Miami, Florida ~ Carmel of the Most Holy Trinity

In 1998, Archbishop John C. Favalora was looking to establish a contemplative community in his archdiocese. Should they be Poor Clares? Benedictines? At last, Archbishop Favalora decided that he wanted to invite a community of Discalced Carmelites. The General Curia of the Order in Rome suggested a founding community from the Province of Mexico, and after consulting the Federation of Mexican nuns, the community of Queretaro was chosen as a possible candidate. At that time, the Queretaro monastery was at full capacity with twenty-seven nuns. After discerning the request, the community saw it was God’s will to found in Miami. After a community retreat before the Blessed Sacrament, each one of the eight future foundresses felt the Lord’s call: six solemnly professed and two of temporal vows, who became solemnly professed while their paperwork was being done. On October 13, 2001 they arrived in Miami to a four-bedroom home in Southwest Miami. Two days later, on October 15, in this same house, Holy Mass was celebrated and Archbishop Favalora read the rescript from the Holy See of the foundation’s canonical erection.

The first three years of the young foundation was to be spent in this house in Southwest Miami while sisters went on the hunt inspecting buildings that could serve as their new monastery, including a former Methodist church and an old mental hospital, but none were in the conditions to be renovated into a monastery. Several plots of land were also considered, with one in Coral Gables being a particular favorite.

In 2004, the Archdiocese kindly lent the sisters a convent in Hialeah, Florida that once belonged to the religious sisters who taught in the neighboring parish school after the last one returned to her native Ireland. The twelve-bedroom convent was a vast improvement and allowed the community to receive vocations and young women interested in experiencing the Carmelite way of life. By this time, two new Postulants had already received the habit, and attempts of raising funds to buy the Coral Gables plot began. Much to the community’s dismay, very little was raised for this cause. But, it seemed the Lord wanted them to look for something a little further south, into rural Miami-Dade county, because the sisters were forced to go back to the drawing board, and in 2010 they began looking for properties in the agricultural zone of Homestead, Florida known as ‘Redlands’. As soon as Mother Teresa and the benefactress who accompanied her set foot on the five-acre property, they shared a knowing glance. Luckily, the owner of the property needed to sell it urgently and lowered the purchase price. Without further delay, the contract was made and signed. In a short time enough was rounded up to purchase the property, a sign for the nuns that confirmed God’s will.

In 2011, the Laying of the First Stone was celebrated on the destined building site. In 2014, construction began. Slowly but surely the barren piece of dirt became the firm foundation of a new monastery. Today, we continue to put our trust in our Beloved Spouse, asking him to lead the way and finish the work He has begun.