Main
Characteristics in the History
of the
Teresian Carmelite Missions in Asia
Fr.
Dominic Fernández de Mendiola, OCD.
Former Rector of Alwaye Seminary, Kerala.
(Navarra province of Discalced Carmelites,
Spain)
The history of the missions of Teresian
Carmel in Asia presents us with some
interesting
characteristics. We have two historical
periods in which the Discalced Carmelites
came to Asia
as missionaries. Let us examine them one by
one.
I. Period of the Congregation of St. Elias
(Italian Congregation) : XVII and XVIII
Centuries up to the middle of XIX Century
During this period of more than 250 years,
all the Carmelite missionaries coming to
Asia belonged to the Italian Congregation.
The Carmelite missions present the following
five main characteristics.
-
The missions were taken up in response
to the invitation of the Popes, under
the direction of the new Pontifical
Centre for Evangelization: The
Congregation of Propaganda Fide
-
They were assumed consciously and
explicitly by the Carmelites after
considering the apostolic zeal and the
words of St. Teresa, as the Mother
Founder.
-
These missions were situated in
territories, which are the cradles of
great historical religions.
-
The missionaries, from the beginning
assumed as a priority activity, the
formation of local clergy in seminaries.
-
The First martyrs of Teresian Carmel: Bl.
Denis and Bl. Redemptus
Let me present a short commentary on each of
these characteristics.
1. & 2. Characteristics:
The missions were taken up in response to
the invitation of the Popes under the
direction of the new Pontifical centre for
Evangelization: The Congregation of
Propaganda Fide; and they were assumed by
the Carmelites after considering the
apostolic zeal and the works of St. Teresa
as the Mother Founder.
These first two characteristics appear
intertwined among the Carmelites who went to
Persia (present Iran), which was the first
Discalced Carmelite Mission after the Congo
Mission in Africa.
The Discalced Carmelites sent by the Pope to
the mission
:
In the year 1602 Pope Clement VIII appointed
Carmelite Father Pedro of the Mother of God
who was his confessor and Apostolic
preacher, as Mission Superintendent of all
catholic missions. At the death of Pope
Clement in 1605, his successor Pope Paul V
(1605 – 1621) reconfirmed this office of Fr.
Pedro of the Mother of God and when Fr.
Pedro died (1608) Pope appointed for the
same office Fr. Domingo of Jesus Mary.
Exactly in those years from 1600 A.D.
onwards the emperor Shah Abbas I, known as
“The Great” (1587 – 1628), who showed
interest in promoting commerce and cultural
relationships with the Christian kings of
Europe, also showed a great desire in having
some personal contact with Pope Clement
VIII. In answer to this desire of the Shah
Abbas I, the Pope decided to send some
Discalced Carmelites as his legates.
The missionary activity proper to the
Teresian Carmel:
The Carmelites judged it proper to study in
depth an important question: whether the
missionary activity was belonging to the
Discalced Carmelite Order or not. The
fathers of the Italian Congregation studied
this question in the years 1603 – 1604. In
this crucial moment appear the decisive
intervention of the great master and
teacher, in the person of Fr. John of Jesus
Mary, the Calahorrian (Spain). He
synthesized his thoughts in two writings:
the first one, “Assertum seu Tractatus
quo asseruntur missiones…” in the first
middle of 1603; and the second, the “Votum
seu consilium pro missionibus”, related
to the mission of Persia.
These two writings are brief but solid in
doctrine. Fr. John demonstrated that the
missions are not only permitted to our
institute but they belong to it as
essential. They were essential in all the
“three ages” of the Order of Carmel: the
first, from St. Elias to the birth of
Christ; the second, from Christ to
the beginning of the Discalced Carmelites,
the third, from the starting of the
Discalced Carmelites by St. Teresa.
Fr. John of Jesus Mary introduced this ‘last
age’ with forceful words: “At last -
wrote the Calahorrian (Spain), “…either
we approve the spirit of the Blessed Virgin
and our Mother Teresa or not;
equally, either we venerate her as our
founder or not. To disapprove her spirit
will be a temerity, to deny her work of the
foundation will be ingratitude.
Therefore, being clear that the Blessed
Teresa desired the missions more ardently
than martyrdom and that she ordained her own
works and prayers and those of her family,
for the exit of those who were working in
the conversion of heretics, who can deny
that her idea was to obtain this through the
friars, her sons by ways which were not
possible to her daughters?”.
Sending to the mission of Persia – Iran – by
Pope Clement VIII (1604)
Once it was clear that there was no
objection to accept the missions from the
part of the charism, neither from the part
of the personnel, the Pope directed the
Discalced Carmelites to the mission of
Persia. On 6 July, 1604 with the required
documents of the Pope to the Shah of Persia,
the group of four Discalced Carmelites
friars of the Italian Congregation - three
priests, one brother and a layman - started
their journey towards Persia.
Arrival to the Mission of Persia (1607):
The way to Persia was very long and
difficult, passing through Poland, Russia
and the Caspian sea. Brother Donado John and
the lay man Francisco died on the journey.
On 2 December, 1607, now it is
exactly 400 years ago, the remaining three
priests arrived to Isfahan, the capital city
of Persia. They are Fr. Paul Simon, who much
later became the Superior General of the
Congregation, Fr. John Tadeo, appointed as
Bishop in the year 1632 (the first Teresian
Carmelite Bishop), Fr. Vincent, who opened
one house in Ormuz in the year 1609 and one
more house in Goa in the year 1609 – 1620.
These two characteristics of the mission of
Persia are found also in the missions
started in Asia in the 17th and
18th centuries. The most lasting
was the Malabar mission entrusted by the
Pope in 1656 (1657; 1700-1838); it gave
origin to the first Apostolic Vicariate of
Malabar – Verapoly, and in the 19th
century to other various vicariates like,
Bombay, Mangalore and Quilon. The title of
Vicar Apostolic, given to the prelates,
already indicates that they have the dignity
and mission of a bishop, appointed by
Propaganda Fide, in territories that were
belonging to the jurisdiction of the
Padroado (Portuguese) and in which the
bishop of the Padroado could not exercise
his Episcopal ministry.
3. Third Characteristic
These missions were situated in territories,
which are the cradles of great historical
religions.
Let us remember that the territory assigned
to the Italian Congregation by Pope Clement
VIII
on 13 November, 1600, in Apostolicae
dignitatis culmine, was the whole world,
outside the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal,
in which the missionary activity was carried
out under the Patronato (Spain) – Padroado
(Portuguese). At that moment the Kingdoms of
Spain and Portugal were extended over the
continents of Africa and America, with
profound religiosity without doubt but
without the structures of the great
historical religions.
To the Italian Congregation was assigned the
vast continent of Asia, cradle of great
positive historical religions with their own
sacred books, structures of culture and
transmission of their faith. It is enough to
remember the presence of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism, Islamism, Confucianism etc. On some
occasions the authorities of those
territories prohibited conversions to
Christianity. These circumstances made it
that the central and dominant activity of
Carmelite missionaries was to take care of
the Catholic Christians residing in those
territories, not excluding however the
presentation of the good news to the
non-Christians.
4. Fourth Characteristic
The missionaries, from the beginning assumed
as a priority activity, the formation of
local clergy in seminaries.
This is one of the important characteristics
that continued in Asia during all the
missionary activities of discalced
Carmelites. All the Apostolic Vicars were
aware that they could not complete their
mission without the help of a well formed
local, indigenous clergy. The first seminary
opened for the Vicariate of Malabar was
Verapoly in the year 1682. Much later in the
year 1766 it was transferred to Alangad,
coming back again to Verapoly in 1774. In
this Seminary of Verapoly, the great
linguist, Fr. Paulino of St. Bartholomew
(1779 – 1789) was professor and investigator
of the sacred writings of the eastern
religions.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Great Mogul,
later called Bombay, also thought of forming
local clerics and opened one small seminary
in 1770. It developed later to be the great
seminary of modern Bombay.
5. Fifth Characteristic
The
First martyrs of Teresian Carmel: Bl. Denis
and Bl. Redemptus
More than a characteristic of missionary
activity of the Carmelites in Asia it is an
inspiring fact that the first martyrs of
Teresian Carmel were two professed religious
of Goa: the priest, Denis of Nativity (Pedro
Berthelor, born in Honfleur, France in the
year1600) and Brother Redemptus of the Cross
(Tomas Rodrigues da Cunha, born in Portugal
in the year 1598). They suffered the
martyrdom in Sumatra near the city of Achen
on 29 November 1638, fourty-six years after
the death of Madre Teresa. They are an
inspiration for the missionaries in our
present age who have to confront and undergo
various types martyrdom in the process of
evangelization.
II. Period of Re-Organization of the
Missions in the World and of the restoration
of the Order in several countries and the
unification of the Order: XIX and XX
Centuries
The fourth part of the 19th
century signalled the beginning of modern
missions, promoted by Pope Gregory XVI (1831
– 1848), the previous Prefect of the
Propaganda Fide. At the same time took place
in Europe the restoration of Discalced
Carmelite Order in several provinces which
were suppressed during the French revolution
and the following liberal governments. In
the years 1839 – 1841 the Order was restored
in France (by Spanish Carmelites under the
Italian Congregation) and in Belgium. After
some years, in 1868 the Order was restored
in Spain with the Constitutions of the
Italian Congregation.
The new provinces of France, of Flanders in
Belgium and of St. Joaquim of Navarra in
Spain assumed the task and problems of the
missions with great intensity. The
unification of the two Congregations of
Italy and Spain into one Discalced Carmelite
Order with the Constitution of the Italian
Congregation in 1875, brought the arrival of
missionaries of the province of St. Joaquim
of Navarra and later on of the other Spanish
provinces to the missions of Asia.
To the characteristics of the first period
we can add the following ones.
-
The primordial objective of the
Carmelite missions is to bring the good
news of the Gospel in non - Christian
and the implantation of the Church.
-
The formation of the local clergy in
seminaries and the opening of centres
for theological studies.
-
The arrival of the Discalced Carmelites
cloistered nuns in mission territories
and the birth of indigenous Carmelite
Congregations.
-
The special relation of the missions in
Asia and St. Therese of the Infant
Jesus, the Patroness of the Missions.
-
The fact of Carmelite provinces of Asia,
assuming missions in India and abroad.
Let us present a brief commentary on each of
these characteristics.
1.
First characteristic:
The primordial objective of the Carmelite
missions is now is to bring the good news of
the Gospel is non - Christian and the
implantation of the Church
In fact, the Carmelite missionaries work in
very fertile fields for conversions,
particularly at the end of 19th
century and the first quarter part of the 20th
century in some regions of India,
particularly in Malabar - Kerala. Those
missions were nourished by an uninterrupted
arrival of missionaries. Several of the
missionaries were outstanding for their
holiness. Three of them, the Venerable Frs.
John Vincent, Aurelian and Zacharias, are on
the way to Beatification
2. Second characteristic:
The formation of the local clergy in
seminaries and the opening of centres for
theological studies.
The opening of seminaries for the formation
of diocesan clergy, initiated in the
previous period, developed vigorously in
this new period. The Apostolic Vicariate of
Malabar was divided in 1845 into Apostolic
Vicariates of Mangalore, Verapoly and
Quilon. All of them put up new bases for
major seminaries in their respective
Vicariates that helped to form the local
clergy in the modern Malabar cost of India.
Mons. Bernadino Pontovana erected the
seminary in Mangalore in 1846 and the new
building was built by Mons. Miguel Antonio
in the territory of Jeppu that formed
various generations of priests until 1878 in
which year the mission of Mangalore passed
on to Jesuits.
For its part the Carmelite Apostolic
Vicariate of Quilon, through Mons. Carlos
Jacinto opened the seminary of St. Teresa in
Tangassen in 1860 and Mons. Benziger
constructed one new edifice in 1914-1916. In
1937 it was converted into a central
seminary for the dioceses of Quilon,
Trivandrum and Kotar, until 1948 in which
year all the seminarians were sent to
Central seminary of Alwaye. The seminary of
Alwaye became the successor of the ancient
seminary of Verapoly that was transferred to
Puthempally in 1866. It became the central
Pontifical Seminary of all the dioceses of
Latins and Syrians of Malabar entrusted to
the province of St. Joachim of Navarra in
1932.
Transferred to Alwaye in 1932, the
Pontifical Seminary was growing in all
dimensions: in number of seminarians, and in
centres of formation. With the campus proper
to Philosophy (Carmelgiri in 1955), and
Theology (Mangalapuza from its inception),
with the formation houses of religious
congregations around, and finally in the
years 1972 – 1973 with the erection of a
faculty of theology and philosophy
(Pontifical Institute of Theology and
Philosophy).
3. Third characteristic:
The arrival of the Discalced Carmelites
cloistered nuns in mission territories and
the birth of indigenous Carmelite
Congregations.
The second half of the 19th
century witnessed the first foundations of
Discalced Carmelite nuns in the Asiatic
continent in the extreme East, in India, and
in the middle east, in concrete, in modern
Israel. In the extreme east we have the
foundation in 1861 of the Carmel of Saigon
in Vietnam opened by the community of
Lisieux (France); from Saigon came out a new
foundation in 1895 at Hanoi in the North of
Vietnam. This new community of Hanoi asked
for a reinforcement of personnel from the
Carmel of Lisieux; some of the sisters of
young Therese and also herself were the
possible candidates to go to Hanoi.
In India we have in 1870 (year of Vatican
I) the important foundation of Mangalore
Carmel, from the religious of the Carmel of
Pau (France). It was giving consistency to
the existing Carmel of Pondichery existing
from 1859 as a fruit of the transformation
of the group of devout women gathered in
1748 according to the spirit of St. Teresa.
Related to the Carmels of Saigon, Mangalore,
Liseux and Pau came out three Carmels
founded in the Holy Land and Palestine in
the last third part of the 19th
century: they are, Bethlehem and Jerusalem,
both in 1875 and Haifa in 1891.
A decisive impulse to the missionary
activity of the Carmelites in Asia
particularly in India was the birth and rise
of indigenous religious congregations of
both men and women animated with the
Carmelite spirit in the 19th
century. At the beginning, both men and
women were related to the Carmelite Order as
Tertiaries. Among the male religious we have
the Congregation of the Syro-Malabar rite of
Mannanam, called today as “Carmelites of
Mary Immaculate” (C.M.I.) and the
Congregation of the Latin rite of Manjummel,
which today is one of the provinces of the
Teresian Carmel in India.
Among the feminine congregations, two were
initiated in 1866 in Koonamavu, one of
Syro-Malabar rite - the “Congregation of the
Mother of Carmel” (C.M.C.), and the other
one of Latin rite – the “Congregation of
Teresian Carmelites” (C.T.C.). The
Congregation of “Apostolic Carmel” (A.C.),
initiated in 1868 at Bayonne (France),
established itself in Mangalore (India) in
the year 1870. The “Congregation of the
Carmelite Religious” (C.C.R.), was founded
at Trivandrum in 1880, and the congregation
of “Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa”
(C.S.S.T.) was founded at Ernakulam in 1887.
The work of these congregations mainly in
the fields of education, works of charity,
and social and health services, as a
Christian reply to the needs of the society
has been very significant in India and
abroad.
4. Fourth Characteristic:
The special relation of the missions in Asia
and St. Therese of Infant Jesus, the
Patroness of the Missions
The missions in Asia attracted and nourished
the apostolic zeal of St. Therese of the
Infant Jesus, while she was living. It is
enough to remember her letters to her
“brother missionary” Fr. Roulland in China,
her devotion to the young missionary Teofano
Venard, martyred in Tonkin at the age of 31
and her availability to give herself to the
recently founded community of Hanoi, if
health and obedience permitted her to go
there.
The Carmelite missionaries from their part
in Asia were pioneers in putting their
missionary work under the protection of St.
Therese of Lisieux. The missionaries of
India, and in concrete the diocese of Quilon
had the privilege of erecting the first
church dedicated to the Little Flower in the
world. Archbishop Mons. Aloysius Benziger
while the process of beatification was going
on requested the permission of the Holy See
to erect one church dedicated to the Little
Flower in the new Christian centre of
Thungampara in the mission of
Neyattinkara. Little Therese was Beatified
by Pope Pius XI on 29 April, 1924 and two
weeks later the first church dedicated to
her in Malabar was inaugurated by Archbishop
Benziger, surrounded by 13 Carmelite
Missionaries.
5. Fifth characteristic
The fact of Carmelite provinces of Asia,
assuming missions in India and abroad.
In the final decades of the 20th
century the Carmelite provinces of Asia
assumed missions in India and abroad. These
missions were understood, as in the whole
Church, as “missionary co-operation” to
“young churches”. It has been a great
contribution of the missionary activity of
the whole Order.
1. Provinces of India:
This new missionary activity of the Order
started after the formation of various
provinces in 1981: the province of Malabar
assumed missions in Jalandhar and Ranchi;
Manjummel in states of Andhra Pradesh and
Orissa in India and in Flores (Indonesia);
Karnataka – Goa in Tanzania and South
Africa; South Kerala in Calcutta, and Tamil
Nadu in Chattisgarh.
2. Taiwan,
from its part helped in opening two
foundations in Singapore.
Conclusion
Today God is blessing the Teresian Carmelite
family in Asia, with many good vocations.
The last characteristic that we have just
mentioned above - that the provinces of Asia
are assuming missions in various parts of
the world - makes us to see the future with
great hope and joy in the third millennium
that we have already entered.
A deep examination of the attitudes, words
and actions of St. Teresa, our Mother
Founder and of her immediate collaborators
make us sure of two realities regarding our
charism which are interconnected: (1) The
Teresian Carmel does not exist in the Church
with the proper fecundity desired by God
without cultivating the personal prayer -
being alone (a solas) with God, (2)
at the same time the Teresian Carmel cannot
exist with such fecundity without
orientating the whole life to the apostolic
and missionary end, in the form of
contemplative life for the nuns and in the
form of apostolic and missionary activity
for the friars.
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