Saint Brocard

Who was Saint Brocard?

Saint Brocard is said to have been one of the first group of hermits at Mount Carmel, and was perhaps the leader of the community on the death of Saint Berthold around 1198. Various details of his life are legendary.

Circa 1207 the hermits incorporated their existing customs into a formal rule which was accepted by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Albert Avogadro. The document is addressed to a community member known only as 'B'. Receiving the Rule marks the origin of the Carmelite Order.

St. Brocard died around 1231. Brocard's cult was ordered by the general chapter of 1564. It was removed from the reformed breviary of 1585, but taken up again in 1609; and the proper lessons were approved by the S. Congregation of Rites in 1672. His feast has been again suppressed.