Brocard is said to have been one of the first leaders of

hermits A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

, and was perhaps the leader of the community on the death of

Berthold of Calabria Berthold of Calabria (french: Berthold de Malifaye; la, Bertoldus Calabriensis; died 1195) was a Calabrian crusader and saint who established a hermit colony on Mount Carmel in 1185. He was introduced into Carmelite literature around the 15th cen ...

around 1195. Various details of his life are legendary.Staring, Adrian. "Brocard", carmeltnet
/ref>

History

Brocard (or Burchard, as he is sometimes called), was of French ancestry and a hermit monk at Mount Carmel. The superior of this community, Berthold, died about the year 1195 and Brocard was elected superior."The Martyrology for September", The Monastery of Christ in the Desert
Around 1207 Brocard approached

Albert Avogadro Albert of Jerusalem (''Albertus Hierosolymitanus; Albertus Vercelensis,'' also ''Saint Albert'', ''Albert of Vercelli'' or ''Alberto Avogadro''; died 14 September 1214) was a canon lawyer and saint. He was Bishop of Bobbio and Bishop of Vercelli, ...

, the papal legate and

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem ( la, Patriarchatus Latinus Hierosolymitanus) is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was originally established in 1099, wit ...

, for assistance in developing a rule of common life for the monks on Carmel. Albert was a

canon regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

and composed a brief, 16 chapter rule, for the community. The document is addressed to a community member known only as 'B' (traditionally associated with Brocard, although no historical records exist that clearly identify this individual's full name). Receiving the Rule marks the origin of the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

Order. Tradition says that Brocard was well-versed in scripture and that Albert planned to take him to the next Lateran Council, but was murdered before the Council took place. Brocard died around 1231. His cult was ordered by the general chapter of 1564. It was removed from the reformed breviary of 1585, but taken up again in 1609; and the proper lessons were approved by the S. Congregation of Rites in 1672. His feast has been again suppressed.

Notes

References

*Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. .
Catholic Online Saints Calendar
Year of birth missing 1231 deaths Carmelites Priors General of the Order of Carmelites Saints from the Holy Land Palestinian hermits 13th-century Christian saints {{saint-stub

History

See also

Notes

References