Carmelite coat of arms | Third Order Carmelites TOC

Third Order Carmelites TOC

Ordo Fratrum Beatissim Virginis Mari de Monte Carmelo September 2, 2010

Carmelite coat of arms

By Alex Colao Carmelite About these Shield ads (http://en.wordpress.com/about-these-ads/) (http://carmelitani.les.wordpress.com/2010/09/carmel_symb.gif)The shield is made up of a mountain in brown and three stars. The mountain is Mt. Carmel in Palestine where the Carmelite Order came into being. It was on Mt. Carmel that Elijah sought intimacy with God. In the coat of arms shown above, the lowest star represents the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Star of the Sea. Two upper stars represent Elijah and Elisha. These three stars point to the Marian Character of the Carmelite Order and to its Elijahn descent. Other Carmelite coats of arms provide different symbolism.

Carmelite Cross
(http://www.seiyaku.com/images/cross/carmelite-large.png)Emblem of the Carmelites Carmelite sounds a bit geological, like stalagmite, a column of calcium carbonate one might see in a limestone cave. And a Discalced Carmelite sounds like the calcium has been removed. In fact Discalced Carmelite means a friar of the Carmelite Order who traditionally walks around barefoot. And incidentally, there is a real geological link to the Carmelites. The full name for the Carmelites is the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Ordo fratrum Beat Virginis Mari de monte Carmelo). The mountain range called Carmel in Northern Israel does indeed contain many limestone caves. And it is within one of these caves that the prophet Elijah is believed to have lived. Whether Elijah was following a trend of seclusion on the mountain or whether he set that trend, by the 12th century several hermits lived on Carmel. A recluse is not necessarily alone they simply live apart from the distractions of normal society and quite often we nd small communities living in such conditions. One such group was the foundation of the Carmelites, and their current emblem (shown above) features a mountain peak in the centre to symbolise Mount Carmel. This emblem is now used by many different Carmelite groups and invariably includes representation of a mountain and three stars. The number of points on each of the three stars is not consistent between the groups, with ve or six points being the most common. (The ve-pointed star might be chosen to avoid confusion with the six-pointed Star of David, and the six-pointed star avoids confusion with the ve-pointed Pentagram.)
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Carmelite coat of arms | Third Order Carmelites TOC

Five-pointed stars in the Discalced Carmelite Order (http://www.carmelite.org.uk/index01) emblem Six-pointed stars in the Carmelite Sisters of Los Angeles (http://www.carmelitesistersocd.com /index.asp) emblem Eight-pointed stars in the Roman Discalced Carmelites (http://www.discalcedcarmel.com/) emblem As for the meaning of the three stars, they could represent the Holy Trinity but usually they dont. One interpretation is that the upper stars represent Elijah and Elisha, patriarchs of the Order2, and the lower star represents the Blessed Virgin Mary. Carmelites are a Marian Order and the star at the foot of the cross represents Mary as Queen of Carmel. The position of that star on the emblem is to show that Mary is at the heart of the Church.

About Alex Colao

Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words. This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 2:40 pm and posted in Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Subscribe RSS Blog at WordPress.com. The Elegant Grunge Theme.

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