Dear Friend,
Yes, I believe their monastery in Nova Scotia has closed, at least the monks no longer live there - it may still be a retreat centre.
There were some problems with a local development company infringing on their privacy (?)
In fact, their vision of the eremitical way of life of the original Brothers of Mt. Carmel is a restoration of the true Carmelite way of life as it was practiced in the caves on Mt. Carmel.
Jewish prophets, beginning with St Elias, lived and prayed on Mt. Carmel - where the fiery prophet was said to have established a "shrine" in honour of the "Mother of the Messiah to come."
Greek monks later came to live there to be supplanted by Latin hermits, a number of whom were former crusader knights.
The Latin monks were eventually give a Rule of Life by St Albert of Jerusalem, a loosely-based eremitical rule to be later replaced by the Rule of St Augustine.
In fact, their original rule was either that of St Pachomius or of St Antony of Egypt.
Their brown and white striped robes gave their Eastern roots away.
The vision of St Simon Stock in Aylesford came as a result of a prayer St Simon prayed to assist his monks as the English monasteries were trying to get rid of them, saying they were Eastern monastics who had no place in Latin Catholic England . . .
The Hermits of Mt. Carmel represent, in fact, one of the earliest Eastern Church monastic forms of life in our Church.
And I'm sure Fr. Elias agrees wholeheartedly
Alex
