Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Patroness 

In 1965, a former Church of Christ on Boswell was enrolled under the patronage of St. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Prior to this, Catholics in Batesville had attended Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament (1936-1965), St. Fidelis (1910-1921), and even homes of parishioners prior to 1910.

Who is  Our Lady of Mount Carmel?

Patroness of the Carmelite Order:  "All Carmelites consider St. Elijah their founder and their spiritual father. Since the time of Elijah there have been hermits living in the caves of the Holy Mountain of Carmel.  The Carmelite Order was born on Mt. Carmel during the revival of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291) after the First Crusade. Some of these crusaders had made vows to live-out the remainder of their lives in the Holy Land . Some of these ex-crusaders naturally gravitated towards Mt. Carmel and lived there as hermits among the ‘Eastern’ brethren who lived as hermits.

The early hermits on Mt. Carmel saw her as the Lady of the House and the Scapular as her livery.  The scapular is her ‘color’, her ‘standard’ and we wear it not only out of our devotion to her but at one and the same time proclaim that we belong to her household. She oversees the house (the Church and the Order) until the definitive return of the one Lord of the House, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ."

What does this mean for our Parish?

"Being her children, we then look to her exemplary life as disciple of Jesus Christ, as model of faith for the pilgrim, but above all as a contemplative Order, we look to Mary as the model of the perfect contemplation, and we strive with all of our might to imitate that contemplative model.

Elijah states in the First Book of Kings (19:10): “With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts”; Mary too was zealous in giving herself to God. Elijah confronted Israel and challenged them to either follow Baal or follow the God of Israel; Mary too challenges us to live our lives in a total gift of self to God. Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the holocaust which he had prepared; Mary was overshadowed and consumed by the fire of charity of the Holy Spirit.  Elijah heard God in the gentle whispering of the wind; Mary heard the gentle whispering of the Holy Spirit and gave flesh to the Word of God.

In the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, we celebrate the fruitfulness of the contemplative life as exemplified in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The life of silence and solitude in Carmel is to better cultivate a listening heart attuned to the whispering voice of Holy Spirit who urges us on to union with our Groom, Lord and Redeemer.  It is a celebration of BEING so that we will be able to be intentional in our DOING.  We celebrate the total receptivity of Mary and seek to imitate her in that totality of self-giving so that we may also be transformed, and it is in that transformation that the entire Church benefits and grows to a fuller maturity in Christ our Head."

Fr. Stephen Sanchez, O.C.D.

Just as men and women for thousands of years journeyed to Mount Carmel seeking a deeper spiritual life and a meaningful encounter with God, the people of St. Mary's culminated a nine day novena accompanied by learning the heritage of the Carmelites with a grand feast - Kermes - on July 16, 2023.  The parishioners of St. Mary's are proud to know more deeply and live more authentically a parish in service to one another and to our greater community through the guidance of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

To read more about the history of the Catholic Church in Batesville and Independence County, click on the "100 Years:  The Roman Catholic Church in Independence County."