The British Province of Carmelite Friars

On behalf of the Carmelite Friars in the United Kingdom it is my pleasure to welcome you to our website.

The Province of the Assumption of Our Lady is one of the 24 Carmelite Provinces, Commisariates and Delegations world-wide. We are a part of an international family present on every continent and in almost every country: on our site you will find some links to this world-wide presence.

As we begin the Third Millenium the Order is responding to requests from local Churches in Mozambique, Kenya, China, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Trinidad, Lithuania and Vietnam to establish a Carmelite presence there. This is probably the most sustained period of growth for the Order since the early days when in the thirteenth century we first spread throughout Europe.

For almost a thousand years the Carmelites have sought to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ imitating the Prophet Elijah and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

From the small group of perhaps 20 or 30 men who left the slopes of Carmel at the beginning of the 13th Century there are today some 2000 friars, 920 cloistered nuns and 3200 active sisters; together with some 15,000 members of the Carmelite Third Order and the tens of thousands who wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

I hope you will find things to inform and inspire.

Enjoy your visit.

Fr. Tony Lester, O. Carm.
Webweaver

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