Author Topic: Emerentiana (Read 568 times)

Hobbledehoy · « **on:** February 29, 2012, 10:41:00 PM »

In the history of the Carmelite Order, found in the tome The Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel: A Manual for the Use of the Members of the Confraternity of the Scapular and the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by Rev. Father Pius, O.C.C., (New York: E. O'Keefe, Book and Job Printer, 1879), the curious tale of Emerentiana always stood out for me. This young maiden was about to vow virginity when the disciples of the great Prophets Elias and Eliseus descended from Mount Carmel to inform her that God had decreed for her to contract Sacred Matrimony, a state of life that would prove to be greater than the state of integral purity to which she had aspired, insofar as it would eventually bring forth she who was predestined from all eternity to be the Immaculate Mother of God, the Virgo Virginum.

This little episode amazes me, as it strikingly illustrates how the designs of Divine Providence are greater than our desires, their apparent goodness notwithstanding.

Author Topic: Emerentiana (Read 568 times)

Hobbledehoy

Emerentiana