Editing Carmelites (section)

=== From hermits to friars ===

Back in Europe, the hermits of Carmel encountered many difficulties. Their [[eremitic]] life did not adapt well to their new settlements, they were scattered in different nations, and they found themselves in "competition" with other [[mendicant orders]]. [[Pope Innocent III]] wished to bring the mendicant orders all together under the direction of the [[Order of Friars Minor]] and the [[Order of Preachers]]. In 1215, the [[Fourth Lateran Council]] decided to group the existing Mendicant orders under the two primary ones. In 1274 the [[Second Council of Lyon]] disestablished all mendicant orders that were founded after 1215; only four remained: the [[Franciscans]], the [[Order of Preachers]], the Carmelites, and the [[Augustinians]]. The Carmelites, barely spared, had to change their way of life from eremitic to mendicant.

Gradually, during the 13th century, Carmelite hermits returning from [[Mount Carmel]] resettled throughout Europe, e.g. in [[Cyprus]], [[Sicily]], [[Italy]], [[England]], and southern [[France]]. Some dates and locations are known:
* in 1235, Pierre de Corbie and his companion settled in the Duchy of Hainaut (Valenciennes)
* in 1242, Carmelites settled in [[Aylesford]], [[Kent]], [[England]]
* in 1244, Carmelites disembarked in [[Marseille]], [[France]], and settled in caves in Aygalades
* in 1259, Carmelites settled in [[Paris]], [[France]] 
* in 1279, Carmelites settled in [[Dublin]], [[Ireland]]<ref>[https://Carmelites.ie/whitefriar-street-history   Carmelites Ireland website, ''A Brief History'']</ref>

However, the new settlements of the Carmelites in the European cities were very different from their eremitical life on [[Mount Carmel]]. In addition, they faced hostility from the secular clergy and even from other mendicant orders, who saw them as competitors.
[[File:Nicolas Mignard-Vierge et saint Simon Stock.jpg|thumb|The Virgin Mary presenting the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock]]
According to tradition, the prior general of the Carmelites, [[Simon Stock]], worried about the very difficult situation of the order, which was still threatened with dissolution by the Catholic Church, intensely prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary to aid the order. In 1251, [[Our Lady of Mount Carmel]] appeared to him accompanied by a multitude of angels and holding in her hand the [[Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel|Scapular of the Order]]. In his vision, Mary said {{blockquote |Receive, my dear son, this scapular of your Order, as the distinctive sign of the mark of the privilege that I have obtained for you and the children of Carmel; it is a sign of salvation, a safeguard in perils and the pledge of peace and special protection until the end of the centuries. Whoever dies in this garment will be preserved from eternal fires.}}

Following this vision, and the spread of the Scapular, the Order of Carmel endured and spread rapidly. The historicity of these events is disputed because of the lack of contemporary written records for the period in question; the earliest extant written records are from approximately 150 years later), and some documents contradict this narrative.

In the bull ''Paganorum incursus'' of 27 July 1247, Pope [[Innocent IV]] officially denominated the order the "Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel" and asked bishops to kindly accept them in their dioceses. However, the hostility of the secular clergy to the Carmelites was such that it prompted repetition of this recommendation on 4 October later that year.

In 1247, the Carmelites asked Pope [[Innocent IV]] to modify the ''[[Rule of Saint Albert]]'' of 1209 to adapt it to their new way of life in cities. In this modification, the communal dimension of their life was clearly emphasized. Pope Innocent IV clarified and corrected some ambiguities and mitigated some severities of the original Rule, and on 1 October 1247 he established the text in the bull ''Quae honorem conditoris omnium''. Thereafter, e.g., the Carmelites no longer ate meals in their cells separately and instead ate in common in a [[refectory]]. Thereafter Carmelites also preached and heard confessions in secular (ordinary) churches.

The last great uncertainty for the survival of the order occurred in 1274. During the ''sanota vacillationis'' session of 17 July 1274, the [[Second Council of Lyon]], presided by Pope [[Gregory X]], suppressed all the mendicant orders that lacked regular legal status (''incert mendicita''). The Carmelites defended the anteriority of their foundation, i.e. their institution before 1215, and the pertinent decisions of the [[Fourth Lateran Council]], and emphasized their pontifical approvals. After many Carmelite interventions during this session, the Pope confirmed their anteriority.

After the General Chapter of the Order of 1287 in [[Montpellier]], [[France]], the Carmelites replaced the white and brown striped, or barred, coat of their habit with a white cloak, because of which cloak they therefore colloquially were denominated "White Friars".

The assimilation of the Carmelites as a mendicant order in 1326 by Pope [[John XXII]] ended the final hindrances, and the Carmelites could then rightly perform their apostolic mission. Nonetheless, a conflict ensued between the Carmelites who desired an eremitic life and those who desired an apostolic life in cities, including preaching. Consequently, two kinds of Carmelite monastery developed, one in the heart of cities and another outside them. Carmelites began to study theology at universities.