Chapter XVIII: SANCTIFICATIONS IN THE ORDER OF MOUNT CARMEL.
MINISTERIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE ELIAN HIERARCHY.

                        1.  We begin this additional chapter on the Essenes by speaking of the sanctification of the Elian priests and of many of the members of the Order of Carmel.  As has been defined in previous chap-ters in speaking of the sanctification of the Patriarchs and Prophets, that extraordinary grace was received through the Sacrament of the Triple Benediction producing a character similar to that of Baptism, infusing Sanctifying Grace in the Soul.  That Grace was lost by mortal sin and recovered by an act of perfect contrition.

                        2.  After a prayerful study, we have felt in our souls the assistance and impulse of the Holy Ghost, moving us to write and, in His light, explain several aspects of the ceremony of the Essenian anointing of priests as well as other mysteries pertaining to the pri-mitive Carmelite Order.  In the previous chapter we have defined that the candidate for the priesthood received his sacred ministry on being invested with the Cape or Mantle of Elias.  We affirm and define that that most solemn ceremony took place before the presiding Most Holy Sacrament or Triple Benediction, which the Most Divine Soul of Christ brought for the purpose from the Tabernacle of the Temple of Jerusalem to the Cave of Elias on Mount Carmel, since it was only at that Sacred Place that the Elian Priesthood was conferred.  To confer the Priest-hood pertained exclusively to the High Priest of the Essenes, or Su-perior General.  The Chalice of Melchisedech, containing the Sacrament, was covered with a white veil and placed with the greatest reverence on the altar of Sacrifice.  During the Babylonian captivity and until the rebuilding of the Temple, the transfer was not necessary as it was kept in the Cave.  The ceremony consisted in two solemn acts, one, es-sential, the invest-ing with the priestly cape of Elias; the other, ob-ligatory, the presenting by the Superior General of the Essenes of the Sacrament of the Triple Benediction to the new priest, who took it in his hands fervently crossed on his breast.  In this way was shown the privilege granted the Elian priests of touching the Sacrament of the Triple Benediction.  We also affirm and define that the Elian priest who had not been sanctified before the ceremony received the extraordi-nary grace of the Indwell-ing of the Holy Ghost by contact of the Tri-ple Benediction on his breast.  Other very special graces were granted the new priests at these ceremonies, including, in certain degree, a knowledge of the content of the Mystery, which always was held to be something Most Sacred by Priests and faithful.  The most solemn cere-mony ended with the blessing with the Mysterious Sacrament by the Su-perior General in the form of a Cross.  We affirm and define that many faithful were sanctified through the blessing with the Sacrament.

                        3.  A similar solemnity, though of greater splendour, took place for the naming of the Superior General of the Essenes, the can-didate for which had necessarily to be a priest.   Like Elias who anointed as Prophet his successor Eliseus, the High Priest General of the Essenes covered with the Sacred Mantle the head of the elect, and gave him the Sacrament of the Triple Benediction to kiss concealed under the flap of the Mantle.  We affirm and define that the Mysterious Sacrament was also hidden under the Mantle of Elias when he anointed Eliseus as Prophet.  We declare and affirm that this ceremonial was o-bligatory for naming one to that high office, even if the elected Su-perior of the Essenes already had been anointed Prophet.  In that case the ceremony would represent succession in office, not anointing.

                        4.  The High Priest General of the Essenes procee-ded to elect his successor by divine inspiration when his days were near-ing their end.  His successor assumed office immediately upon the death of the former.  This doctrine is based on the Sacred Book of Kings, where it is found in the words spoken by the Lord to Elias, "and Eli-seus ... thou shalt anoint to be prophet in thy stead" (3 Kings XIX: 16).  In chapter II of the fourth Book of Kings is seen the authority that the Holy Prophet Elias, after having named Eliseus his successor, continued to exercise as High Priest of the Essenes, since the latter still lacked the Priestho-od and his master had not yet been taken away, - both necessary in order for Eliseus to assume office.  We transcribe one of the verses that testify to the fact: "The sons of the prophets that were at Bethel, came forth to Eliseus, and said to him:Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee.  And he answered:I also know it:hold your peace.  And Elias said to Eliseus:Stay here because the Lord hath sent me to Jericho" (4 Kings II: 3-4).  -Later, verse 15 of the same Sacred Text shows us Eliseus, after the translation of Elias, when he assumed the office of Superior General, which took place at the moment when Eliseus received the Sacred Mantle and, through that, the Elian Priest-hood, indispensable for assuming the office to which he had been elected: "And the Sons of the Prophets at Jericho on the other side, seeing it, said:The spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus.  And coming to meet him, they venerated him, falling to the ground" (4 Kings II: 15).

                        5.  At other Essenian feasts, especially the Marian ones when there were great pilgrimages to Mount Carmel, the Triple Be-nediction was brought to the Cave of Elias, always by the ministry of the Soul of Christ, and there it was placed for all to adore.  The Superior General of the Essenes also gave the blessing with the Most Sacred Mystery, upon which there followed very special graces, includ-ing sanctifica-tions.  Those graces were multiplied during the long pe-riod of the presence of that Most Holy Sacrament in the Cave of Elias during the Babylonian Captivity, given the solemn worship offered to the Mystery, which frequently was borne in procession on Mount Carmel.

                        6.  The members of the Essenian communities were dis-tinguished for their particularly eminent devotion to the future Mo-ther of the Messias and for their fervent veneration of  Her, that con-tinued without interruption, as the Holy Doctor Catherine Emmerick af-firms, adding that they were accustomed to pray in the cave for the Coming of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, thus rendering honour to Her be-fore Her birth.  She also affirms that there was an altar in the Holy Cave of Mount Carmel erected by the Holy Prophet Elias and dedicated to Our Divine Lady.  All of which we affirm and define as true doctrine.  The singular Carmelite devotion to the Mother of God was rewarded by Our Divine Lady with very abundant graces and extraordinary privileges, like those we already have mentioned.  Here we have clear proof of the most loving predilection and motherly care of the Divine Soul of Mary for Her dearest Order.  The Holy Doctor Catherine Emmerick affirms in her revela-tions that the Essenes, through their prayer and penance, hastened the Coming of the Messias.  And this we define as truth of faith.

                        7.  We turn now to the interpretation of a passage in the revelations of the exalted Doctor Saint Catherine Emmerick in re-lation to the apparition of the Mother of God on a cloud to the Holy Prophet Elias on Mount Carmel, a passage of profoundly symbolic con-tent: "I saw how the cloud divided.  In certain sanctified places where there dwelt holy men who aspired to salva-tion, the cloud let fall, as it were, white whirls of dew bordered by all the colours of the rain-bow, and in their centre I saw the Benediction form as a pearl in its shell.  It was given me to understand that this was a prophetic figure, and that, in the blessed places where the cloud had let fall the whirls, there was true collaboration with the appearance of the Most Holy Vir-gin Mary".  Interpreting the prophetic text, we affirm that the part of the cloud which broke away, on which the Virgin Mary stood, symbolizes the Sacred Mantle of Elias falling on Mount Carmel.  The expression, "the cloud let fall, as it were, white whirls of Dew", signifies the action of the Holy Ghost and the graces which Our Divine Lady poured out through that Sacred Garment in the institution of the Elian Priest-hood.  The expression, "and in their centre I saw the Benediction form as a pearl in its shell", symbolizes the purification and sanctifica-tion of the Priests and members of the Carmelite Order through the Triple Benediction, as previously mentioned.  The phrase, "a pearl in its shell", signifies the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost in souls.  In chap-ter V of the present Treatise, we compared Sanctifying Grace with "the most precious jewel that man could possess on earth".  Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel uses identical words referring to the King-dom of Heaven in souls, which is Sanctify-ing Grace, and which He com-pares with a precious pearl, which a man goes and sells all that he has in order to acquire.  (Math. XIII: 45-46).  Reflecting more deeply on the meaning of the prophetic text, we find there, luminously ex-pressed, the profundity of the Mystery, since it clearly indicates the real presence of the Soul of Mary in the Triple Benediction, as well as Her effica-cious action in souls.

                        8.  The same Holy Doctor gives us a profoundly beau-tiful compari-son between the Jewish People in general, repres-ented as a tree, small and broad, and the Order of Mount  Carmel, the flower and cream of the former, symbolized by a very great tree spreading its high branches over the little tree.  Which signifies the superabundance of grace and blessing granted the Essenian communities, which over-shadowed the whole of God's People, to their great benefit.

                        9.  The Holy Doctor Catherine Emmerick, referring to the Elian High Priest and Prophet Archos, gives us in her revelations a curiously detailed account of the sumptuous liturgi-cal vestments of the High Priest or Superior General of the Essenes.  Given our due in-terpretation of the prophetic text, we affirm and define that not all of her description corresponds to the historic moment indicated, but her vision rather embraces as well other epochs to come in the History of the Church.  However, the richness of detail of the vestments she describes reveal the rich adornment of the vestments of the Superior General of the Essenes at the great liturgical solemnities, and which we affirm excelled those of the Levitical High Priest.

                        10.  We conclude by affirming and defining that the Superior General of the Essenes was also called, without special pre-ference, Elian High Priest and Supreme Pontiff of the Order of Carmel, thus prefiguring the Supreme Pontiff of the Church of the New Testa-ment, also called "the Pope".  Therefore we affirm and define that, at the death of Saint John the Baptist, last Superior of the Essenes of the Old Testament, the name "Supreme Pontiff" was suppressed in the Carmelite communities, since the title passed to the first Pope, Saint Peter; and as the Elian Priesthood was abolished at the Last Sup-per, the name "High Priest" also passed to the Pope.

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