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Carmelite Monks
Vocations: There is still room on our Christmas retreat. Call us today about discerning with us: (307) 645-3310.
History of the Carmelite Monks

Inspired by the instruction of the Second Vatican Council to return to the spirit of the founders, the Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel has arisen for the renewal of the Carmelite monastic life and to carefully preserve through monastic enclosure a life hidden with Christ in God. In 2003, the grace of the Holy Spirit drew together the first fathers of this institute into a community of solitary men united by the same ideal: to cultivate diligently the seeds of virtue and contemplation in a divine family of fathers and brothers united in love.

From humble beginnings this work of the Heart of the Blessed Virgin has grown and flourished. The founding of the community took place on October 15, 2003 by Bishop David L. Ricken, then Bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The two founding Monks settled in a rented house striving to conform to the original ideal of the monastic life of Carmel.

Over time with the help of generous benefactors and the monks generous self-sacrificing labor, the monks began growing in numbers and were blessed by God with the means to support that growth. In 2010 the monks were able to acquire mountainous solitary land. This pristine rugged terrain has all the elements necessary for the monastic and eremitical ideals of Carmel and has fitting been dubbed by the monks as the New Mount Carmel.

As the years have progressed the development of Our Lady's work has continued to be realized in the beautiful Gothic architecture of monastic structures, and more so in the generous charity and obedience of all the young monks. Young men from all parts of the world have been drawn by Our Blessed Mother to generously leave all and give there lives to God through Her for the glory of God and salvation of souls. Currently the monastery has 28 members with a near constant deluge of inquiries.

From the beginning of this religious institute, in the solitude of northern Wyoming, the Lord has seen fit to call young men to embrace this monastic life of austerity and contemplation that they might illumine the whole world by the holiness of their lives.