Letters to Dolcidia.Carlo Carretto (1910-1988) left a lay career as head of the Italy's Catholic Action movement for young people in 1954 to become a Little Brother of Jesus, a contemplative order inspired by the desert hermit hermit [Gr.,=desert], one who lives in solitude, especially from ascetic motives. Hermits are known in many cultures. Permanent solitude was common in ancient Christian asceticism; St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Simeon Stylites were noted hermits. and mystic, Charles de Foucauld Charles Eugène de Foucauld (Strasbourg, 15 September 1858 – Tamanrasset, 1 December 1916) was a religious leader who inspired the founding of the Little Brothers of Jesus. He was assassinated in 1916, at the door of his retreat in the Algerian Sahara. . After ten years in the North African North Africa A region of northern Africa generally considered to include the modern-day countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. North African adj. & n. Adj. 1. desert (which inspired his bestselling work on spirituality, Letters from the Desert), Carretto returned to Europe to work in eremitical er·e·mite n. A recluse or hermit, especially a religious recluse. [Middle English, from Late Latin er fraternities in both France and Italy. He died on the feast of Saint Francis Saint Francis, city, United States Saint Francis, city (1990 pop. 9,245), Milwaukee co., SE Wis., a residential suburb of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan; inc. 1951. There is meat processing and the manufacture of plastic and metal products. at a contemplative center he founded in central Italy Central Italy is a geographic area in Italy that encompasses four of the country's 20 autonomous regions:
During his entire life as a religious, Carretto wrote faithfully to his sister who was a nun in Italy. That correspondence makes up the bulk of this little book. I found it extremely interesting for three reasons. First, Carretto was a deeply contemplative person whose reflections on the life of the gospel carry with them the ring of authenticity. Second, his witness encompasses that period after Vatican II which saw such profound changes in the church, changes which inspired in him neither fear nor reaction. Finally, Carretto had a prophetic edge to him. He could be critical without sounding like a nag or someone who was alienated from the church. These letters do not have the spiritual heft of Letters from the Desert but they are of interest. They make me wish that someone will write (is writing?) a biography of this remarkable man of God since his story would not only speak of his contemplative mature years but his earlier life as an activist with ties to the higher echelons of the Catholic church. |
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