Editing Carmelites (section)

===Teresian reform===
{{Main|Discalced Carmelites}}

[[File:Santa Teresa de Jesús (Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|[[Teresa of Ávila]] (1515–1582)]]
Reform in Spain began in earnest in the 1560s, with the work of [[Teresa of Ávila]], who, together with [[John of the Cross]], established the [[Discalced Carmelites]]. Teresa's foundations were welcomed by [[Philip II of Spain|King Philip II of Spain]], who was most anxious for all orders to be reformed according to the principles of the [[Council of Trent]] (1545–1563). But she created practical problems at the grassroots level. The proliferation of new religious houses in towns that were already struggling to cope economically was an unwelcome prospect. Local townspeople resisted direction by the nobility and diocesan clergy. Teresa tried to make her monasteries as self-sufficient as was practicable, and  accordingly restricted the number of nuns in each community.

[[File:Johncross5.jpg|thumb|left|[[John of the Cross]] (1542–1591)]]
The Discalced Carmelites also faced much opposition from unreformed Carmelite houses, as when Carmelites from Toledo arrested and imprisoned John of the Cross in their monastery. Only in the 1580s did the Discalced Carmelites gain official approval of their status. In 1593, the Discalced Carmelites had their own superior general styled praepositus general, the first such being Nicholas Doria. Due to the politics of foundation, the Discalced friars in Italy were canonically erected as a separate juridical entity.
[[File:Avila - Convento de San Jose o de las Madres 03.jpg|thumb|The [[Convento de San José (Ávila)|Convent of Saint Joseph]] in [[Ávila, Spain|Ávila]] (Spain) was the first foundation of the [[Discalced Carmelites]]]]

After the rise of [[Protestantism]] and the devastation of the [[French Wars of Religion]], a spirit of reform renewed 16th–17th century France, as well as the Carmelite Order in France. In the late 16th century, Pierre Behourt began an effort to restore the state of the Province of [[Touraine]], which was continued by the practical reforms of Philip Thibault. The Provincial Chapter of 1604 appointed Thibault the prior of the Convent in Rennes, and moved the Novitiate to Rennes, thereby ensuring that new members of the Province would be formed by the reform-minded friars.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Smet|first1=Joachim|title=The Mirror of Carmel: A Brief History of the Carmelite Order|publisher=Carmelite Media|pages=230–232}}</ref> The Observance of Rennes advocated poverty, the interior life and regular observance as the antidote to the laxity and decadence into which religious life had fallen, in addition, incorporating currents of renewal from the Discalced Reform, [[French school of spirituality|the French School]], and the [[Society of Jesus]]. Thibault is said to have wished to marry the spirit of the society with the Order of Carmelites as far as possible.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bremond|first1=Henri|title=A Literary History of Religious Thought in France from the Wars of religion Down to Our Own Times; Vol. 2 [II], The Coming of Mysticism (1590–162)|date=1930|publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge|page=275}}</ref> One of the most renowned figures of the Reform was [[John of St. Samson]], a blind lay brother, highly regarded for his humility and exalted spiritual life. In 1612, Br. John was moved to the Convent at Rennes and, in addition to playing the organ, served as the instructor and spiritual director of the novices. Thus John of St. Samson became known as the "Soul of the Reform." Eventually, the Observance of Rennes spread to priories throughout France, Belgium, and Germany, and became known as the Touraine Reform, after the Province from which the movement originated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Smet|first1=Joachim|title=The Mirror of Carmel: A Brief History of the Carmelite Order|pages=233–235}}</ref>

Carmelite nunneries were established in [[New Spain]] (Mexico), the first founded in 1604 in [[Puebla de los Angeles]], New Spain's second largest city, followed by one in the capital [[Mexico City]] 1616. In all, before Mexican independence in 1821, there were five Carmelite convents among 56 nunneries.<ref>Asunción Lavrin, ''Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico''. Stanford: Stanford University Press 2008, pp. 359–371.</ref>