Traverse City, Michigan

Special Days

A Solemn Profession, September 8th, 2022

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A Clothing Ceremony, June 5th 2022

Wearing her mother’s bridal gown, the postulant is readied for the ceremony.
The Sleeping Infant in the novitiate oratory wears rose, the color of joy.
The Clothing ceremony takes place in the Chapter Room.
A lock of the postulant’s hair is cut off.
The new novice receives the cincture.
The holy Scapular is added.
The new novice is clothed in the mantle.
Prostrate in the form of a cross, the new novice is covered with the mantle of the Mother Foundress.
After receiving her religious name, the new novice is embraced by all.
No worldly adornment can compare with the Holy Habit of Carmel! All is gladly left behind.

In May 2022 we celebrated a First Profession
with a Solemn High Mass in the presence of our Bishop, Most Rev. Jeffrey J. Walsh.

In the Novitiate Oratory before the ceremony.
Bishop Walsh examines the novice’s intention and resolve.
Sister makes her vows.
Receiving the book of the Holy Rule and Constitutions.
Bishop Walsh blesses the newly professed.
Sister prostrates in the form of a cross while the community sings the Te Deum.
Receiving her Spouse in Holy Communion.
Solemn High Mass
Thank you, Bishop Walsh, for joining us!

 

In October 2021 we celebrated another Clothing Ceremony.

 

And a First Profession Ceremony! Father Brian Austin, FSSP was the celebrant for the festive Mass.

 

 

A sister’s family visiting in the summer of 2021 led unexpectedly to the creation of a very short whimsical vocation video. You can enjoy it here. You might want to slow down the playback to .75 to enjoy it more. The speed controls are on the right of the volume control.

In the spring of 2020, during the frustrating days of the COVID-19 church closings, Our Lord let us experience the first-fruits of our journey into traditional liturgy: a Clothing Day! We were delighted to restore elements from our older ceremonial which had not been used in perhaps 50 years, including a wedding gown, a custom which has been associated with monastic investiture since the 9th Century.
After a year of experiencing life in the monastery, a postulant enters the novitiate—a two-year period of spiritual training and preparation to take vows—with the reception of the holy habit and the bestowal of her new religious name. Please pray with us that many more Clothing Days will bring us joy in the near future!

During Holy Week 2019 we restored the practice of Tenebrae, the solemn Matins and Lauds of the Sacred Triduum, with the plaintive chanting of Jeremiah’s Lamentations and the extinguishing of candles after each psalm, representing the abandonment of Our Lord by His apostles.
It was hauntingly beautiful!

Lighting the Tenebrae candles

As we transitioned to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, our days were filled with “firsts.” Here are photos from our first Solemn High Mass on the feast of the Infant Jesus of Prague, January 3rd, 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, our first Requiem Mass celebrated in the monastery crypt on November 2nd, 2017. Requiem Mass in the crypt

In October 2016 a Carmelite Hermit celebrated Mass according to the ancient Carmelite Rite for the first time.
The experience was, in a word, heavenly!carmelite-rite-mass

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In the summer of 2016 we completed a huge project that transformed the heart of our monastery: the central courtyard. One of the landmarks was the day our new marble and granite crucifix was installed.

Historically, the cloister-garth is second in importance after the monastic church in contemplative life. The monks and nuns not only prayed but often worked in the sheltered open cloisters on the four sides of the inner garden. Consistent with this tradition, our foundress Mother Teresa Margaret had planned that the adjacent windows on the main floor would be arched, but when we built our 1960 utilitarian-style monastery the funds did not allow this. Thanks to one generous family, and with the help of the golf outing funds and a few other persons, our monastery now looks like… a real monastery!

To all who helped us, we send a grateful message: As you go about your business endeavors and provide for your family, may it comfort you to know that behind Carmel’s walls the nuns are offering up a part of their daily sacrifices for you and those you love, with hearts full of gratitude for the timeless beauty now in the heart of our home, enhancing the monastic atmosphere of peace and prayer. May God reward you!

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In 2013 we celebrated a Solemn Profession

In 2011 we celebrated the 100th birthday of our beloved foundress, Mother Teresa Margaret. For the occasion we created a video about her life and and the founding of our monastery to share with guests, compiled from old photos and even some home movies we providentially found just in time! Please enjoy it here.