is the home of a community of nuns of the Roman Catholic Church. In response to a deeply felt call from God they have gladly dedicated themselves to a life of prayer for the needs of the human family and for the coming of God’s kingdom throughout the world.  The origins and growth of their religious order can be discovered in the pages of Carmelite history.

The Carmelite family is named in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Our Lady and the Old Testament prophet St Elijah are the key biblical figures who inspire our Carmelite tradition and whom we venerate as its first founders from the time of the little  group of hermits on Mount Carmel in the 13th century who asked St Albert of Jerusalem to formulate for them a way of life.  Mary and Elijah are the foremost models of the holiness that is variously incarnated in all the Saints of Carmel.

Our own branch of the Carmelites, the Discalced or Teresian Carmelites, sprang from the 16th century Reform of St Teresa of Avila who also founded the Discalced Carmelite friars with the help of St John of the Cross. In their life and writings we discover the rich and abundant resource of Carmelite Spirituality. The patron of our monastery at Dysart is St Therese of Lisieux, a French Carmelite nun who died in 1897 at the age of twenty four and was canonised less than 30 years later.   She became the most widely known and loved of all the saints of modern times. Her witness to God’s merciful love is at the heart of our charism as we live it today.

The Carmelite Order is made up of nuns, friars and lay people.  The 18 monasteries of our nuns in Britain are autonomous but have very similar structures and lifestyle. However the monasteries at Dysart and Sclerder have the further dimension of being Infirmary Carmels, able to welcome sick and infirm Sisters from other communities when they are in need of special nursing care.  In our present Community at Dysart we have a full complement of twenty three Sisters, some fully active and some not quite so able, but living gladly together in all our individual diversity. God‘s grace supports and nourishes us in faith, hope and love, filling our lives of prayer and work with great joy and thanksgiving.