La partecipazione dei Fratelli Laiciai capitoli e il caso della riforma di Monte Santo

Abstract

Carmelite lay friars were for a long time considered inferior to the priests. The lay friars were excluded, since 1291, from participation in the provincial and general chapters, until 1965, when they were readmitted. The article traces these events and illustrates them with the example of what happened in the reformed Province of Monte Santo, in the seventeenth century. Finally, it remains the question: why in recent years has the number of lay brothers in the Order drastically decreased.