May

May 4 – Bl. Angel Maria Prat, Lucas of St. Joseph, Priests and Companions, Martyrs | Optional Memorial

At the height of the Spanish Civil War, Fr. Angel Maria was prior of the Tarrega community of Discalced Carmelite friars in 1936. He and 11 others of the community were arrested on July 28 and transferred to Cervera where they were each shot the next day.

Fr. Lucas was recently elected provincial of the Catalonian province and resided in Barcelona. On July 19, 1936, the streets around the monastery erupted in gunfire between soldiers and mobs of the Popular Front Party and nationalist troops. Fr. Lucas and the members of the community attended to the needs of the soldiers who came to the monastery for aid. They continued to pray and offer Mass until the vicinity was overrun. They thus decided to change into civilian clothing after receiving the Sacraments, but many including Fr. Lucas were discovered to be friars and subsequently shot.

In all, the Spanish Civil War is considered “the greatest clerical bloodletting of the Christian Church” with 498 priests, religious, and laity executed. Pope Benedict XVI beatified all martyrs of the Spanish Civil War on October 28, 2007.

May 16 – St. Simon Stock, Priest | Optional Memorial

A monumental figure in Carmelite history, Saint Simon Stock was born in Kent, England in 1165. We do not have much documentation about his life, especially the early part of it. As such personal biographical details are lacking.

Most extant biographies say that Simon became a hermit at the age of twelve. One would suppose that in that age of a short life span, Simon would have already been considered an adult at this age, and his retirement into seclusion for a religious reason not odd. It is said that he made for himself a “cell” in the hollow of a tree, and this became the derivation of his surname, for “stock” is the name for the trunk of a tree in England. Again, this was not strange for his time; religious fervor was in the air, and numerous hermits populated the countryside, living under the general direction of the Bishop. Sometime in the early twelfth century he joined the Carmelite Order, most likely after he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The traditional story relates that he returned to England and made the initial foundation at Hulne, then was sent with the original group to Aylesford.

When the Chapter assembled on Pentecost Sunday at Aylesford in 1247, the Order was at a crossroads. It was conducting its first elections in the West because of the turbulent situation in Palestine, and their situation in Europe seemed hopeless. At the Chapter, Saint Simon Stock was elected Prior General, and he at once took charge to bring about the great work of adaptation. He sent two Carmelites to Pope Innocent IV to request the two adaptations to the Rule upon which the Chapter had decided: the Order was now allowed to locate in urban areas rather than find deserts in which to live, and they were now also permitted to live in a common building rather than to be required to live in hermitages.

Saint Simon began to move his men, now to be friars, and make Carmelite foundations in cities. He obtained ecclesiastical permission for his priests to preach and administer the sacraments. He also involved the Carmelites in the important university movement of the thirteenth century. Of course, he had his opponents, as all do, but Saint Simon Stock had launched the Order into a new epoch, in spite of much opposition, and the Carmelites became a vital part of the Church. While keeping their rich spiritual tradition they were now also allowed to share it with others through their apostolic activity.

St. Simon is best known to the universal Church however because of the popular tradition which holds that in 1251 he received the Holy Scapular from Our Lady in a vision. Our Lady was to have appeared to St. Simon and give him the scapular with the words, “Hoc erit tibi et cunctis Carmelitis privilegium, in hoc habitu moriens salvabitur” (This shall be the privilege for you and for all the Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall be saved). The Scapular as such came to symbolize the special devotion of Carmelites to Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and their deep trust in her motherly love and her powerful intercession and protection. Soon the devotion spread throughout the entire world. The Order will always remember St. Simon for the prayer which he composed to the Blessed Mother, the Flos Carmeli, which is chanted every Saturday in Her honor.

Saint Simon Stock lived to be an incredible one hundred years old! While making a visitation of the Carmelite foundation at Bordeaux, France, he became ill and died on May 16, 1265. He was buried in the Cathedral at Bordeaux, but a year later the Archbishop permitted his remains to be transferred to the room where he died, and the room was made into a chapel. Soon there were numerous reports of miracles worked there. Only eleven years after his death, the Holy See permitted a Mass in his honor to be celebrated by the Carmelites of Bordeaux; and ultimately the entire Order kept this feast. On July 15, 1951, his remains were returned to Aylesford.

Saint Simon Stock was a leader of extraordinary ability. He was a holy man who loved and respected the traditions of his Order but also understood the contemporary needs of the Order and the Church. God provided a wise, fearless and intrepid fighter of the stature of St. Simon Stock to serve as General in one of the greatest moments of transition in the life of the Order.

May 22 – St. Joachina de Vedruna, Religious | Optional Memorial

Joachina was born in Barcelona in 1783. In 1799 she married Theodore de Mas, by whom she had nine children. Her husband died in 1816; and in 1826 she was moved by the Holy Spirit to found the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, which spread throughout Catalonia, maintaining many houses for the care of the sick and the education of children, especially the poor. She loved to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and this devotion characterized her life of prayer, mortification, detachment, humility and charity. She died at Vich in 1854.

May 25 – St. Mary Magdalene of the Incarnate Word, Virgin | Optional Memorial

Born in Florence in the year 1566. After a pious upbringing she entered the Carmelites where she led a hidden life of prayer and self-denial. She prayed especially for the reform of the Church. She was endowed by God with many spiritual gifts and directed her fellow sisters along the road of perfection. She died in the year 1607.