Albert and His Rule

By Michael Mulhall, O. Carm. 2023, Edizioni Carmelitane356 pp. The Carmelites are one of a small handful of religious communities that can trace their origins back into the Middle Age. The Rute that Carmelites continue to follow started with Albert, the patriarch of Jerusalem from 1206 to 1214. Some thirty-three years after Albert's death, Pope Innocent IV granted full recogntion of these Carmelites and to the Rule first written for them by Albert.Albert's spirit still imbues the Rule. Over the years following his death three popes addressed themselves to these Carmelite hermits. Pope Honorius III acknowledged the fact that they had received their way of life from Albert, and consequently they need not fear a later prohibition against following their own unique Rule. Pope Gregory IX, who had befriended both St. Francis and St. Dominic, put the hermits under his personal protection. Lastly, Pope Innocent IV authorized two Dominicans to help bring all their changes together into one text