Saints...

Saints †

Our Lady of Carmen
Mount Carmel
Carmel is a mountain of Israel, starting from the region of Samaria, ends up sinking into the Mediterranean Sea, near the port of Haifa.
This height has a peculiar charm. It is different from Mount Nebo in Jordan, the massif of Sinai and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
All the mountains have their memories theophanic Palestinian (ie manifestation of God), the peaks become sacred and mystical. But not so suggestive as Mount Carmel. Why San Juan de la Cruz took it as the symbol of the mystical ascent? Surely it was suggested the name of his own Carmelite Order. But surely there was some deeper intent that made her sympathetic to the mystery of the sacred mountain of the prophet Elijah.
A pious tradition holds that, since the days of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, in that area were men of prayer who lived in solitude in search of God. In the period of the Crusades arose among Christians the desire to live on that mountain of life dedicated to Christ. Thus arose in Carmel Carmelite life. The convent of Mount Carmel has an evocative name: "Stella Maris" (Star of the Sea). It's a beautiful building to 500 square meters above the sea level Mediterrano in the city of Haifa.
The center of the convent is occupied by the sanctuary of the Virgen del Carmen. In the high altar of this beautiful church on a Greek cross is venerated statue of the Virgen del Carmen, by an Italian sculptor in 1836.
Under the altar is the cave of Elijah. According to tradition, this was the place where the Prophet refuge. A statue reminds the zealous defender of the religion of Yahweh.
Carmelite Fathers tell us that it was not easy to remain Catholic on this mountain. It is true that, at the time of the Crusades, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Saint Albert, could give the hermits of Mount Carmel, a religious rule 1212. It is said that the Carmelite St. Simon Stock happened around here before his famous vision of Carmelite scapular.
Also went on pilgrimage to this holy mountain King St. Louis of France in 1254 in thanksgiving for being saved from a shipwreck.
With the fall of the city of Acre in 1291 came the Arab persecution led to the martyrdom of not a few religious. After a long interruption of monastic life in the mountains that gave rise to the expansion of the Carmelite ideal for the West, religious del Carmen returned to Mount Carmel by the seventeenth century.
The Star of the Sea
The sailors before the age of electronics trusted their way to the stars. Hence the analogy with the Virgin Mary who as star of the sea, guides us through the tricky waters of life towards the safe haven that is Christ.
For the invasion of the Saracens, the Carmelites were forced to leave Mount Carmel. An ancient tradition tells us that before leaving the Virgin appeared to them as they sang the Salve Regina and she promised to be for them the Star of the Sea that beautiful name also known as Our Lady Mount Carmel rises like a star next to sea