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10 – 28 September 2019: the 2019 General Chapter of the Carmelite Order has begun.

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General Chapters are the collegiate expression of the legislative and decision-making power of a religious order or institute: an assembly of religious from all over the world, who meet periodically, on an equal footing, to monitor the spiritual and material life of the institute and provide for its needs, to represent it from a legal point of view and to renew its highest institutional offices, through their election by the participants in the assembly. As far as the Carmelite Order is concerned, the oldest testimony of a General Chapter dates back to 1247: this information is derived from the bull with which, in that year, Pope Innocent IV updated and approved the Rule of Carmel (cf. Carmelite Dictionary, edited by E. Boaga, O. Carm., and L. Borriello, O.C.D., 2008).

Our archives hold the original acts of the general chapters from 1318 to 1968: they form a fundamental part of the Order's legal and administrative memory.
In the photo, the general chapter of 1318 (AGOC, II.C.O. III.1, ff. 11v-12r; parchment volume with leather cover).

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We are delighted to present the new publication by Dr. Marco Papasidero, the result of his research work carried out at our Archive, thanks to the Research Grant in memory of Fr. Emanuele Boaga (1st edition, 2017).
The volume is published by Carmelitane Editions.

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The volume concerns the figure of the blessed Luigi Rabatà, a Carmelite who lived in the 15th century and prior of the convent of S. Michele in Randazzo, Sicily. The study examines the records of the two trials in the provinces conducted in Randazzo in 1533 and 1573, aimed at gathering information relating to the life, fame of holiness, and miracles that occurred through the intercession of the blessed. Among the sources used in the volume are also numerous hagiographical texts composed from the 17th century onwards, which preserved the memory of Luigi Rabatà over the centuries. The book aims to lead the reader to an understanding of this less well-known figure in the history of the Carmelite Order, providing a careful examination of the biographical, spiritual, cultic, and devotional data that emerge from the testimonies of witnesses in the two trials and from other hagiographical and narrative sources over the centuries.

Marco Papasidero He holds a degree in Modern Literature. In 2016, he obtained a PhD in History of Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Forms and subsequently held a research fellowship at the General Archive of the Carmelite Order. He is currently a research fellow at the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences at the University of Turin. His research focuses on hagiography, the cult of saints and relics, and devotional and healing practices in Christianity.

You can read the full editorial sheet at the following address: http://carmelitani.com/prodotto/a-laudi-deu-luigi-rabata-tra-storia-memoria-pratiche-devozionali?fbclid=IwAR3OF8JRCFD6AMRDDymYbk0x2sIFOrwG1yFEZgz4LSaKQRprM2Kp4Ai_Gfg