November
November 6 – St. Nuno of St. Mary, Religious | Optional Memorial
Nuno was born in 1360 and fought for many years as a soldier for the independence of Portugal. After his wife’s death he entered the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as a lay brother in the house he had founded in Lisbon and took the name of Nuno of Saint Mary (1423). He died there in 1431, after distinguishing himself by his prayer, penance, and filial devotion to the Mother of God.
November 7 – Bl. Francis of Jesus Mary Joseph, Priest | Optional Memorial
Born in Aytona, Lerida, Spain on December 29, 1811. Discalced (Teresian) Carmelite from 1832, he was ordained priest in 1836. Civil turmoil forced him to live in exile. On his return to Spain in 1851, he founded at Barcelona his School of Virtue which was a model of catechetical teaching. The school was suppressed and he was unjustly exiled to Ibiza (1854-60) where he lived at El Vedra in solitude, mystically experiencing the vicissitudes of the Church. While in the Balearic Islands he founded the Congregations of Carmelite Brothers and Carmelite Missionary Sisters (1860-1861). He preached popular missions and spread love for Our Lady wherever he went. He died in Tarragona on March 20, 1872 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1988.
November 8 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Virgin | Optional Memorial
Elizabeth Catez of the Trinity was born in 1880 in the diocese of Bourges, France. In 1901 she entered the Discalced Carmelite convent of Dijon and received the religious title “of the Trinity”. There she made her profession of vows in 1903 and from there she was called to light, to Love and to life by the Divine Spouse in 1906. A faithful adorer in spirit and in truth, her life was a praise of glory of the Most Blessed Trinity present in her soul and loved amidst interior darkness and excruciating illness. In the mystery of divine inhabitation she found her heaven on earth, her special charism and her mission for the Church. Elizabeth was beatified on November 25, 1984 by Pope John Paul II and canonized on October 16, 2016 by Pope Francis.
November 14 – All Saints of Our Order | Feast
The Saints of Carmel are an immense number of our brothers and sisters who consecrated their lives to God, embracing the teaching of the divine Master and imitating His life, giving themselves to serve the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer, evangelical self-denial and love for all people, even, sometimes to the shedding of their blood. Hermits of Mount Carmel, mediaeval mendicants, doctors and preachers, missionaries and martyrs; nuns who edified the people of God with the mysterious fecundity of their contemplative lives; religious who discovered the face of Christ in their brothers and sisters through their healing or teaching ministry, above all in missionary territories; members of the secular Order who in the midst of the world knew how to incarnate the spirit of the Order. The entire Carmelite family with Mary, our Mother, is in our day a reason to give thanks and praise to God. We remember our brothers and sisters who formerly dedicated themselves to assiduous prayer while on this earth and today participate in the heavenly liturgy. In spirit we are one with them in glory. By their courage they have already shown us the way, while we continue our earthly pilgrimage in the footsteps of Christ and those of our Blessed Lady.
November 15 – Commemoration of All Souls of Our Order | Optional Memorial
Just as the love of Christ and the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary have brought us together in a single family, fraternal charity unites those of us still striving to lead a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ in this world, and those already awaiting the vision of God in Purgatory. Today the whole Order commends our departed brothers and sisters to Gods mercy through the intercession of Our Lady, sure sign of hope and consolation, and begs for their admission to the courts of heaven.
November 19 – St. Raphael of St. Joseph, Priest | Memorial
Raphael Kalinowski was born to Polish parents in the city of Vilnius in 1835. After military service, he was in 1846 condemned to ten years of forced labor in Siberia. In 1877 he joined the Discalced (Teresian) Carmelite Order and in 1882 was ordained a priest. He brought about the restoration of the Order in Poland and guided its growth. His life was distinguished by his zeal for Church unity and by his unflagging devotion to his ministry as a confessor and spiritual director. He died in Wadowice in 1907 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on November 17, 1991.
November 29 – Bls. Denis of the Nativity, Priest, and Redemptus of the Cross, Religious Maryrs | Optional Memorial
Denis of the Nativity, priest, whose secular name was Pierre Berthelot, was born at Honfleur (France) in 1600. He was cartographer and naval commander in the service of the French and Portuguese crowns, but in 1635 became a Discalced (Teresian) Carmelite at Goa. It was also at Goa that Thomas Rodriguez da Cunha, born in Portugal in 1598, had been professed as a lay brother under the name of Redemptus of the Cross in 1615. They were sent together to Sumatra, where they were martyred on November 29 1638 at Ache. They were beatified on June 10, 1900 by Pope Leo XIII.