In 2026, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Carmel of the Trinity in San Diego, California, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their founding. On June 20th, Most Rev. Michael Pham, Bishop of San Diego, joined the cloistered sisters for a celebratory Mass in their chapel.
It was Most Rev. John J. Cantwell, then bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego, who invited the Carmel of Santa Clara to send sisters to establish a new community in his diocese. Five nuns arrived on June 11, 1926. The current monastery was built in 1932, now home to 14 nuns.
The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel, rooted in the contemplative tradition of the Church, had its beginnings in the 12th century in the Holy Land, where, on Mt. Carmel, a small group of hermits, looking to the prophet Elijah as their inspiration and the Mother of God as their guide, came together under the Rule given them by St. Albert of Jerusalem. Some of them put down the sword of the Crusaders and, taking up the sword of the Spirit, dedicated themselves to a life where “each one will remain in his cell or nearby it, meditating day and night on the law of the Lord and keeping vigil in prayer.”
In the 16th century, St. Teresa of Avila initiated a reform of the Order and from Spain it spread throughout the world. Following the death of St. Teresa in 1582, her nuns made foundations in France, and then in the Netherlands. From there four American women, who had gone abroad to join the English-speaking Carmel of Hoogstraten, returned to their homeland in 1790 to found the first community of Religious women in the thirteen original States. They landed in Maryland, establishing the Carmel of Port Tobacco. They continued to grow and began the foundations of several other Carmel’s, including the Santa Clara Carmel in 1906.
It was from Santa Clara that the original five Foundresses, headed by Mother Emmanuel of the Passion as the first Prioress, came in 1926 to found the Carmel of San Diego.
This little band of Nuns arrived on the Feast of the Sacred Heart and stayed at a temporary house on Georgia Street in the North Park district while property was being sought that would provide for the needs of contemplative Nuns; somewhere close to the heart of the city, yet also apart, as their way of life demands. In May of 1932, the now six members of the San Diego Carmel, left their temporary house on Georgia street to occupy the beautiful monastery on Hawley Boulevard. The public is welcome to attend Mass in the monastery chapel, which is celebrated at 7:30 a.m. on Monday through Saturday and at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Sr. Michaela Gresko, former prioress, says she has one prayer for this monastery: “It’s that, God willing, the sanctuary light burning day and night in our chapel and in our choir never go out, but that it always be a silent and unassuming radiance, softly shining in the night of our earthly life for those who need it in their lives, especially those living in darkness and unawareness of God, in order that they find their way to Him; that, regardless of the winds and storms of time and life, it keeps burning with a strong and steady flame of living love.”
Carmel of the Trinity
5158 Hawley Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92116
Phone: 619-280-5424
Email: info@carmelsandiego.com
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