At the time of the Crusades in the Holy Land, men desired to follow Christ in his homeland by living lives of prayerful solitude and service. One such group settled on Mount Carmel, a place filled with the spirit of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. These hermits settled in various places throughout Palestine. They were following the example of Elijah, a holy man and a lover of solitude, and adopted solitary life-styles on Mount Carmel.

Sometime in the early 13th century, St. Albert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, set down a way of life for these hermits in the form of a rule for following Christ and serving him faithfully with a pure heart and good conscience. This rule of St. Albert along with the inspiration of St. Elijah still guides Carmelites today.

The Carmelites through the ages to the present have lived in a unique fashion as contemplatives in action. They engage in preaching, teaching, and spiritual direction. As you read this article they serve as missionaries, as university and high school educators, or in pastoral care. But we, Crusaders’sons came to know the Carmelites as they led us through our high school education and into manhood. From Father A. Carter to B. Daley, Mount Carmel and 7011 S. Hoover Street held an alphabet full of committed Carmelite educators. Whether Father McCallum drilled geometry into your head (literally) of Brother Lawrence O. Brown provided practical applications testing of aeronautical drag coefficient and lifting line theory for NASA with one of his many paddles while providing discipline to those needy few; they made us better individuals to God, to family and to country.

Carmelites through history have walked in the light of Christ seeking to help those whom God sends into their lives to see that same light. To follow Jesus Christ as Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, called together by the Holy Spirit; to live as Elijah in the presence of God; to serve the needs of the Church and each other in love: this has always been the life purpose of the Carmelites; and hopefully from their example and teaching, that of we Crusaders’ sons.