“According to the travel story of the Greek monk, Phocas, St. Berthold, ‘a monk white with age and invested with priestly dignity, came to Carmel in 1155, built a small chapel and collected ten brothers.’ He did not, however, give them a Rule, being unwilling to interfere with the customs of the hermits which among them had the force of an unwritten law. It is difficult to determine in what these customs consisted; we may see, however, a broad outline in two documents which doubtless embody these customs. The first is the Rule drawn up by St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem (fifty years afterwards), and given to St. Brocard, the successor of St. Berthold. It begins by declaring that it is building on foundations already laid and declares as its object the settling down in writing of traditions of life already long established. The second document is the already mentioned Institutio Promorum Monachorum, which is a summary of the spirit and principles of life which obtained among the hermits. It is not less valuable even though it was written as late as the 13th century.”
Bl. Titus Brandsma
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