- Around the year 1200, at the height of the crusades, religious hermits inhabited Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. They devoted their lives to prayer and penance. c1209 they received a Rule of life from Albert Patriarch of Jerusalem, a rule that emphasized prayer, liturgy and community..
- Later that century, they migrated to Europe and in 1247, at their first General Chapter at Alysford in Kent, they decided to change their rule and adapted to the mendicant way of life, becoming friars like the Franciscans and Dominicans. They served in the people in the towns and universities.
- In 1451 with the Papal Bull cum Nulla, the Carmelite nuns were founded.
- Due to the decline of religious life in the church, there was the need for on going renewal during the late middle ages.
- In the 16th century, at the time of the Council of Trent, St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross reformed the order.
- This reform became a separate order in 1591 known as the Discalced Carmelites.
- The order emphasized prayer and apostolic activity after the manner of their founders.
- They spread all over Europe, the Near East, India and Mexico. And played an outstanding role in the renewal of the church in the counter-reformation era.
- After the suppression of the religious orders all over Europe after the French Revolution, the Discalced Carmelites strongly revived, setting up missions all over the world. Today they number around 4000 friars, 11000 nuns and 40000 secular members.
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