The New Chapel Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel

By KARA THAWMI

The Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a community of three priests and six brothers, located in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, about a 20-minute drive from the state’s capital city, St. Paul.

Construction is well underway for a new Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the grounds of the Hermitage and soon to be open to the faithful community at large.

One way to approach the Hermitage grounds is from a quiet residential road that curves around Lake Demontreville, then turn right onto the slender and smooth Mount Carmel Road which winds through broad fields with well-established trees and freely wandering wildlife to reach the monastery of the Carmelite hermits.

Fr. John Mary is Prior of the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He grew up in St. Paul and attended the University of St. Thomas there.

After graduation in 1976, he joined a new contemplative Carmelite community in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Penn. and was ordained to the priesthood in 1982.

Because the community’s future was uncertain, shortly after ordination Fr. John accepted an offer from the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Lake Elmo to become their chaplain and spent five happy years serving as chaplain to the nuns and living a solitary life as a Carmelite hermit.

In 1987, the Carmelite nuns offered Fr. John Mary a portion of their property to begin a community of Carmelite hermits. Soon Br. Joseph came to join Father; after they received permission from then-Archbishop John R. Roach, they began to develop a master plan for the construction of the monastery which stands today.

The Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was included in the master plan for the Hermitage dating back to 1987, but because funds needed to be raised, it would be over three decades until the construction of the chapel would begin in earnest.

Finally, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Aug 15, 2022, the community of the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary broke ground for its new chapel.

Heart Of The Monastery And ‘Beauty of Carmel’

I had the honor of meeting with Fr. John on September 20, 2024, to learn more about the new chapel. Because the Hermitage still lacks a guest building, Father spoke to me in the refectory of the Hermitage, seated across from me at one of the tables next to the lectern where one of the hermits reads to the community at meals – which, other than the voice of the reader, are taken in silence.

Fr. John pointed out beautiful images carved into the wood lectern which include The Annunciation of the Lord, carved by Brother Christopher, who has designed and created a multitude of inspirational artwork over the years for the monastery and is planning the artwork to be installed in the new chapel.

I asked Fr. John to share what he would like readers to know about the new chapel, and he began by explaining that the tradition of organized monastic life began in the third and fourth centuries.

He next revealed a vital aspect of monastic life:

“At the heart of every monastery is its chapel, which is the place where God is worshiped through the liturgy, and a place where the community and others can also come for personal prayer and quiet meditation.”

Fr. John went on to give the primary reasons for constructing the chapel, saying, “We are building our chapel first of all, for the glory of God, to be able to worship Him in the liturgy, and also then to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the principal patroness of the Carmelite Order and also the patroness of our particular Hermitage.”

The founder of the Hermitage went on to further explain the special importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “In the Order of Carmel, we give Our Lady a particular title which comes from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the title: “Beauty of Carmel.”

Great reverence for the patroness of the Carmelite Order continued to be expressed through the tone of Fr. John’s voice when he gave his vision: “It is our hope, through the chapel, that we can show something of the beauty of the Blessed Virgin Mary – her spiritual beauty – through the beauty of the chapel itself, through its beautiful form, the arches and columns which are made from marble, and also, through the artwork of the chapel.”

He went on to say, “We hope that the chapel will be a place of inspiration for our [Hermitage] community, but also for our friends and visitors who will come to worship with us, a place where they can be inspired by the artistic beauty in their search for God.”

Inspired By The Ancient Basilicas Of Rome And Ravenna

The Hermitage is a place steeped in quiet contemplation and prayer, but at mid-morning of August 28, there were some loud sounds on the grounds. It was somewhat expected because Fr. John had invited The Wanderer publisher Joseph Matt and me to view the construction area of the chapel.

But when Fr. John welcomed us, he explained that the noise was from a generator, as a recent storm had taken out the power at the monastery.

Fr. John, who studied in Rome from 1979 Ð 1981, proceeded to walk us through the beginnings of the new chapel where the architectural design is tied to the ancient basilicas of Rome and Ravenna, in particular, old St. PeterÕs, the churches of St. Mary Major and St. Mary in Trastevere in Rome, plus the two churches dedicated to St. Apollinaris in Ravenna.

As we followed Fr. John into the in-progress chapel, it was a bit like entering a portal to ancient Rome: We entered a structure with partial walls with window openings bearing no glass, the damp brown earth underfoot and no ceiling above Ñ completely exposed to acts of God, such as the storm that had taken out the power just the night before.

After I had jotted on my steno pad the connection in color I observed between the soft gray clouds in the sky and the gray cinderblock skeleton in the form of a traditional basilica outline, I looked around more and began to feel glad that the chapel interior was going to be fully open to Heaven for a good amount of time during its development.

But unlike the vestige of an ancient Roman structure, this was instead an active construction site, with workers in hard hats moving with concentrated purpose up on scaffolding surrounding the recently erected marble columns. First crafted in Italy, the columns were then shipped in crates to the Hermitage in Lake Elmo. Although the columns are load-bearing supports inside this authentic basilica chapel, they are truly works of art in and of themselves.

The solid Damascata marble from Northern Italy was a carefully considered choice made to further glorify the patroness of the Carmelite Hermitage. Fr. John explained that this particular marble was chosen because it occurs naturally in the soft, more feminine hues of pink, gray and white, befitting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Beauty of Carmel, who is honored in the chapel.

Because the columns were set in a space currently devoid of any of the adornments yet to come, the smooth perfection of the polished Damascata marble standing in perfect alignment was especially ethereal that morning.

The capitals which grace the top of each column are crafted from the exquisite white Carrara marble sourced from the same quarries that provided the marble for Michaelangelo to carve masterpieces such as the Pietà.

Brother Christopher, of the Hermitage, designed the capitals; a capital is a decorative element which tops each pillar. In order to create the capitals, a blueprint of his design was made and sent to Italy to be carved out of the famed Carrara marble, then shipped back to the Hermitage.

The Chapel Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel features seven Damascata marble columns on each side of the nave which support the capitals and beautiful marble arches.

Construction of the arches was underway that day in August. Each arch is constructed by placing the marble sections around a wooden support and then once the keystone (final marble piece) is set, the wooden support structure is removed and the beautiful marble arch is revealed in all its glory.

More sacred art planned for the chapel are mosaics which will adorn the three apses of the chapel, and following the design of the Basilica of SantÕApollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, a row of saints in a mosaic design will line each side of the  main nave above the marble arches.

The floor plan outlines three spaces: the sanctuary, the monastic choir, and a section for the public which seats about 60 guests. The sanctuary, which will house the crucifix, tabernacle, altar, and apse mosaic will be flanked by two small chapels, one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Beauty of Carmel, and a matching one to her most blessed spouse, St. Joseph. During that gray morning, those three spaces held nothing other than the moist earth.

As I stood in the sanctuary, wishing I had worn boots to walk the spongy soil, I noticed a few tiny green shoots had sprung up from the ground in the area where Fr. John had indicated that the altar would be placed, donated by a local benefactor to honor his late wife.

Following In The Footsteps Of The Carmelite Saints

With the goal of becoming saints, the hermits follow the same Rule of Life as the great saints of Carmel, such as St. Teresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, St. Simon Stock, and St. Therese of Lisieux and their same ancient horarium as follows:

 4:30 a.m. rise
4:45 a.m. Vigils
5:30 a.m. free time*
6:00 a.m. Angelus and Matins (end of Great Silence)
6:30-7:30 a.m. mental prayer
7:45 a.m. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
8:45 a.m. breakfast (during the non-fast season)
9:00 a.m. Terce (the 3rd hour)
9:15-11:30 a.m. work
11:40 a.m. Sext (the 6th hour)
12:00 p.m. Angelus and dinner
12:45-2:40 p.m. free time
2:45 p.m. None (the 9th hour)
3:00-4:00 p.m. work
4:20 p.m. Vespers
5:00-6:00 mental prayer
6:00 p.m. Angelus and supper
6:45 p.m. recreation (speak and share with one another)
7:45 Compline
8:15 p.m. Great Silence
9:30 p.m. retire

*Free time may be to pray the rosary and do spiritual reading.

Sundays and major feasts allot an hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with Benediction.

Each hermit resides in a small hermitage: a room with bed, desk, sacred art, and a window onto its own little courtyard that features a tree which provides shade (no A/C) and fruit to eat from cherry, apple, plum, and pear trees. Other trees on the surrounding property are Black Walnut, Maple, Red and white oak, red and white Pine, Cherry, Birch, and Honey Locust. When a tree is damaged by disease or an act of God, the hermits cut it up into lumber for crafting and cabinetry, or for firewood.

Spanning between the monastery and the individual hermitages within the larger Hermitage is the cloister, completed in 2002. Built to serve as both a sheltered walkway and a peaceful meditation space, a place to pray the rosary.

There is a gift shop open to the public at specific times that is run by the hermits which contains bookshelves and a countertop crafted from wood that was felled on the grounds of the Hermitage and where you can purchase books, roasries, crucifixes, and art created by some of the hermits.

The Carmelite Order: Its Solitary And Community Aspects

Upon hearing of a “hermitage” and “hermits,” many people of the general public might picture a place where outsiders are not permitted to enter.

So, I asked Fr. John to speak to that possible preconception by the public. He replied, ÒWe do seek solitude and seclusion…but it should be recognized that those hermits who are called to a life of complete solitude out in a desert place or on a mountaintop are actually very few, and that the majority of hermits are actually semi-hermits who also have something of a community life. So from the very beginning, the Order of Carmel had a communal aspect to it…both a solitary aspect and a community aspect.Ó

He went on to explain, “The way we achieve our balance between the two is twofold: First of all, we have fixed hours when the Hermitage is open to visitors, from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon. So the other hours of the day we are quiet and in solitude. The other aspect is the cloistered areas of the monastery – the areas of the monastery which are only open to the members of the community – this also then provides a degree of separation and solitude for the members of the community.”

Fr. John spoke about the need for solitude in life, saying, “The solitary aspect is extremely necessary for every Christian to have the time when one can go aside in prayer and commune with God in the silence of the heart. And itÕs getting increasingly difficult to do that in the noisy interconnected world in which we live. So hermits go aside from society a little bit in order to facilitate their life of prayer and communion with God.”

He concluded, “But it was never for the Order of Carmel a complete seclusion … our Hermitage on Mount Carmel, the first house of our Order, is one of the stops given in the pilgrim guides from the Middle Ages … to visit the hermits there.”

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Architect Duncan Stroik of the University of Notre Dame designed The Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a leading architect in the design of new Catholic Churches. His past projects include the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas College in California, and the new organ case and renovation of the choir loft at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The exterior of the chapel will be built of brick and granite to match the existing buildings of the Hermitage. Contribuing contractors are: George Siegfried Construction Company, General Contractor; Robert Pagliardi Company, Saran, Italy, Belden Brick, Ohio; CD Tile and Stone stone masons Curtis Nelson, Rob Willi, Travis Langer, and Paul Johnson, a 4th-generation stone mason who worked on the restoration of the St. Paul Cathedral).

Join The Brick Legacy Guild, Receive Prayers From The Hermits

Now you are needed as a builder! Yes, to complete the chapel dedicated to the Beauty of Carmel (and the four hermitages needed to accept new vocations) 75,000 bricks are required. The Hermitage needs to raise $3.75 million Ñ $50 per brick.

According to the Hermitage: Once you donate a brick and enter the Guild, we will offer a Mass for you and all of our Guild members each month. We will pray for your intentions, for your family and for the salvation of all the souls dear to you. And when we finally consecrate this new chapel and open our doors to the public, we hope all of our Guild members will be able to join us for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What a glorious day that will be!

75,000 Bricks Needed To Raise $3.75 Million At $50 Per Brick

Donate now: https://www.carmelitehermitage.org/brick-legacy-guild

Learn more: https://www.carmelitehermitage.org/the-new-chapel-1

Mail donations to: 8249 Mount Carmel Road, Lake Elmo, MN 55042

Make check payable to: Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary