of Lisieux was a French Discalced Carmelite nun, popularly known as The Little Flower. She was a highly influential model of sanctity for others because of the "simplicity and practicality of her approach to the spiritual life." She entered Carmel at the early age of 15 and died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. Together with St. Francis of Assisi she is one of the most popular saints in the history of the Church. Pope Pius X called her "the greatest saint of modern times."

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

[allaboutmary]

"True effigy of a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin found in Rome by V.P. Dominique de Jesus Maria, General of the Discalced Carmelites, in a pile of garbage. After retrieving and cleaning it, the Virgin inclined her head to him as a sign of recognition, telling him that all those who would have a sincere devotion to this image would be rewarded by Heaven with particular graces and privileges. If they offer their prayers for the souls in purgatory, she will effectively employ her power for their deliverance."

- An 18th century engraving by Cornelius de Boudt of Our Lady of the Bowed Head

[fabien-euskadi]

The Church of Our Lady of Joy (Nossa Senhora da Alegria), in Alter do Chão. This late XVI-Century temple used to belong to the Convent of the Holy Spirit, a house founded by Discalced Carmelite friars (who would end up leaving the convent by the beggining of the XVII Century).

[austerity-audacity-asceticism]

i'm a huge crybaby, so when my mom told me about the carmelite martyrs of compiegne, i thought to myself: i cannot be the only one who'll cry about it. which is why i'm sharing it now to you guys

so here's a little excerpt from an article that the Vatican published about it, along with some links about the entire thing:

Not too long after, Mother Teresa of St Augustine shared with the four oldest choir sisters with whom she lived a proposal to invite the entire community to offer their lives for the salvation of France, in imitation of St Teresa of Avila who reformed Carmel for that express intention. She understandably met with immediate resistance. After all, who in their right mind would voluntarily submit themselves to instant decapitation by the newly inaugurated guillotine? Remarkably, however, within the space of a few hours, the two senior nuns begged their Prioress’ forgiveness for their lack of courage. This opened the way for Mother Teresa to propose an act of self-offering to the other members of the community. As of November 27, each nun daily recited an act of self-offering for the salvation of France written by the prioress. Eventually, an intention was added for the release of those who had been arrested and that fewer people would be guillotined.

...

...the nuns’ voices singing the Divine Office floated through the streets of Paris as they were paraded toward the executioner’s block. The executioner also allowed the nuns to complete the prayers for the dying, which included the singing of the Te Deum. After the subsequent singing of the Veni Creator Spiritus, and the renewal of their vows, the nuns went one by one to the scaffold, received a final blessing from their Prioress, kissed a statuette of Our Lady, and followed the sacrificial Lamb.

Here's another quote, from a website named Devotion to Our Lady

Cloaked in their white mantles and with hands bound at their backs, the sixteen recollectedly boarded the tumbrils that would bring them to Place du Trône Renversé where the guillotine awaited them. Along the way, priests disguised as sans-culottes gave them absolution. The journey was long… but the air was permeated by their solemn chants of the sixteen, singing as they did in choir: “Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion, blot out my offense…. Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy….” Before their execution they knelt and chanted the "Veni Creator", as at a profession, after which they all renewed aloud their baptismal and religious vows. ​ The guillotine had been standing for more than a month already at the Barrière du Trône (Place du Trône Renversé; today it is called Place de la Nation). Upon arriving there, Sr. Constance suddenly accused herself before Mother Thérèse of not having finished her divine office. Her superioress told her: “Be strong, daughter! You will finish it in Paradise!”

you can read about it more here:

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (October 15)

On October 15, Roman Catholics celebrate the Spanish Carmelite reformer and mystic St. Teresa of Avila, whose life of prayer enriched the Church during the 16th century counter-reformation.

Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada was born in the Castilian city of Avila during the year 1515, the third child in a family descended from Jewish merchants who had converted to Christianity during the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Her father Alphonsus had become an ardent Catholic, with a collection of spiritual books of the type his daughter would later compose herself.

As a child, Teresa felt captivated by the thought of eternity and the vision of God granted to the saints in heaven.

She and her younger brother Rodrigo once attempted to run away from home for the sake of dying as martyrs in a Muslim country, though they soon ran into a relative who sent them back to their mother Beatrice.

When Teresa was 14, her mother died, causing the girl a profound grief that prompted her to embrace a deeper devotion to the Virgin Mary as her spiritual mother.

Along with this good resolution, however, she also developed immoderate interests in reading popular fiction (consisting, at that time, mostly of medieval tales of knighthood) and caring for her own appearance.

Though Teresa's spiritual directors in later life would judge these faults to be relatively minor, they still represented a noticeable loss of her childhood zeal for God.

Alphonsus decided his teenage daughter needed a change of environment and sent her to be educated in a convent of Augustinian nuns.

Teresa found their life dull at first but soon came to some understanding of its spiritual advantages.

Illness forced her to leave the convent during her second year.

But the influence of her devout uncle Peter, along with her reading of the letters of the monk and Church Father St. Jerome, convinced Teresa that the surest road to salvation lay in forsaking marriage, property, and worldly pleasures completely.

Against the will of her father, who wanted her to postpone the decision, she joined the Carmelite Order.

Teresa became a professed member of the order at age 20 but soon developed a serious illness that forced her to return home.

She experienced severe pain and physical paralysis for two years. She was expected to die when she went into a coma for four days.

But she insisted on returning to the Carmelite monastery as soon as she was able, even though she remained in a painful and debilitated state.

For the next three years, the young nun made remarkable progress in her spiritual life, developing the practice of recalling herself into the presence of God through quiet contemplation.

As her health returned, however, Teresa lapsed into a more routine prayer life.

While she remained an obedient Carmelite, she would not re-establish this close personal connection to God for almost twenty years.

When she was nearly 40, however, Teresa found herself dramatically called back to the practice of contemplative mental prayer.

She experienced profound changes within her own soul and remarkable visions that seemed to come from God.

Under the direction of her confessors, Teresa wrote about some of these experiences in an autobiography that she completed in 1565.

Teresa had always been accustomed to contemplate Christ's presence within her after receiving him in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Now, however, she understood that the presence she received did not simply fade:

God was, in fact, with her always, and had been all along. It was simply a matter of putting herself in his presence, with love and attention – as one could do at any moment.

This revolution in her spiritual life enabled Teresa to play a significant role in the renewal of the Church that followed the Council of Trent.

She proposed a return of the Carmelites to their original rule of life, a simple and austere form of monasticism – founded on silence and solitude – that had received papal approval in the 12th century and was believed to date back to the Old Testament prophet Elijah.

Together with her close collaborator, the priest and writer later canonized as Saint John of the Cross, she founded what is known today as the Order of Discalced Carmelites – “discalced,” meaning barefoot, symbolizing the simplicity to which they chose to return the order after a period of corruption.

The reform met with fierce opposition but resulted in the founding of 30 monasteries during her life.

Teresa's health failed her for the last time while she was traveling through Salamanca in 1582.

She accepted her dramatic final illness as God's chosen means of calling her into his presence forever.

“O my Lord, and my spouse, the desired hour is now come,” she stated. “The hour is at last come, wherein I shall pass out of this exile, and my soul shall enjoy in thy company what it hath so earnestly longed for.”

St. Teresa of Avila died on 15 October 1582.

She was canonized on 22 March 1622, along with three of her greatest contemporaries: St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Philip Neri.

In 1970, Pope St. Paul VI proclaimed St. Teresa as one of the first two woman Doctors of the Church, along with 14th century Dominican St. Catherine of Siena.

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS The Doctor of the Church and Mystical Doctor Who is the Patron of Contemplative Life Feast Day: December 14

"Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent."

John of the Cross, who is the co-founder of the reformed Carmelites (Discalced Carmelites), was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez in Fontiveros, Ávila, Crown of Castile (Spain), on June 24, 1542.

At the age of 21, he entered the Carmelites at Medina, taking the religious name of John of St. Matthias. He frequently asked God, that he might not pass one day of his life without suffering something. After his ordination in 1567, he was granted permission to follow the original rule of Rule of Saint Albert, which stressed strict discipline and solitude. In 1568, together with St. Teresa of Ávila (Teresa of Jesus), he opened the first monastery of the newly reformed Discalced (barefoot) Carmelites, whose members were committed to a perfect spirit of solitude, humility and mortification.

On the night of December 2, 1577, John's monastic reform fomented the anger of some old Carmelites, who accused him of rebellion and had him arrested. It was in prison that he began to compose some of his finest works, like the 'Cántico Espiritual (The Spiritual Canticle)' and 'The Living Flame of Love'.

In 'The Dark Night of the Soul (La Noche Oscura del Alma)', John wrote: 'It is impossible to reach the riches and wisdom of God, except by first entering many sufferings.'

One time, John corrected a certain Fr. Diego who used to disregard the rule. This wicked religious, rather than repent, went about over the whole province trumping up accusations against the saint. Thus, John was transferred to a remote friary at Úbeda, Kingdom of Jaén, Crown of Castile, where he died due to erysipelas (a bacterial skin infection) at the age of 49.

John of the Cross is canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on the feast of St. John the Apostle on December 27, 1726 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926 by Pope Pius XI after the definitive consultation of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange O.P., professor of philosophy and theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome. His major shrine can be found in Segovia.

[yugotrash]

call me a discalced carmelite the way i attach incredible amounts of importance to what kind of footwear someone chooses

[ha-bakbuk]

John of the Cross The dark night of the soul

St. John of the Cross was one of the most famous mystics of Christianity. He supported Teresa of Avila's reform efforts in the Carmelite order and repeatedly came into conflict with the church superiors as a result. He passed on his mystical experiences in an extensive lyrical work.

John of the Cross was born in 1542 in the small village of Fontiveros near Ávila in Castile. His father Gonzalo de Yepes came from the Toledan nobility, but was disowned because he had married the weaver Catalina Alvarez. Johannes grew up in poor circumstances. At the age of nine, he lost his father and moved with his mother and brother Francisco to Medina del Campo near Valladolid.

Here he attended the “Colegio de los Doctrinos” and did simple jobs for the nuns of the convent of the “Santa María Magdalena” church. He initially worked as a nurse at the “Inmaculada Concepción” hospital. At the age of eighteen, he was accepted into the newly founded Jesuit College in Medina del Campo. Here he studied humanities, rhetoric and classical languages for three years. After his training, he began a one-year novitiate with the city's Carmelites. It seems that his deprived childhood and youth led him to choose the secluded path of a contemplative life. Before John turned his full attention to monastic life, he studied philosophy for three years in Salamanca, was then ordained a priest and returned to Medina del Campo. It was there that John met Teresa of Avila for the first time. The encounter had a lasting impact on his life. Teresa suggested that he join her “for the glory of God” and support her plan to reform Carmel. In Spain's “golden age”, the 16th century, the Catholic Church ruled as a matter of course - also protected by the cruel instrument of the Inquisition. The overseas conquests created enormous wealth for the already wealthy.

In the monasteries, the strict rules of the order were increasingly being abolished. Teresa of Avila sought to reform the order against this trend. She aimed to counter “secularization” with greater contemplation and seclusion of the religious. In practical terms, this meant a strictly eremitical orientation: collective solitude, inner prayer and physical work. In many monasteries, a storm of indignation broke out against the reform. The conflict is finally defused by the separation into “shod” and “unshod” Carmelites. Johannes found his home among the “unshod”. In 1568, he founded the first reformed male religious community.

From 1572 to 1577, John lived as spiritual director and confessor to the sisters of the convent of Avila. Teresa of Avila wrote her most important works during this time, John his first. His commitment to the reform of the order was soon to bring him much suffering.

“Bring me out of this death, / my God and give me life; Hold me not fast / in this so hard snare, / She as I suffer to see thee. And so comprehensive is my suffering, / that I die because I do not die.”

These lines from the “Spiritual Canticle” were written in a lightless dungeon in 1577. John of the Cross - as he now called himself - was kidnapped by conservative Carmelites and thrown into a monastery dungeon in Toledo due to the intrigue of a false accusation. Here, among other poems, he wrote the “Spiritual Song” and the famous “Dark Night” of the soul. The saint remained incarcerated for nine months - without a change of clothes, conversation or spiritual support. On the night of August 16-17, 1578, he made an adventurous escape to the convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Toledo.

“On a dark night / full of longing inflamed with love / oh happy event! I escaped unrecognized / when my house was already silent.” In addition to the horror of “horror vacui” - the horror of emptiness - John experiences the nine-month period in prison as a time of purification. In the dungeon, he experiences the presence of God in the darkness. Similar to Teresa of Avila's “seven dwellings of the inner castle”, John also sees the union with the divine divided into different stages of development. Thus, the insights of the “Dark Night” presuppose a process that John describes above all in the writing “Ascent to Mount Carmel”. “The soul must pay loving attention to God.” This “loving attentiveness” is an inward listening, because God is present in people. “The center of the soul is God.” Says St. John of the Cross. But only a few people experience this, because in everyday life people's senses, intellect and will are loud and overactive. But truly experiencing God requires silence. It requires “loving attention” that listens and looks without expectation and without a concrete idea of God.

In contrast to actively preparing oneself on the path to “Mount Carmel of God's unification”, in the next stage man experiences the work of God more passively as a dark force that temporarily hides its light and reveals itself as darkness. Those who surrender to the dark night of the soul can expect a rich reward in the union with God: “It produces in the soul an intense, tender and deep bliss that cannot be expressed with mortal tongue and surpasses all human understanding. For a soul united and transformed in God breathes in GOD and to GOD the same divine longing as God breathes to the soul. Each lives in the other and one is the other and both are one through loving transformation. I live, but not I. Christ lives in me.”

After his escape from prison and a brief period of recuperation, John of the Cross was sent to Andalusia, where he spent ten years in various monasteries. In the south of Spain, the conflict between shod and unshod Carmelites was less charged. He then returned to his native Castile, to the Carmel of Segovia, where he held the office of superior of the community. In 1591, another attack on the uncomfortable mystic: he was relieved of all responsibilities and expelled from the order. Later, plans were made to send the monk, already weakened by illness, to the order's new province of Mexico. Only his poor health thwarted this plan. “What worries me is that people are blaming someone who doesn't have any.”

At the age of 49, John retired to a solitary monastery in Jaén, where he fell seriously ill. He died on the night of December 13-14, 1591, while his confreres were saying the night prayer of Matins. It is not least Juan de la Cruz's poetic legacy, his spiritual love poetry, that makes the mystic worth reading and thinking about even in the 21st century.

[wendellcapili]

Former UP Professor of English and Comparative Literature Josefina Dionisio (JD) Constantino (28 March 1920-19 July 2024), known to many as Sr. Teresa Joseph Patrick of Jesus & Mary, OCD, passed away at 4:00 am, on 19 July 2024. She was 104. Sister Teresa is a UP College of Education and Columbia University (English and Comparative Literature) alumna. She was a student of pioneering fictionist and creative writing teacher Paz Marquez Benitez at UP and Pulitzer-winning poet and critic Mark Van Doren at Columbia. Later, she held grants and fellowships at Edinburgh, MIT, and Michigan. In UP, she was Secretary of the University and the Board of Regents under President Vidal Arceo Tan (1951-1955). With Leticia Ramos-Shahani, she developed UP's Comparative Literature program, the only one of its kind in Southeast Asia. Her students include National Artists Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio & Gemino H. Abad, poet Virginia Moreno, Social Weather Stations President Mahar Lagmay, market research pioneer Mercy Abad, Inquirer columnist Belinda Olivarez Cunanan, and former Malacañang Press Secretary and Manila Bulletin Editor-in-Chief Crispulo Icban. She is widely remembered for her critiques on National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin: “The Woman Who Had Two Navels” (review), published in Philippine Studies [vol. 9 no. 4 (1961): 639–650], and “Illusion and Reality in Nick Joaquin,” in Philippine fiction: essays from Philippine studies, 1953-1972 [ ed. Joseph A. Galdón S.J., Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1972: 13-24]. Her other works include The Asian Religious Sensibility and Christian (Carmelite) Spirituality, The Folly is the Glory of the Cross (UP Press, 2010), and Five Letters to St. Teresa (2011). During its formative years, she was a judge for the annual Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature. Before joining the Carmelites, she became an executive of the Development Bank of the Philippines and a Manila Chronicle columnist. Before she passed, she donated her books and archival materials to Ateneo Library of Women's Writings (ALiWW), Old Rizal Library, at the Ateneo de Manila University. 📷 Jesus and Mary of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD), Carmel of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Gilmore, Quezon City https://lnkd.in/gb2zpGYA