SECULAR ORDER OF DISCALCED CARMELITES
England, Wales and Scotland

It seems that reform is for ever needed: there is a cycle in human history that runs from reform to gradual decline, leading to a...

I was privileged to attend the first physical meeting of a new South Wales OCDS group in Cardiff on Saturday.  We had had a virtual...

Chapter 10 of The Way of Perfection!  Teresa of Avila at her best! We were discussing it in an OCDS meeting I was present at last night. ...

Yet another of those many saints who died very young was Rose of Viterbo (c.1233-1251), whose feast is today.  She caught my eye for two...

I came across the story of the Belgian lady Marie-Paul Stevens on the internet yesterday.  She was the person whose cure was recognised...

In this special anniversary year of her canonisation I have been thinking a great deal about our Therese of Lisieux.  I recently came...

I love to read about the many Catholic rulers and members of the aristocracy who down the years have given a powerful example of living...

I am allowing myself a gentle smile right now because on one of the (very helpful) Catholic websites I occasionally consult to learn...

Fascinated by St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (Francesco Possenti 1838-1862), whose feast is today: he repeatedly fought off a call to...

I was looking at what St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 about the diversity of gifts within the communities of the faithful and thinking...

Sometimes when looking at the saint of the day my thoughts are led on a bit of a dance from here to there.  Today we have an English...

I am a bit confused about our fellow Secular Carmelite Josefa Navel Girbés, because she seems to have two feast days – 24 February and...

I have recently discovered a fascinating book by Pablo Maria Garrido O.Carm ( St Teresa, St John of the Cross and the Spanish Carmelites...

To a funeral in Hampshire yesterday.  Anthony Kirke RIP produced a little Carmelite calendar every year with the feasts of the OCD...

Hopeful developments in South Wales.  We have been working on the establishment of an OCDS presence in the Cardiff area for a while: we...

I did not recognise today’s saint – Blessed John of Fiesole (c.1395-1455) – until I looked him up and then realised that this was the...

We had a wonderful celebration in the Romsey OCDS group on Saturday.  The first two of our number in this group (which is about three...

Yesterday afternoon I was on my way to the monthly meeting of my OCDS Community in Oxford, and just as I was about to exit my home town...

I cannot resist copying this absolutely delightful entry for today off the website catholicireland.net - though it does not have a...

When my OCDS community first began more than twenty years ago, there were four of us.  I was completely new to Carmel, I was just trying...