Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites

The Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, officially Ordo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Saecularis (OCDS), and formerly the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and of the Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Jesus, is a religious association of the Roman Catholic Church composed primarily of lay persons and also accepted secular clergy.

Professing promises to strive to live evangelical perfection in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, obedience, and of the beatitudes, they live a "fidelity to contemplative prayer with the spirit of detachment it entails".

Commonly known as Secular Carmelites, they are an integral part of the Discalced Carmelite Order (OCD), juridically dependent upon the Discalced Carmelite Friars, and in "fraternal communion" with them and the cloistered Nuns of the Order. They share the same charism with the Friars and Nuns, each according to his or her particular state of life, forming a single family with the same spirituality, and called by God to holiness and apostolic mission.

There are two Carmelite orders in the Church, the Carmelite Order of the Ancient Observance (O. Carm.) and the Discalced Carmelite Order (OCD). The Discalced became a separate order under Teresa of Ávila, so as to return to the more austere and contemplative life lived by the first Carmelites, and eventually by the end of the 17th century the Discalced developed their own secular order. "Discalced", meaning "shoeless", signifies this greater austerity. However, Seculars do not consider forgoing shoes to be a necessity for living internal austerity and poverty. Members of the OCDS are distinct from the secular order known as the Lay Carmelites (T. O. Carm.).

The Seculars' vocation is to live the Carmelite spirituality as Seculars and not as mere imitators of Carmelite monastic life. They practice contemplative prayer while living lives of charity in their common occupations. They profess a promise to the Order patterned on the monastic vows which guides their life. The Promise is to live according to the Rule of St. Albert and the OCDS Constitutions and to live the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience and the beatitudes according to their lay state of life.

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