Thursday, July 16, 2026

It is the 16th of July 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

A few weeks back, on vacation in Northern California, we drove through “Carmel-by-the-Sea,” and my kids noted that there was a “Carmelite Monastery” for “Our Lady and St. Therese”- they wondered what that was… I said, “Not only do you have to wait until next July 16th to learn about that, but I also see that they are “discalced” Carmelites… wait till you hear what that means.

 

And, many of you know I spend about a week every year in Minnesota on Lake Carlos at Mt. Carmel…. Mt. Carmel is a fairly common name- and, you’d be right to tie that to the Biblical Mt. Carmel- the place where Elijah famously confronted the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings. So… let’s tie this all together.

 

Mt. Carmel was the famous “high place” near Haifa that became associated with the prophet Elijah after his challenge of the prophets of Baal and Yahweh’s vindication, which banished a long drought in the land.

 

So the mountain ridge (which means, Garden) and the prophet have long been associated.

 

Now we jump forward to the Crusades- there were a number of Crusaders who decided to take up the hermetic lifestyle on that mountain in the 1100s. There is a legend that Christian and Jewish mystics have taken up residence there since the time of Elijah, but this is likely a legend.

 

In the early 1200s, the monks on Carmel asked the Pope to formally recognize them as a religious order. Like the Dominicans and Franciscans and later the Jesuits. For my Protestant friends, think of these “orders” as roughly parallel to denominations- except they are usually for the ordained, the specially called, and only sometimes for those in the secular world. Unlike the Franciscans and Dominicans, they would not name themselves after their charismatic leaders (St. Dominic, St. Francis) but rather the location where they originated. With the instability caused by the later crusades, these Carmelites would leave the Holy Lands and enter various European locations, having been approved by the Pope.

 

These hermits were “mendicant”- that is, they took a vow of poverty- but what distinguished them was their mystical piety. Like Elijah, who spent time alone in the wilderness and in suffering and prayer, these Carmelites would follow suit.

 

The 16th century saw the real explosion of the Carmelites. Like many of the “orders,” they developed in response to a perceived laxity in the church or to combat certain errors. The Protestant Reformers weren’t the only ones calling for renewal and reformation in the Early Modern Western church.

 

The Carmelites in the 16th century would be led by two of the most famous Carmelites, both Spaniards: Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Theresa and John would help form a renewed group of Carmelites- as opposed to the old ones who were perceived as lax- these would be Carmelites with a slightly stricter rule, and you could tell who was who just by looking at them… the new Carmelites are called “O.C.D”- Order of Carmelites, Discalced… that is, without shoes! The “Discalced” or “Reformed” outnumber the originals today.

 

Theresa, and her Interior Castle (a mystical text), would be paralleled with St. John of the Cross’ most famous mystical work- “the Dark Night of the Soul, or “La noche oscura del alma,” a memorable turn of phrase that has come to mean more than a passive detachment (as it means for John).

 

Both of these Carmelites would be recognized as Doctors of the Church- there are only 38 in total. St. Teresa of Avila would be the first woman to that rank. Another woman, St. Therese of Lisieux, who took the name after the earlier Carmelite, would also be named a Doctor of the Church. And perhaps you’ve heard of another Carmelite named Theresa- Theresa Benedicta of the Cross- a patron saint of Europe who is probably best known by her secular name: Edith Stein. The Jewish convert who died in the Nazi camps at Birkenau.

 

The Carmelites- from their inception in the 1100s, their recognition by the Pope, and their reforming in the 16th century- make up one of the larger orders today. The Discalced Carmelite Sisters are the second largest group of Nuns in the world today.

 

July 16th is the feast of “Our Lady of Mt. Carmel”- the Virgin Mary being prominent in their piety- and thus the 16th of July has served as a kind of “Day for the Carmelites”- we remember this ancient order and its newer shoeless brethren on this day.

 

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Hebrews 2:

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
 a son of man that you care for him?

7 You made them a little lower than the angels;
 you crowned them with glory and honor

8  and put everything under their feet.”

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them.Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 16th of July 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows you heat the sugars slowly, past 170, and then you get… wait… that’s Caramel… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows there’s nothing lower than the Angels, at least in the American League… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.