The Discalced Carmelites are a Roman Catholic religious community of priests, brothers, nuns, and laity serving the Church through lives of prayer and ministry, in a fraternal setting. Our roots go back to twelfth-century hermits on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. The Discalced Carmelites were established by St. Teresa of Avila in 1562 and St. John of the Cross in 1568 to renew the Order’s commitment to contemplation, simplicity, and community.