July 16 - Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel (or Our Lady of Mount Carmel) is one of the various names of the Virgin Mary. Its name comes from Mount Carmel, in the Holy Land. Carmelite religious orders exist today throughout the world, both male and female, dedicated to this Marian figure.

In the 12th century, men chose to live as hermits in the caves of Mount Carmel, in search of God. They were inspired by the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who, according to tradition, lived in the caves of Mount Carmel. The first hermits, led by Berthold, built a chapel in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and had a singular devotion to her. They soon designated her as their patron saint. These hermits of Mount Carmel received, around 1209, a rule of life drawn up by Patriarch Albert of Jerusalem. Prayer is at the centre of this rule of life. Following the conquest of Palestine by Saladin, the hermits, during the 13th century, gradually took refuge in Europe because their safety could no longer be guaranteed in their hermitage.

At the Lateran Council of 1215, the Papacy wanted to reorganise the mendicant orders and abolished many of them, attaching them to official orders (the order of Saint Francis and the order of Saint Dominic) and threatening to abolish the order of the Carmelites. The vote on July 17, 1274 by the Council of Lyon to preserve the Carmelite order is seen by the monks as an answer of Mary to their prayers, and its special protection. They then set the date of July 17 to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as a sign of gratitude to the one who had preserved them from disappearance. The date of July 17 being in conflict with the feast of Saint Alexis, this is probably what led to the change of date to July 16, which remained the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Catholic Church.