Congregation of Mother of Carmel

Congregation of the Mother of Carmel
Suore della Madre del Carmelo
Formation	February 13, 1866; 158 years ago
Founder	Third Order of Carmelites Discalced

The Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (C.M.C.) is a

Syro-Malabar Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women founded in 1866. It was the first native congregation for women in that church.^[1]

History

Foundation

The congregation was founded as the Sisters of the

Third Order of Carmelites Discalced by Kuriakose Elias Chavara, on 13 February 1866 at Koonammavu in the southern state of Kerala.^[2]

The first convent of the new community was opened in Koonammavu with three women: Eliswa, a widow, her daughter Anna, Eliswa's sister Tresa and another young lady named Clara came as the fourth member on the next day.. They were given the rules of the Discalced Third Order under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Verapoly, Bernardine Baccinelli. Leopold Beccaro was their spiritual director.

Division

In May 1887, the

Vicariate Apostolic of Trichur

. The Sisters who belonged to the Latin Church separated and was named the Congregation of Teresian Carmelites (C.T.C.).

With the eventual reorganization of the Syro-Malabar hierarchy, the Sisters found themselves divided among five different congregations, each under a different bishop and led by its own

Superior General. The first foundation outside of Kerala from among the different groups was to the Punjab

in 1958.

Full union of the disparate congregations did not take place until November 16, 1963, when they were recognized by the Holy See as a congregation of the Eastern Church, at which time the congregation took the name of Congregation of Mother of Carmel, by which it is currently known.

Current

The congregation today is divided among 25 Provinces and six regions throughout India and Africa. They also serve in Germany, Italy, Africa,peru,Canada,Iraq,UK and the United States.^[1]