ALBERT AND HIS RULE
By Michael Mulhall, O. Carm.
2023, Edizioni Carmelitane
356 pp.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fr. Michael Mulhall. M.A., S.T.D. is a Carmelite who holds a degree in Semitic Ianguages and a doctorate in biblical theology. He was Assistani Professor of Sacred Scripture at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In 1981 he became Director of Mt. Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. He taught at the University of St. Michael’s College before moving to teach for the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto. He also served on the board of the Canadian Catholic Biblical Association. Recruited by the National Office of Religious Educatian (NORE), he served as Scripture Consultant for the first two volumes of The Roots of Our Faith dealing with the Old and New Testaments.
Fr. Mulhall organized the First North American Congress on the Rule in 1986- He then edited the presentations given there into a book called Albert’s Way. As a result of being part of the committee coordinating the 800th Anniversary of the Carmelite Order, he resumed his study of the Carmelite Rule, which has now come to fruition in this work.
– reviewed by Gregory Houck, O.Carm.
Up front, the Carmelite Rule claims to be written by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in the early 1200s, Saint Albert of Jerusalem (Albert of Vercelli), and given to Brother B and the hermits living with him around the spring on Mount Carmel. In “Albert and His Rule,” Michael Mulhall, O.Carm., conducts a very careful and very thorough dissection of the Carmelite Rule or Formula Vitae to show that the Rule is actually a composite of Albert’s original text with many subsequent additions.
Soon after giving the Rule to Brother B, Albert was assassinated. Albert’s successors in the position of Latin Patriarch would then anonymously add to the Rule as conditions changed. These successors had close ties with the various Popes who appointed them so these additions were approved. It is as if Father Mulhall has a box for each Patriarch and after carefully scrutinizing each passage in the Rule assigns that passage to a box:
- Albert of Vercelli (Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1205 to 1214),
- Raoul de Merencourt (1214 to 1224),
- Gerold of Lausanne (1225 to 1239),
- Robert of Nantes (1240 to 1254).
To understand why these additions were inserted into the Rule by these subsequent Patriarchs, Father Mulhall does a deep dive into the historical situation in the Holy Land (e.g., loss of Jerusalem to Saladin, the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, the failure of the Fifth Crusade, various Kings of Jerusalem including Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II each with political tensions with Rome). Father Mulhall makes an even deeper dive in the extensive footnotes on each page. These footnotes are so extensive they can be read as a second book.
The Carmelite Rule has 24 chapters, so “Albert and His Rule” is in corresponding 24 chapters. Yes, each chapter tells us who wrote any additions in that chapter along with the historical reasons for those additions, but Father Mulhall adds how each chapter of the Rule is lived today. And throughout the book is Father Mulhall’s musings on the spiritual (i.e., interior) significance of the Rule and its chapters. So “Albert and His Rule” is not only a history, but a commentary on the significance of the Rule today.
This book is a “must read” for anyone who describes him/herself as Carmelite: friars, nuns, sisters, and seculars – both OCarm and OCD. Similarly, this book is a “helpful read” for anyone who wants to live a spiritually-centered life and wonders if the Carmelite way can inform that life.
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