Nazarene Discalced Carmelite Nun

Nazarene Discalced Carmelite Nun –  Sister María Prudencia, O.C.D.                                                                                                      “The Purple Carmelite”                                                                                                       “With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts”                                                      “In the measure you desire Him, you will find Him.”   –  St. Teresa of Avila                                                                                       “To be love!”

Foundress:  Venerable Madre Antonia Lucía

Place:  Lima, Peru

Year:  1683 A.D.

Her Charism:  This Carmelite nun is the guardian of one of Peru’s biggest devotions – The Lord of Miracles.  It is a mural of the Crucifixion with Our Lady and Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross.  The mural was painted by an Angolan slave during colonial times on the walls of a run-down property.  Despite many earthquakes and attempts to erase the mural, this miraculous image remains in tact.  At this shrine, our humble contemplative becomes the beautiful “Flower of Carmel” (Flos Carmeli) like Mary (the perfect mirror of God’s glory) who treasures and protects her Son through her prayers.  From the silence of her cloister, she stands, walks alongside, and understands the suffering of her brothers and sisters.  But she also experiences the joy of knowing that she, and they, are God’s children.  In this way, her cloistered life attains a missionary and universal outreach – a fundamental role in the life of the Church.  † Prayer is always missionary. †  Her splendid purity and loving humility adorn the Church in the Eyes of her Divine Spouse.  Informed by the  Rule of St. Albert, she vows to do the most perfect things always and has a burning desire to make Jesus the center of her very existence.  By opening her heart to God through a life of uninterrupted prayer and contemplation, she forges an intimate relationship with Him Whom she knows and loves with all her heart, mind, and soul and Who is the Light that guides and illuminates her with His Divine Love.  This Nazarene Carmelite’s holy silence, humility, and detachment create a desire to make God known and loved by others.  Her life is a proclamation of God’s love.  She is His dwelling, His secret room, and hiding place.  By her scapular, Mary clothes her children of Carmel with her very self and bestows on them her virtues.