About Carmelite Monastery of Mobile · Mobile, Alabama
The Carmelite Monastery of Mobile (also known as the Monastery of St. Joseph and St. Teresa) is a cloistered monastery of Discalced Carmelite Nuns (O.C.D.) located at 716 Dauphin Island Parkway in Mobile, Alabama. It was founded in 1943 when four nuns from the Philadelphia Carmel arrived at the invitation of Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen, and for nearly seven decades it was home to a small American community of contemplative sisters. After the aging American community could no longer sustain the monastery, Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi reached out to the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Nha Trang, Vietnam; on February 20, 2011 eight Vietnamese nuns arrived to reopen the house, which was canonically enclosed on February 28, 2011. Today the nuns live a strict cloistered life of prayer, fasting, and silent intercession for the Church, for priests, and for the salvation of souls, sustaining the universal Church through their hidden apostolate of contemplative prayer.
- Established
- 1943
- Patron
- St. Joseph and St. Teresa (officially the Monastery of St. Joseph and St. Teresa)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Mobile
Why belong here
The Mobile Carmel is a place for anyone who believes in the power of hidden, contemplative prayer. As a cloistered monastery of Discalced Carmelite Nuns, its daily life is built around the Mass open to the public, the Divine Office, and unceasing prayer for the Church, for priests, for the salvation of souls, and for the personal intentions of the faithful. The nuns welcome requests for prayer (in English or Vietnamese) and, though the enclosure is strict, the chapel opens for Mass each day so local Catholics and visitors can join the sisters in the source and summit of their life and have their petitions lifted up to God.
Mass times at Carmelite Monastery of Mobile
Weekly Mass schedule
About the Carmelite Monastery of Mobile
The Carmelite Monastery of Mobile is a cloistered monastery of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns (O.C.D.) in the Archdiocese of Mobile, located at 716 Dauphin Island Parkway. Officially known as the Monastery of St. Joseph and St. Teresa, it exists to support the universal Church through the contemplative prayer of a community of cloistered nuns. Today the monastery is home to a Vietnamese community that came from the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Nha Trang and formally took up the enclosure in 2011.
- Official name: Monastery of St. Joseph and St. Teresa
- Order: Discalced Carmelite Nuns (O.C.D.)
- Type: Cloistered monastery
- Jurisdiction: Archdiocese of Mobile
History
The Alabama foundation was the brainchild of Fr. Frank Casey, S.S.E., superior of the Edmundite Fathers in Selma, who wanted a cloistered community of nuns praying for the success of the Edmundites. Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen of Mobile agreed, but insisted the house be in Mobile rather than Selma. With funding from Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston, he purchased the Holcombe estate, a farmhouse on six-plus acres at 716 Fulton Road (now Dauphin Island Parkway). On October 7, 1943 — the feast of the Holy Rosary — four nuns from the Philadelphia Carmel arrived in Mobile to begin the foundation, and on November 3, 1943 Archbishop Toolen celebrated the first Mass and formally established the cloister.
- October 7, 1943 – Founding sisters arrive from Philadelphia
- November 2, 1943 – Nuns move into the monastery
- November 3, 1943 – First Mass and enclosure established
- 2010 – American community asks Archbishop Rodi for help
- February 20, 2011 – Eight Vietnamese nuns arrive from Nha Trang
- February 28, 2011 – Canonical enclosure re-established by Archbishop Rodi
Founding Sisters from Philadelphia (1943)
The first four Discalced Carmelite nuns to live at the Mobile monastery came from the Carmelite Monastery in Philadelphia at the invitation of Archbishop Toolen. Their foundress led the group and the community still honors her writings about the vocation of cloistered prayer.
- Mother Francis of the Five Wounds, O.C.D. — Foundress of Mobile Carmel
- Mother Catherine of Christ the King, O.C.D.
- Sister Mary Adele of the Eucharist, O.C.D.
- Sister Bernadette of the Immaculate Conception, O.C.D.
The 2011 Foundation from Nha Trang, Vietnam
In early 2010 the four remaining American nuns, all over 70 years old, found they could no longer care for the monastery and themselves. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi searched nationally and traveled to the Carmelite Generalate in Rome before eventually being connected through the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Lovers of the Holy Cross, the Sisters of Mercy, and Vietnamese-American Jesuit Brother Bao Nguyen to the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Nha Trang, Vietnam. After a year of extensive renovation, eight sisters arrived on February 20, 2011; Archbishop Rodi presided at the canonical enclosure on February 28, 2011. The Vietnamese community has continued the cloistered life there ever since.
- Eight sisters arrived from Nha Trang on February 20, 2011
- First Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi on February 21, 2011
- Canonical enclosure re-established February 28, 2011
- Sister Genevieve named 5th Superior (2014–2015)
Who are these Carmelite Nuns?
The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Mobile are cloistered religious who have given their lives to God to pray for the world, observing perpetual abstinence and the austerities of the Carmelite Rule. As Mother Francis of the Five Wounds, the foundress, wrote, 'In their Cloistered Monastery in Mobile, the nuns continue Christ's work for souls — by doing nothing, except to pray, even as did their Lord and God. They pray for all who are in distress, who have special urgent intentions and who appeal to them to beg God's help in their time of trial and affliction.'
- Contemplative vocation modeled on the life of Mary, Mother of God
- Observance of the Carmelite Rule with perpetual abstinence
- Intercession for the Church, for priests, and for souls in Purgatory
- Prayer offered for personal intentions of the faithful
Contact & Prayer Requests
Although the nuns live in strict enclosure, the public can write, call, or email with prayer intentions. The monastery gratefully accepts requests on behalf of loved ones, the sick, and the deceased.
- Address: 716 Dauphin Island Parkway, Mobile, AL 36606
- Phone: 251-401-1223
- Email: [email protected]
- Secondary contact email: [email protected]
Alabama's Carmelite Heritage
Carmelite presence in Alabama predates the 1943 foundation by centuries. According to the OCDS Community of the Holy Spirit's history, French Discalced Carmelites were assigned the District of Louisiana (which included Mobile) as early as 1720, and Fr. James of St. Martin, O.C.D., the Superior who arrived in Mobile, was the first Carmelite to die in America. A Secular Carmelite (later OCDS) community was first rooted in Alabama in 1914 when Miss Nanna Aline Ebeltoft was clothed by a Jesuit priest and made her profession June 11, 1915 as Teresa of the Eucharist — the first Discalced Carmelite Secular in the state. She later helped form the Tertiaries who welcomed the 1943 foundation and was a link between early Mobile Carmelite life and the enclosed monastery.
- 1720 – French OCDs assigned to the District of Louisiana including Mobile
- 1914 – First Secular Carmelite clothed in Alabama (1915 profession)
- 1943 – Foundation of the enclosed monastery
- 1954 – OCDS Community of the Holy Spirit canonically established
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Mother Francis of the Five Wounds, O.C.D.1943–
Foundress of Mobile Carmel; first Prioress, arrived from Philadelphia on October 7, 1943.
- Mother Catherine of Christ the King, O.C.D.1943–
One of the four original founding sisters from the Philadelphia Carmel.
- Sister Mary Adele of the Eucharist, O.C.D.1943–
One of the four original founding sisters from the Philadelphia Carmel.
- Sister Bernadette of the Immaculate Conception, O.C.D.1943–
One of the four original founding sisters from the Philadelphia Carmel.
- Sister Genevieve, O.C.D.2014–2015
Named 5th Superior by Archbishop Emeritus Rodi; the monastery's website and community commentary describe her as among the first African-American Discalced Carmelite superiors in the U.S., and the oldest jubilarian in the Archdiocese of Mobile.