March 3, 1322, John XXII’s Bull Sacratissimo uti culmine

John, Bishop and servant of the servants of God, to the faithful of Christ, collectively and individually: As though in the most sacred heights of paradise, the so sweet and charming harmony of the angels is heard while the sense of sight is also delighted and Jesus is seen adorned with the glory of His Father. For He saith: I and the Father are one … and the choir of the angels ceaseth not to say: Holy, Holy, Holy. Even so, the Assembly ceaseth not to pour forth praise to the Virgin on high; Virgin, Virgin, Virgin, be thou our mirror and example … For She is adorned with the gift of Grace, as Holy Church singeth … Mary, full of Grace and Mother of Mercy … So that hill which is reputed to the Order of Carmel, praising with song and extolling and telling of this Mother of Grace … Hail, Queen of Mercy and our hope … So, as I prayed with bended knees, the Virgin of Carmel seemed to speak to me these words: O John Vicar of my well-beloved Son, I shall snatch thee, as it were, from thy foe. Thee who art Pope, I make my Vicar for the solemn gift which I sought from My Son and have obtained by My prayers. So, it behooveth thee to grant a favor and confirmation to my holy and devout Order of Carmel, which took its rise with Elias and Eliseus on the mountain of that name. Whoso maketh profession, whoso observeth the Rule drawn up by my servant Albert the Patriarch, whoso unfailing shows obedience thereunto and to that which has been approved by my dear son Innocent, so that thou mayest accept through the Vicar of My Son on earth what My Son hath ordained in Heaven: that he who shall have persevered in holy obedience, poverty and chastity, or shall enter the Holy Order, shall be saved. And if others for the sake of devotion shall enter holy religion, bearing the sign of the Sacred Habit and calling themselves associates of either sex of my aforesaid Order, they shall be freed and absolved from a third part of their sins on what day they enter … So let the professed members of the said Order be freed from punishment and from guilt on what day they go from this world; so that with hastened step they shall pass over Purgatory, I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend into Purgatory on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory shall be free, so that I may lead them into the holy mountain of life everlasting. It is true that you brothers and sisters are bound to recite the Canonical Hours, as it behooveth according to the Rule given by Albert. Those who are ignorant must lead a life of fasting on those days on which Holy Church does ordain. Moreover, unless through some necessity they be involved in some difficulty, they must abstain from fleshmeat on Wednesday and Saturday, except on the Birthday of My Son. Now, when these words had been uttered, the sacred vision departed …