Berthold of Calabria

Who was Berthold of Calabria?

Berthold of Calabria was a French crusader who instituted a hermit colony on Mount Carmel in 1185. He was introduced as Saint Berthold of Mount Carmel into Carmelite literature about the year 1400 and said to have been a general of the Order before Brocard.

Berthold de Malafaye was not from Calabria in South Italy but only known as Calabrian as a euphemism for "Westerner." He was a son of the Count of Limoges born in Malifaye in south west France, and was a nephew of Aymeric of Malifaye, the Latin patriarch of Antioch. He was a relative of Aymeric, the Latin patriarch of Antioch who was installed in Antioch during the crusades.

He went to the Holy Lands as a Crusader and was in Antioch during its siege by the Saracens. It was around this time that Berthold had a vision of Christ denouncing the evil ways of the soldiers. At the time, there were a number of hermits from the West scattered throughout Palestine. Some accounts hold that in 1185 he came to Mount Carmel and built a small chapel there, gathering a community of hermits about him living in imitation of the prophet Elijah. This community has sometimes been thought to have given rise to the Order of Carmelites, but this is not supported by any clear evidence and is generally discounted by historians of the Order. Berthold lived out his days on Mount Carmel, ruling the community he had founded for forty-five years until his death about 1195.