Welcome!
Mass is at 7:00am Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 8:00 Tuesday-Friday
FROM THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE; TO THE HEART OF DIXIE
75th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Carmelite Monastery in Mobile, Alabama
1943-2018
Mother Francis of the Five Wounds, O.C.D.
Foundress of Mobile Carmel
The plan for a Carmelite Monastery in Alabama began with Fr. Frank Casey, S.S.E., the superior of the Edmundite Fathers. He hoped for a monastery, “where the prayers and sacrifices of the nuns would silently intercede with God for the success of the Edmundites in their difficult work.”
Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen requested nuns from the Carmelite Monastery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and on October 7, 1943 four nuns arrived in Mobile.
The original four nuns;
Mother Francis of the Five Wounds, O.C.D.
Mother Catherine of Christ the King, O.C.D.
Sister Mary Adele of the Eucharist, O.C.D.
Sister Bernadette of the Immaculate Conception, O.C.D.
Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston gave the funds to purchase the Holcombe estate, a farmhouse of 6+ acres of land at 716 Fulton Rd. (now Dauphin Island Parkway) for the new monastery.
The Holcombe farm house.
The first Carmelite Monastery
The nuns set about living their Carmelite vocation in Mobile until 2010 when they asked Archbishop Rodi to come for a visit.
[In early 2010} the Carmelite nuns asked if I would
visit. And they explained to me at that time they had
come to a decision that the monastery had become just
too much for the four of them to care for, to care for
one another, and at the same time for them to continue
the most important thing of all---their life of prayer. They
made two requests: they asked, “Could there be some
assistance in finding them a place to live?” And the other:
“If at all possible, could another Carmelite community
Come to this place to keep it a place of prayer?”
Well, fortunately, through the cooperation of the Carmelites,
The Little Sisters of the Poor and the Sisters of Mercy, the
Carmelites were welcomed at the Convent of Mercy to
continue their ministry of prayer, but in a much better
environment. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi
Archbishop Rodi contacted the Carmelite Monastery in Nha Trang, Vietnam and asked if they would be willing to send nuns to Mobile. The Archbishop commented, “To make a long story short, the Carmelie monastery in Vietnam said, ‘We can send some,’ and what a beautiful blessing.”
For the next year an extensive renovation of the building was undertaken. It involved many benefactors, professional contractors and volunteers. Finally, on February 20, 2011 eight nuns arrived from Vietnam.
CARMEL CONTINUES IN MOBILE
In gratitude to God, all our friends, benefactors and relatives a Mass of thanksgiving was offered on October 7, 2018. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi presided and was the homilist. A reception followedin the St. Joseph the Worker Building on the Monastery grounds.
Who are these Carmelite Nuns?
"They are cloistered nuns who have given their lives to God pray for the world, observing perpetual abstinence and the austerities of the Carmelite Rule.
In this materialistic age, Cloistered Nuns are looked upon as drones in the bee-hive. All that the world appreciates is what it can see and hear, touch or taste--hence the age old cry: Why don't they DO SOMETHING?
Did not the same cry ascend to the ears of Christ as He hung dying on the Cross?
'If thou be the Christ, come down from the Cross?' Did He come down? Was He DOING SOMETHING by staying on the Cross? Well do we know the answer.
In their Cloistered Monastery in Mobile, the nuns continue Christ's work for souls--by doing nothing, except to pray, even as did their Lord and God. They pray for all who are in distress, who have special urgent intentions and who appeal to them to beg God's help in their hour of trial and affliction."
Mother Francis of the Five Wounds -- Foundress of Mobile Carmel
