", held by tradition to be either Saint Bertold or Saint Brocard (but historical evidence of his identity is lacking), and the hermits living in the spirit of Elias near the prophet's spring on Mount Carmel in present-day Israel.
On 30 January 1226 Pope Honorius III approved it as their rule of life in the bull Ut vivendi normam.
[1] About 20 years later on 1 October 1247, in consultation with Dominican theologians Cardinal Hugh of Saint Cher and Bishop William of Tortosa,[2] Pope Innocent IV revised the Rule slightly in the decree Quae Honorem to reflect the realities of the mendicant and monastic life to which the original hermits had been forced to adapt due to the threat of Muslim attacks in Palestine.
In Europe the Carmelites were recognised as a mendicant order and monasteries, or "Carmels" as they are called, were founded.
[4] The Rule states that it is fundamental for a Carmelite to "live a life in allegiance to Jesus Christ – how, pure in heart and stout in conscience, must be unswerving in the service of the Master" (no.