St. Raphael Kalinowski and the Carmelite Secular Order 1 The ...

there until her death. She assisted Kalinowski and his colleagues in the Discalced
Carmelites. It was she who went with him to Przemysl and helped in setting the new
foundation of Carmelite sisters when they moved from Krakow .
Kalinowski`s piety and devotion were noted by all and his influence over the friars, nuns,
members of the Carmelite Family and on local priests was profound.
In 1898 a new Third or Secular Order community was set up at the church of the Assumption
Virgin Mary in Chorzow. More than ten years later Silesian communities of the Secular
Carmel developed extremely quickly and their number reached a dozen or so, bringing
together about a thousand members . They used come on pilgrimage to Czerna and renewed
their faith at the shrine of the Virgin Mary and at the grave of St. Raphael. They also liked
to collect water from the stream running by .
Later on the Secular Order was guided by Carmelite friars who had been friends and pupils of
Raphael Kalinowski .The two most prominent of these were John Baptist Bouchaud and the
martyr Blessed Alphonsus Maria (Joseph Mazurek.) He was murdered by the Nazis in 1944
.John Baptist wrote a biography of Princess Marcelina among other numerous publications.
The heroic life of Alphonsus Mazurek and that of others must owe something to the
inspiring example of Raphael Kalinowski.
In the post-Vatican 11 Church which emphasized the call to holiness of the laity, Raphael
Kalinowski`s work for Secular Order Carmelites ought to be emphasized. This is even more
important when we review the statistics of the Carmelite Family, only three and a half
thousand friars , up to13,000 nuns but over 27,000 members of the Secular Order worldwide.
Summary .
The literature often emphasises St. Raphael' s work for the communities in Czerna and
Wadowice, and for the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Cracow, Przemysl, and Lwow , but his
pastoral and structural effort towards the laity and especially the Secular Carmel is seldom
mentioned. The members of the Secular Order share in the ideal of the Order, its charism, grace
and fruitfulness. They participate really and fully in the Carmelite spirit , though their way
of life is very far removed from that of the friars and nuns. They are called to respond fully
to the call to holiness issued by Vatican 11. This call then is an invaluable gift for today`s
world. Carmelite spirituality has inspired the laity to take Promises as members of the
Carmelite family, but at the same time of they continue to live in the world according to
8