Caryana is a
community started in 1972 by a group of high school students from an exclusive
Catholic girls' school. They did not see themselves as starting anything
new or novel or establishing a new religious order. They simply meant to
live a simple and unassuming life, taking up the sure path marked out by
the Fathers, Doctors and Saints of the Catholic Church. They were
eventually followed by the rest of their families.
Guided by
such Saintly Fathers as John Cassian, Basil the Great, Pope Gregory the
Great, John Climacus, and Benedict of Nurcia, the community began observing
the austere and disciplined life of the early Christians...which they
eventually shared with others in their publications.
Though
stricter than most monastic orders today, the members remain as laymen
bounded only by personal, private vows rather than canonical vows. Their
monasteries are walled in, almost self-sufficient and having all things
within the monastery, including their works of mercy.
The
community was privileged by the Abbot of the Basilica of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, Mexico, to propagate devotion to her in the Philippines and in
Asia. On June 24, 1994, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, blessed the
Pilgrim Image for Asia and the Philippines, and the community gifted the
Pope with an actual-size replica of the Image executed in canvass.
(updated 01-05-02)
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