A Brief History

The Foundress

The early history of the Sisters of Mount Carmel is rooted in the story of a remarkable woman's journey. Julie Therese Chevrel was blessed with an unswerving sense of God's call. Her attempt to respond faithfully to this call, in the midst of events over which she had no control, led to the establishment of the Sisters of Mount Carmel in Louisiana.

In Tours, France, a devout and zealous group of lay Discalced Carmelites were encouraged to form a religious community by Father Charles Boutelou, a local cleric. Miss Athanais Haincque and Miss Pauline Marie Therese Bazire became co-foundresses of the new congregation. They were officially recognized as a religious congregation by the local Bishop on December 4, 1824. Miss Haincque was named its first superior and Miss Bazire became Mistress of Novices.

Among the earliest members to join was Julie Therese Chevrel, an 18-year old convert. Mademoiselle Chevrel had received instruction in the faith from Mother St. Paul and when her family disowned her because of her religious convictions, Mother St. Paul invited her to join the new community.

Early Years

The small community grew quickly, devoting itself to the education of young people, particularly those of the working class, and to the care of the sick, especially of elderly women with no means of support. They eventually purchased an old Abbey in Bourgueil, France, not far from Tours. (Today, the Abbey is maintained by the Sisters of St. Martin.)

The untimely illness of Miss Haincque in 1826 which sent her back to her family for a time, followed closely by the death of Mother St. Paul in 1828, put into motion a series of events that would bring Sister Therese to Louisiana. Only twenty-two, she was named superior of the congregation. There were internal struggles and misunderstandings within the small community. In addition, this was a time of political unrest and anti-church movements in France. Their ecclesiastical superior, Father Charles Boutelou, fearing retribution for his royalist connections, fled the country and sailed for New Orleans, a predominantly French Catholic diocese. Before leaving, he dismissed the sisters in the fledgling community from their vows; many returned to their families and others went into hiding. (When the persecutions ceased and order was restored, the tiny group of sisters who had remained at Bourgueil changed their name to the Sisters of St. Martin.)

New Orleans Roots

During this time Father Boutelou expressed to Bishop Leo de Neckere, Bishop of New Orleans, his concern for the safety and survival of his spiritual daughters in France. The Bishop knew he could use their services and dedication in his widespread diocese. Sister Therese Chevrel and Sister St. Augustin Clerc responded to the invitation of Bishop de Neckere to take over a school for "free young ladies of color," and to minister among the French-speaking people of South Louisiana. They set sail and arrived in New Orleans on November first, 1833.

That journey brought Sister Therese and Sister Augustin, refugees from religious persecution, to a new and strange land. Now immigants, isolated from their past, the two formed a new congregation of women reglious, retaining the name they had in France, Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, because of their great devotion to Mary, Mother of Carmel and thus preserving ties to their earlier beginnings.

Twenty-seven year old Julie Therese Chevrel... outcast from her family, estranged from her former community by distance and misunderstanding, victim of religious persecution amid the political and social unrest of France, an immigrant.... became the foundress. It would be some forty years before the two sisters were able to make contact with the sisters they had left behind.

Responding to the Needs of the Times

The early history of the Sisters of Mount Carmel is characterized by their response to the needs of their times and to requests of the local church. Arriving in New Orleans they expected to take over a school; they were sent instead to Plattenville, at that time a tiny village on Bayou Lafourche. In 1838, at the request of Bishop Blanc, they returned to New Orleans. In those early years they cared for orphans and for the sick, and opened both boarding and day schools. When the needs of the times demanded, they closed down the schools and became nurses and cooks, tending to victims of yellow fever, and to wounded victims of the Civil War, whether they wore Confederate or Union uniforms.

The first mission outside the New Orleans area accepted by the Sisters was that of Lafayette in 1846. When the Sisters were asked by the Bishop to open a school in Attakapas country, Lafayette was merely the small village of Vermilionville on the banks of Bayou Vermilion, and the Congregation was only 13 years old. The Sisters arrived with all their possessions securely tied up in their black cotton aprons. The few essentials needed to open the school were shipped to them in a sugar barrel.

The Spirit of Carmel

Mother Therese Chevrel guided the community as superior general for more than 50 years, until her death in 1888. Throughout her life, her spirit of readiness to help others spoke to the people and to her spiritual daughters. She modeled humility, charity, and fidelity to God's call. The local newspapers at the time of her death, quoted Father Francis Rouge's eulogy:

The spirit of Carmel began with the community's origin as a group of lay Discalced Carmelites in France. However, "official" ties to the Carmelite Order were estabished only in 1930, when the congregation became an aggregate of the Carmelite Order. In 1951, the Sisters of Mount Carmel adopted the Rule of St. Albert to replace the older rule of St. Augustine. Albert's "Formula for Living" verbalizes a way of life kept by the hermits of Carmel in the Middle Ages.
[ NOTE: This rule, given to the Carmelite hermits by Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1204 and mitigated by Pope Innocent IV in 1247, is the common core that links all Congregations of Carmelites. ]


True to the spirit of Julie Therese Chevrel, the Sisters of Mount Carmel today strive to be faithful to God's call in the reality of changing circumstances and to be responsive to the needs of the local church. Whether it be in the bayou country of South Louisiana, or in the heart of New Orleans, in the villages of the poor in the Philippines, or in a Carmelite office in Chicago, our thrust remains the same: to lovingly serve God's people, responding to the needs of the time, taking Mary... in her simplicity, zeal and humility... as our model.