Brocard is said to have been one of the first leaders of
hermits
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
at
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...
, and was perhaps the leader of the community on the death of
Berthold of Calabria around 1195. Various details of his life are legendary.
[Staring, Adrian. "Brocard", carmeltnet]
/ref>
History
Brocard (or Burchard, as he is sometimes called), was of French ancestry and a hermit monk at Mount Carmel. The superior of this community, Berthold, died about the year 1195 and Brocard was elected superior.["The Martyrology for September", The Monastery of Christ in the Desert]
Around 1207 Brocard approached Albert Avogadro, the papal legate and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem () is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the archbishop of Latin Church Catholics of th ...
, for assistance in developing a rule of common life for the monks on Carmel. Albert was a canon regular
The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religiou ...
and composed a brief, 16 chapter rule, for the community.[ The document is addressed to a community member known only as 'B' (traditionally associated with Brocard, although no historical records exist that clearly identify this individual's full name). Receiving the Rule marks the origin of the ]Carmelite
The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...
Order.
Tradition says that Brocard was well-versed in scripture and that Albert planned to take him to the next Lateran Council, but was murdered before the Council took place.[ Brocard died around 1231. His cult was ordered by the general chapter of 1564. It was removed from the reformed breviary of 1585, but taken up again in 1609; and the proper lessons were approved by the S. Congregation of Rites in 1672. His feast has been again suppressed.][
]
See also
*Hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
*Carmelites
The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...
* Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
* Book of the First Monks
* Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
* Carmelite Rite
Notes
References
*Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. .
Catholic Online Saints Calendar
Year of birth missing
1231 deaths
Carmelites
Priors General of the Order of Carmelites
Saints from the Holy Land
Palestinian hermits
13th-century Christian saints
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