Saint Albert was born towards the middle of the
12th century in Castel Gualtieri in Emilia, Italy. He entered the Canons Regular
of the Holy Cross at Mortara, Pavia, and became Prior there in 1180. In 1184, he
was named bishop of Bobbio, and the following year he was transferred to
Vercelli which he governed for twenty years. During this period, he undertook
diplomatic missions of national and international importance with rare prudence
and firmness: in 1194, he effected a peace between Pavia and Milan and, five
years later, also between Parma and Piacenza. In 1191, he celebrated a diocesan
synod which proved of great value for its disciplinary provisions which
continued to serve as a model until modern times. He was also involved in a
large amount of legislative work for various religious orders: he wrote the
statutes for the canons of Biella and was among the advisers who drew up the
Rule of the Humiliates.
In 1205, Albert was appointed Patriarch of
Jerusalem and a little later nominated Papal Legate for the ecclesiastical
province of Jerusalem. He arrived in Palestine early in 1206 and lived in Acre
because, at that time, Jerusalem was occupied by the Saracens. In Palestine,
Albert was involved in various peace initiatives, not only among Christians but
also between the Christians and non-Christians and he carried out his duties
with great energy. During his stay in Acre he gathered together the hermits on
Mount Carmel and gave them a Rule. On 14th September 1214, during a procession,
he was stabbed to death by the Master of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, whom
Albert had reprimanded and deposed for his evil life.
The Rule of Saint Albert
Chapter
1
Albert,
called by God's favour to be patriarch of the church of Jerusalem, bids health
in the Lord and the blessing of the Holy Spirit to his beloved sons in Christ,
B. and the other hermits under obedience to him, who live near the spring on
Mount Carmel.
Chapter 2
Many
and varied are the ways in which our saintly forefathers laid down how
everyone, whatever his station or the kind of religious observance he has
chosen, should live a life of alegiance to Jesus Christ -- how, pure in heart
and stout in conscience, he must be unswerving in the service of his Master.
Chapter 3
It
is to me, however, that you have come for a rule of life in keeping with your
avowed purpose, a rule you may hold fast to henceforward; and therefore:
Chapter 4
The
first thing I require is for you to have a prior, one of yourselves, who is to
be chosen for the office by common consent, or that of the greater and maturer
part of you; each of the others must promise him obedience -- of which, once
promised, he must try to make his deeds the true reflection -- and also
chastity and the renunciation of ownership.
Chapter 5
If
the prior and brothers see fit, you may have foundations in solitary places, or
where you are given a site that is suitable and convenient for the observance
proper to your Order.
Chapter 6
Next,
each one of you is to have a separate cell, situated as the lie of the land you
propose to occupy may dictate, and allotted by disposition of the prior with
the agreement of the other brothers, or the more mature among them.
Chapter 7
However,
you are to eat whatever may have been given you in a common refectory,
listening together meanwhile to a reading from Holy Scripture where that can be
done without difficulty.
Chapter 8
None
of the brothers is to occupy a cell other than that allotted to him or to
exchange cells with another, without leave or whoever is prior at the time.
Chapter 9
The
prior's cell should stand near the entrance to your property, so that he may be
the first to meet those who approach, and whatever has to be done in
consequence may all be carried out as he may decide and order.
Chapter 10
Each
one of you is to stay in his own cell or nearby, pondering the Lord's law day
and night and keeping watch at his prayers unless attending to some other duty.
Chapter 11
Those
who know how to say the canonical hours with those in orders should do so, in
the way those holy forefathers of ours laid down, and according to the Church's
approved custom. Those who do not know the hours must say twenty-five Our
Fathers for the night office, except on Sundays and solemnities when that
number is to be doubled so that the Our Father is said fifty times; the same
prayer must be said seven times in the morining in place of Lauds, and seven
times too for each of the other hours, except for Vespers when it must be said
fifteen times.
Chapter 12
None
of the brothers must lay claim to anything as his own, but you are to possess
everything in common; and each is to receive from the prior -- that is from the
brother he appoints for the purpose -- whatever befits his age and needs.
Chapter 13
You
may have as many asses and mules as you need, however, and may keep a certain
amount of livestock or poultry.
Chapter 14
An
oratory should be built as conveniently as possible among the cells, where, if
it can be done without difficulty, you are to gather each morning to hear Mass.
Chapter 15
On
Sundays too, or other days if necessary, you should discuss matters of
discipline and your spiritual welfare; and on this occasion the indiscretions
and failings of the brothers, if any be found at fault, should be lovingly
corrected.
Chapter 16
You
are to fast every day, except Sundays, from the feast of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross until Easter Day, unless bodily sickness or feebleness, or some
other good reason, demand a dispensation from the fast; for necessity overrides
every law.
Chapter 17
You
are to abstain from meat, except as a remedy for sickness or feebleness. But
as, when you are on a journey, you more often than not have to beg your way;
outside your own houses you may eat foodstuffs that have been cooked with meat,
so as to avoid giving trouble to your hosts. At sea, however, meat may be
eaten.
Chapter 18
Since
man's life on earth is a time of trial, and all who would live devotedly in
Christ must undergo persecution, and the devil your foe is on the prowl like a
roaring lion looking for prey to devour, you must use every care to clothe
yourselves in God's armour so that you may be ready to withstand the enemy's
ambush.
Chapter 19
Your
loins are to be girt with chastity, your breast fortified by holy meditations,
for, as Scripture has it, holy meditation will save you. Put on holiness as
your breastplate, and it will enable you to love the Lord your God with all
your heart and soul and strength, and your neighbour as yourself. Faith must be
your shield on all occasions, and with it you will be able to quench all the
flaming missiles of the wicked one: there can be no pleasing God without faith;
[and the victory lies in this -- your faith]. On your head set the helmet of
salvation, and so be sure of deliverance by our only Saviour, who sets his own
free from their sins. The sword of the spirit, the word of God, must abound in
your mouths and hearts. Let all you do have the Lord's word for accompaniment.
Chapter 20
You
must give yourselves to work of some kind, so that the devil may always find
you busy; no idleness on your part must give him a chance to pierce the
defences of your souls. In this respect you have both the teaching and the
example of Saint Paul the Apostle, into whose mouth Christ put his own words.
God made him preacher and teacher of faith and truth to the nations: with him
as your leader you cannot go astray. We lived among you, he said, labouring and
wary, toiling night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you; not because
we had no power to do otherwise but so as to give you, in your own selves, an
example you might imitate. For the charge we gave you when we were with you was
this: that woever is not willing to work should not be allowed to eat either.
For we have heard that there are certain restless idlers among you. We charge
people of this kind, and implore them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that they earn their own bread by silent toil. This is the way of holiness and
goodness: see that you follow it.
Chapter 21
The
Apostle would have us keep silence, for in silence he tells us to work. As the
Prophet also makes known to us: Silence is the way to foster holiness.
Elsewhere he says: Your strength will lie in silence and hope. For this reason
I lay down that you are to keep silence from after Compline until after Prime
the next day. At other times, although you need not keep silence so strictly,
be careful not to indulge in a great deal of talk, for, as Scripture has it --
and experience teaches us no less -- sin will not be wanting where there is
much talk, and he wo is careless in speech will come to harm; and elsewhere:
The use of many words brings harm to the speaker's soul. And our Lord says in
the Gospel: Every rash word uttered will have to be accounted for on judgement
day. Make a balance then, each of you, to weigh his words in; keep a tight rein
on your mouths, lest you should stumble and fall in speech, and your fall be
irreparable and prove mortal. Like the Prophet, watch your step lest your
tongue give offence, and employ every care in keeping silent, which is the way
to foster holiness.
Chapter 22
You,
brother B., and whoever may succeed you as prior, must always keep in mind and
put into practice what our Lord said in the Gospel: Whoever has a mind to
become a leader among you must make himself servant to the rest, and whichever
of you would be first must become your bondsman.
Chapter 23
You,
other brothers too, hold your prior in humble reverence, your minds not on him
but on Christ who has placed him over you, and who, to those who rule the
Churches, addressed the words: Whoever pays you heed pays heed to me, and
whoever treats you with dishonour dishonours me; if you remain so minded you
will not be found guilty of contempt, but will merit life eternal as fit reward
for your obedience.
Chapter 24
Here
then are the few points I have written down to provide you with a standard of
conduct to live up to; but our Lord, at his second coming will reward anyone
who does more than he is obliged to do. See that the bounds of common sense are not
exceeded, however, for common sense is the guide of the virtues.
From Constitutions of the Order of the
Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Approved by the General
Chapter celebrated in September, 1995 and published by the order of the Most
Reverend Father Joseph Chalmers, Prior General.
Chapters have been renumbered since
the Rule was published in 1995. The Chapter numbers used above are the result
of a joint meeting of the General Councils of the Carmelites and the Discalced
Carmelites in January, 1999.
Innocentian additions are given in
italics.
