Funds raised through the Monastery Store are used to support Carmelite missions throughout the Americas.
Your support is greatly appreciated.
For more details on the Carmelites, please use link below.
The Carmelite Gift Shop is located within the Carmelite Monastery in Niagara Falls Ontario, Canada. We are one of the largest religious gift shops in southern Ontario.
Our store is located at 7020 Stanley Ave. Niagara Falls ON.
Regular store hours are 9 AM to 5 PM EST 7 days per week.
Our Story
The Mountain
A mountain painted in brown, with rounded sides, its tip reaching to the sky. It refers to Mount Carmel, the Carmelites’ place of origin. Mount Carmel is situated in Haifa in Israel. In the 9th century BC the prophet Elijah lived there. In the same place, towards the end of the 12th century some hermits, inspired by the memory of Elijah, gathered their, with a desire "to live a life in allegiance of Jesus Christ." (Carmelite Rule, Para. 2).
Welcome
The Shield
The Carmelite shield appeared for the first time towards the end of the 15th century, in 1499, on the cover of a book about the life of St. Albert, Carmelite. The design there is that of a vexillum, (an ensign, a standard, a flag). This changed as time went on until it became the coat of arms, as we now know it.
The Carmelite Order
The Carmelites are one of the ancient religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Known officially as the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, the Carmelite Order developed from a group of hermits in thirteenth-century Palestine; priests and lay people living a contemplative community life of prayer and service modeled on the prophet Elijah and the Virgin Mary.
Carmelite spirituality is a distinct preaching of the one Christian message. The Carmelite charism blends prayerful contemplation with active service of those around them, and this takes many different forms depending on the time and the place they find themselves in.
Over the centuries Carmel has produced some of the greatest Christian thinkers, mystics, and philosophers, such as Teresa of Jesus (of Avila), John of the Cross, and Thérèse of Lisieux (three Carmelite ‘Doctors of the Church’). In the twentieth century, Carmelites bore witness to the Gospel in the martyrdoms of Titus Brandsma, Edith Stein, and Isidore Bakanja.
The Stars
There are three stars each with six points, one at the centre of the mountain, and the other two placed symmetrically in the heavens The lower star represents Carmelites still on the way to the top of Mount Carmel, while the other two stars higher up, represent Carmelites who have ended their journey "by reaching the top of the holy Mountain." (Carmelite Missal, 1980, Opening Prayer on the Solemnity of the Bl. Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel).