During the Third Crusade, a group of hermits led by Berthold of Calabria began to inhabit the caves of Mount Carmel following the prophet Elijah.

The oldest (and most reliable) written accounts of the presence of Latin hermits on Mount Carmel date back to 1220 and another text from 1263 (See Steinmann 1963, p. 24).

Tradition indicates that the order was founded in 1185, but that is based on the story of a pilgrim in the Holy Land, the interpretation of which remains questionable. Ruins of the first church on the slopes of Mount Carmel Hermit and monastic life on Mount Carmel Very quickly, the spirituality of the order turned to Mary who became the queen and mistress of Carmel. The first chapel built within the hermitages and bringing together this community is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This is how the first Christian hermits (at the origin of the founding of the order), settled in the caves of Mount Carmel to pray to God. Tradition indicates the presence on Mount Carmel of a series of Jewish and then Christian hermits who lived, prayed and taught in the caves used by Elijah and Elisha.

The Carmelite Order is one of the few, monastic orders, if not the only one, not to refer to a charismatic founder, but to a prophet of the Old Testament: Elijah and his disciple Elisha are considered by the Carmelites as the spiritual fathers of the order. The order of Carmelite nuns was formalised in 1452. Berthold of Calabria, as well as Albert of Vercelli, have traditionally been associated with the founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived. Historical records about its origin remain uncertain, but it was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States. The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( Latin: Ordo Fratrum Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmelo abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order for men and women. The Prophet Elijah is regarded as the spiritual father of the Carmelite order

Ascent of mount carmel