Seminar: “The Carmelite Mantle: A Coat of Many Colors”
Fr. Simon Mary of the Cross (LMS Candidate, PIMS)
At their general chapter on 23 July 1287 at Montpellier, the Carmelites made a consequential decision: the earlier barred mantle would be abandoned nunc et in perpetuum for instead a white mantle that remains recognizable today. Four fourteenth-century Carmelite authors—Jean de Cheminot (†1342 or 1350), John Baconthorpe (†ca. 1348), Jean de Venette (†ca. 1368), and John of Hildesheim (†1375)— offer literary testimony to this makeover situating this change within a broader conversation about Carmelite branding and identity. Thus, this lecture will explore how these authors treat of the Carmelite religious costume or “habit” to build identity and what role, if any, legend assumed in the hyper-visible makeover of Carmelite dress.
This seminar will consider the history of the Carmelite coat before identifying the reasons—spoken and unspoken—for adopting the white mantle. Particular attention will be afforded to the refreshing creativity in these authors who develop a vast array of spiritual meanings arising from the change of coat. External forces and the continental negative perception in the religious context of stripes will also be conceded and developed. Conclusions will emerge suggestive of the use of legend in the variegated processes of historical legitimization and personal and corporate identification.
Based upon a multi-year study furthered by the examination of manuscripts in Italy, France, Germany, and Poland, this seminar will expose not only a late-medieval Carmelite conviction in legendary dependability and durability under scrutiny, but witness to the unique Carmelite tension to reconcile the importance of both the Prophet Elijah and the Virgin Mary. The change of mantle advantageously appears as a powerful prism through which to view this struggle.
Image: Pietro Lorenzetti, “Eremiti carmelitani alla fonte di Elia,” Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, 1329, painting, https://commons.wikimedia.org.