History

"I take great pleasure in offering the Irish Province of the Carmelite Order, situated in Dublin, a foundation in the Diocese of Los Angeles and San Diego." The words are those of the Ordinary of the Diocese of Los Angeles and San Diego [Bishop John J. Cantwell, Nov. 30, 1923] written to Fathers Bernard Gorman and Cyril Ryan, Discalced Carmelite priests of the Clarendon Street Monastery, Dublin, Ireland. The offer of the Bishop and the genuine sentiments of welcome in his words must have sounded sweet to these two men at the end of a long and tedious search for a foundation of their Order in the United States. That such ought to have been the case would seem obvious; but we are not sure, because not until four months had elapsed was there a response to the Bishop's offer. Fr. Bernard Gorman in reply simply informed His Excellency, the Bishop, that "the matter [of his offer] was still before the Roman Superiors.

" If we were to cite a possible reason for the apparent lack of enthusiasm in this response, it would almost certainly have to be the less-than-ideal place the Fathers were offered for the new foundation. "The place I propose for your consideration," wrote the Bishop, "is known as Tropico [Glendale today], adjacent to the city."

While the customary negotiations were in progress between the Carmelites and the Los Angeles Chancery Office, the Bishop was having second thoughts about the poor location he had given the Carmelite Order. "I think," he wrote, "that the Carmelite nuns must be praying you into the diocese. I am now able to offer you a better location than the one in Tropico. I refer to the parish of Alhambra." On receipt of this letter, the Carmelites were more energetic and positive in their response. "We consider your offer of Alhambra, instead of Tropico, most generous." Here then we have the first intimations of the foundation and Parish of St. Therese, Alhambra, the oldest of the California foundations and, what is still more important, the Irish Province's first-born of many missions since.

When and how St. Therese Parish began, the circumstances that determined its being set up, and the stages of its growth along the way, will be the subject matter of the following narrative. We are fortunate to have first-hand information, warm from the lips and fresh from the pens of the pioneers, given with rare vividness and a wealth of telling detail."

On January 19, 1922, the Definitory General approved a petition from Ireland to explore the possibility of making a foundation in the United States. The Irish Carmelite scene of the period was reasonably healthy, though somewhat static and introvert. An Apostolic Visitation carried out in June by Fr. Clement Mary, a Bavarian Carmelite living in Rome, brought about the reduction of the Irish Province, and St. Mary's Gayfield (the Carmelite Seminary) to that of a Vicariate. These were some of the lesser dispositions resulting from that visitation, in which, using strong-arm tactics to enforce discipline, the Visitator acted "with surprising ferocity ... which he afterwards regretted." There being only twenty-nine Carmelite religious in Ireland at that time (1913), some innovative action was clearly called for to insure continuity and growth. Already, as far back as 1908, Fr. Ezechiel, General of the Carmelite Order, had pointed out, on a Visitation of the Irish Province, the need for some incentive to development.

To this end, he urged the Fathers to secure a foundation in Belfast or Derry. Nothing much was done to implement the General's desires. Then, in 1912, the Provincial Chapter considered an offer made to the Province from Scotland. The place was not inviting, nor, apparently, was the name-Wick. It was turned down.