Carmelites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A distinct religious order recognized for its focus on prayer, meditation, and community service within a monastic lifestyle
2. This group of Christians is devoted to a life characterized by contemplation, spirituality, and communal living under monastic rules
3. Members of a Catholic religious community dedicated to prayer, meditation, and monastic living

Etymology: The name comes from Mount Carmel, the ridge in northern Israel that rises above the modern city of Haifa. The mountain's name is a Hebrew place name, often rendered as "garden land" or "fruitful field," and it gave its name to the religious order of hermits who settled there. The suffix "-ite" is the familiar one used to form names of people belonging to a place or group, so a Carmelite is literally someone from or belonging to Carmel. The plural "Carmelites" is simply the form used for members of the order taken together. Because the friars lived on the mountain, their identity was tied to the place from the very start, and the label stuck to them wherever they later went.