Carmelite scholars gathered in Lisieux from July 4th -8th to study the Rule of St. Albert in preparation for the eighth centenary of that document being given to the hermits on Mount Carmel by the Patriarch Albert of Vercelli. The Rule was studied from the historical, textual, and sociological perspectives as the group explored the challenges of making the thirteenth century text speak to modern audiences and shape contemporary Carmelite life. The conference was held at L’Érmitage, a hotel and conference center run by the Donum Dei Missionary Family, that adjoins the Carmel of St. Thérèse.

It was the first time that the Order has used this facility and everyone was most pleased with it. Among the scholars presenting were Silvano Giordano, O.C.D., a well known Discalced Carmelite historian who teaches at the Teresianum and has written extensively about the Holy Land at the time of Albert. Craig Morrison, O.Carm. of the Pontifical Biblical Institute gave an enlightening paper on how Albert used scripture in the Rule. Patrick Mullins, Dean of the Theology Faculty at Milltown Institute presented on the theological implications of the phrase "in obsequio Ihesu Christi vivere."

Sister Eliane Poirot, O.C.D., a Carmelite nun and patristic scholar, presented on the influence of the Eastern tradition on the Rule. Other participants included James Boyce, Fernando Millan, Dariusz Borek, Bryan Deschamp, Giovanni Grosso, Jos Huls, Kevin Alban, Richard Copsey, Carlo Cicconetti, Bruno Secondin, Kees Waaijman, and others. It was an opportunity to enliven the intellectual dialogue within the Order by surfacing scholars who had not previously been invited to work in Carmelitana and bringing new voices to the fore.

By allowing new voices into the dialogue it was discovered that there is far less consensus than previously thought about the origins of the Order and that much of the scholarship of the past fifty years will be subject to reappraisal. According to Patrick McMahon, praeses of the Institutum Carmelitanum, "We thought we were ready to say some definitive things about our Rule, and we found out that we are only beginning to understand it. There is material here for another fifty years of research and study."

Following the Conference on the Rule, members of various institutes affiliated with the Carmelite Order met at L’Érmitage from July 8th-10th to investigate ways in which they can cooperate with one another and make more efficient use of resources among themselves. About twenty Carmelites were present from the Institutum Carmelitanum, the Istituto Piero Tommaso, the Titus Brandsma Institute, the Netherlands Carmelite Institute, the Instituto de Espiritulidade Tito Brandsma do Brasil (Recife), the Institut Karmel Indonesia (Malang) , the Center for Spirituality Manila, The Carmelite Institute Washington, Centre d’Etudes d’Histoire de la Spiritualité in Nantes, The Carmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland.

In September the first session of the three year program, "History and Spirituality of the Carmelite Order," of the Istituto San Pier Tommaso, the Institute of the Italian Province, begins. The first session runs two weeks. It includes training on how to read historical and spiritual texts. This will focus on reading the Rule of Saint Albert, Rubrica Prima, and a study of Elijah and Maria.

Leading the courses will be Emmanuele Boaga, Giovanni Grosso, and Carlo Cicconetti, all members of the Italian Province.

A third week of the course will take place January 2-4 and on May 6, 2006. The September session will be held at Convento S. Paolo in Nocera Umbra. The third session will be at the Institute at San Martino ai Monte in Rome. Sessions run from 9-12 am and from 4-7 pm each day.

The course is recognized by the theology faculty of the Marianum Pontifical University.

In past years, the professed students of the Italian Province as well as enclosed nuns, sisters from affiliated Congregations and Institutes, and interested Lay Carmelites participated. "Correspondence courses" for laity are being planned.

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