Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel
Contact
Rev. Martin Mary Hubbs, O.Carm.
Vocations Director
P.O. Box 337
Christoval, TX 76935-0337
stellamaris@carmelitehermits.org
www.carmelitehermits.org
Dioceses
San Angelo, TX
Mission
This is a community of men called to a life of silence, solitude, prayer, and penance for the good of the Church and the salvation of the world. The hermits live in a laura, which is a colony of hermits living in separate dwellings around a central chapel with all following the original Carmelite rule. The vocation of the Carmelite Hermit is the contemplative vocation, and the foundations of his life are the Eucharist, the Word, and devotion to Our Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Qualifications
Men interested in our way of life must be practicing Catholics in good health, single, free of debt, living a chaste lifestyle, and who have a profound desire to consecrate their lives to God in prayer. It is also important that the candidate not only have a desire for solitude, but for communal life as well. Furthermore, one must have the maturity to make a lifetime commitment to this way of life, and a spirit of faith and openness that allows itself to be led by obedience.
Formation
Aspirancy lasts from six months to a year to allow the Aspirant to make his first concrete contact with the eremitical way of life. Postulancy lasts one year, which is a period of conforming more completely to the discipline of the hermit's life. Entrance into the novitiate is preceded by an eight-day retreat. The novitiate, lasting two years, is a period of discernment and testing of the vocation, and progress in prayer and virtue. Temporary profession follows for three years, then is renewed two more years before solemn profession.
Belated Vocations
Exceptions are considered individually.