Historia da Ordem do Carmo em Portugal (review)

Fifty years ago, very little was known about the history of the Carmelite Order on the Iberian peninsula. As far as Spain is concerned, this lack was amply filled with the publication in 1994 of the third volume of Balbino Velasco's Historia del Carmelo español. Now the volume under review performs the same service for Portugal. A prolific author, Father Balbino is a member of the Institutum Carmelitanum in Rome, the Real Academia de Historia, and the Academia de San Quirce de Segovia.

The first reference to the presence of Carmelites in Portugal is the mention of Mor (Moura) in a list of the convents of the province of Spain dated 1354. The Order received an important impetus through the patronage of the Constable of Portugal, Nuno Álvares Pereira (1360-1431), hero of Portuguese independence, who founded the great Carmo of Lisbon and later entered the Order as a humble semifrater. It was no doubt due to his influence, among other factors, that the two Portuguese houses were separated from Spain and constituted a province which celebrated its first chapter in 1425. Subsequently, the province grew to comprise eleven convents and four hospices. In the course of its history, the province produced four monasteries of nuns in Guimarães, Beja, Lagos, and Tentúgal.

The province of Portugal was relatively small, its houses, except for Lisbon and the college of Coimbra, undistinguished; it played no particular role in the general history of the Order. In spite of generous praise for its observance by the reforming generals, Nicholas Audet (1523-1562) and John Baptist Rossi (1562-1578), the province never achieved the common life. Nevertheless, it produced a generous share of individuals noted for holiness and intellectual gifts. Among persons known for holiness, mention might be made of Nuno Álvares Pereira, beatified in 1918; Stephen of the Purification (1571-1617), mystic; Louis of the Presentation (Ý1653), reformer; Mariana of the Purification (1623-1695), mystic; and Perpetua da luz (1684-1736), mystic. Persons noted for learning were Balthasar Limpo (1478-1557), bishop, conciliar father at Trent, founder of the Carmelite studium of Coimbra; Amador Arrais (1530?-1600), whose Diálogos remain enshrined in the classic literature of Portugal; Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650), musician, whose works continue to be published today.

An important feature of the Portuguese province was its missionary activity. It founded in Brazil the first permanent mission in the Order's four-century existence at the time, which eventually burgeoned into three provinces and a commissariate. Particularly impressive was the apostolate in northern Brazil, in the Amazon region.

Another outstanding aspect of the Order's existence in Portugal was its apostolate among the laity. The Third Order of Carmel flourished in Portugal as nowhere else. In some cases, the tertiaries built their own churches and hospitals, which sometimes outlasted the convents and churches of the friars. Father Velasco treats this aspect of the province's activity at considerable length.

The earthquake of 1755 laid most of the province in ruins, including the Carmo of Lisbon, the remains of which are reached today by the elevator built by the maker of the Eifel tower. The province never really recovered from that disaster before its suppression in the nineteenth century.

Father Balbino's historical writings are distinguished by an impressive activity in archives. Not all the archival references in the bibliography are used in the book, but the bibliography provides a wide-ranging source for future students of Portuguese Carmel. Any work in this area will have to begin with the research offered here. Another useful feature is the photographic section; it provides an extensive record of the architectural presence of the Order in Portugal.

Though studies of individual subjects in the history of the province will hopefully continue to be made, this comprehensive work will not be replaced for a long time to come.