Discalced Carmelite Friars Washington Province

The Carmelite story in the United States is interwoven with Holy Hill. The history of Holy Hill, though, predates our story.
1838 – Holy Hill was originally Indian property owned by the Menominees, who lost their property rights in Wisconsin after the Black Hawk War and were cruelly expelled from the state in 1838 and forced to seek new homes beyond the Mississippi. European immigration into the area was rapid, and the new Catholic population of southern Wisconsin was composed largely of people from the Rhineland and Bavaria.
1855 – Twelve years after the establishment of a bishopric in Wisconsin, Father Francis Paulhuber purchased the property at Holy Hill from the government and erected a large white oak cross on the summit of the hill, the highest elevation in southern Wisconsin.
1862 – A log cabin chapel built on Holy Hill became a pilgrimage site over the years, especially after a wooden, hand-carved statue, made in Germany and exhibited at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1875, was carried to the hill and installed there in 1878.
Although Discalced Carmelite Friars had been among the early explorers of what is now the western United States, they did not establish a permanent community until friars came from Bavaria to Wisconsin in 1906 to staff the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians. (This Shrine in 2006 was honored with the distinct privilege of Minor Basilica status as part of its centenary celebrations). In 1914 they added a parish, St. Florian’s in West Milwaukee, to their responsibilities.
In 1942 they came to Brookline, Massachusetts, to open a novitiate to accommodate the growing number of applicants. (This community transferred to Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1989.)
In 1947, these monasteries were joined to a 1916 Spanish foundation in Washington, D.C., to become the first Discalced Carmelite Province in the United States: the Province of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Washington Province. Father Thomas Kilduff O.C.D., the provincial at that time, consecrated the Province to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the grotto at Lourdes.
That same year, the new Province sent six missionaries to the Philippines to help re-establish the Church in Infanta. Two friars of the Province, Father Patrick Shanley, and Julio Labayen, later served as bishops of Infanta. In October 2015 the Philippines officially were proclaimed its own province.
Other foundations followed: a residence in Youngstown, Ohio, meeting the spiritual and pastoral needs of the area, and a minor seminary (later retreat house) in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Eventually, these houses closed as new needs emerged elsewhere. In 1968, the Province established a community of hermits in Hinton, West Virginia, which recently closed to meet the new needs of the province.
Thus the varied possibilities of the Discalced Carmelite way of life were all present in the houses of the Province. To maintain that, we are looking at establishing hermitages at one of our current houses.
The next step in the history of the Province came in the summer of 1995 when it assumed responsibility for the Discalced Carmelite House of Studies in Nairobi, Kenya, which to this day we currently serve and has expanded to include four other houses. The Province continues to grow, serving the Church with all the wealth its spiritual patrimony has to offer.
The evolution of the province has been geographical also spiritual. The Holy Spirit continues to lead the Province of Discalced Carmelites to maintain its charism of seeking the face of the living God and to hear His word deep within. We continue to adapt to maintain and enhance our contemplative prayer by entering into communion with God the Father, through Christ His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

ICS Publications

ICS Publications, based in Washington, D.C., is the publishing house of the Institute of Carmelite Studies (ICS) and a ministry of the Discalced Carmelite Friars of the Washington Province (U.S.A.). The Institute of Carmelite Studies promotes research and publication in the field of Carmelite spirituality, especially about Carmelite saints and related topics. The institute’s members are friars of the Washington Province.

The Discalced Carmelites in Austria

Carmelites offer their services in all areas of pastoral care within the local and universal Church as pastors, teachers, missionaries, and so on. We strive with particular care to carry out our specific apostolate: the study and teaching of the spiritual life, spiritual writings, retreats, days of reflection, spiritual direction, accompaniment of individuals and groups, pastoral care for the Discalced Carmelite Sisters and the Third Order, prayer schools, temporary monastic stays, etc. Within the monastery, there are many ministries and roles necessary for the success of a community’s communal life and ecclesial service. Candidates who wish to contribute through manual labor are just as welcome as those who aspire to serve in pastoral ministry. These different vocations complement and enrich one another. In Austria, the Discalced Carmelites live and work in Vienna, Graz, Linz, and Innsbruck.