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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

  • Writer: Lo Palm
    Lo Palm
  • Jul 16
  • 6 min read

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel!


Today is celebrated as the feast day because Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock on July 16th in the year 1251. St. Simon was the 6th Superior General of the Carmelites in Aylesford, England. We can find Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, overlooking the modern-day city of Haifa. Mount Carmel is a biblical place where the prophet Elijah dwelt.


When our Lady appeared to St. Simon, she appeared holding the Child Jesus in one arm and the Brown Scapular in the other hand. She said, "Take, beloved son, this scapular of the order as a badge of my confraternity and for you and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of the covenant".


Ever since then, the title “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” and the scapular have been inseparably linked.


While this is the only apparition in this “set” of apparitions that we have record of, saints and the Church have and Heaven itself has made countless references to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and her scapular in apparitions since:


  1. The Blessed Virgin’s last appearance at Lourdes was on July 16, 1858, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. During the final apparition at Fatima, October 13, 1917 when the “miracle of the sun” occurred, Our Lady first appeared as she had been appearing to the three shepherd children with her sorrowful heart exposed. And then she appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel with the scapular hanging from her right hand. She also appeared as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with the scapular in her apparitions at Garabandal.

  2. “One day through the rosary and the scapular, Our Lady will save the world.” - St. Dominic

  3. “The Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable… All Catholics should wear the Scapular as part of the Fatima message.” - Servant of God Lucia Dos Santos

  4. "May they all see in this Keepsake of the Virgin herself a Mirror of humility and purity; may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; above all, may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day and night, the eloquently expressive symbol of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally, may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most Sacred heart of the Immaculate Virgin." - Pope Pius XII

  5. "Let the faithful hold in high esteem the practices and devotions to the Blessed Virgin … the Rosary and the Scapular of Carmel.” - Pope Paul VI

  6. "The rosary is your weapon and the scapular is your armor."


If you’ve never seen or heard of a scapular it is kind of necklace-like in the sense that it is worn around the neck, and has two little pieces of fabric, one in the front that rests on your chest and one in the back that rests on your back, both attached by a thin little rope or fabric cord.  Some of them say things on them, some have images, some are just blank.


The wearing of the Scapular fosters a true devotion to Mary that is based on her supernatural mission in the redemption of mankind. Two Marian doctrines are proposed in the devotion of the Brown Scapular: 1. Mary's Spiritual Maternity and 2. her Mediation of Grace. The Scapular teaches a practical confidence in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin to obtain for its wearer the grace of final perseverance, or a happy death. This reliance on Mary's intercession for the gift of final perseverance derives historically from our Blessed Mother's promise to St. Simon Stock, that all who die wearing the Scapular will not suffer the eternal flames of hell. This has since become known as the "Scapular promise." There are a few general conditions to obtain this benefit:

  1. One must honor Mary by wearing the Scapular faithfully until death

  2. Recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary OR pray the rosary daily

  3. Endeavor sincerely to lead a Christian life

  4. Have a priest pray the Blessing of Investiture over you and your scapular (once this blessing is done, it does not need to be done again)


Here is a pdf of the Blessing of Investiture - Simply print the PDF and take it to your priest and voila!


If you don’t have one already, scapulars can be purchased at your local Catholic bookstore or online and come in all shapes and sizes. Many have words and an image of our Blessed mother on them, but there is no requirement for your scapular to have anything on it... the only necessity is that it has the little square of official brown wool on the side against your skin on both the front piece and the back piece. This wool is important because it’s what makes the scapular Carmelite- it is made of the same wool as the habits that the Carmelites wear, therefore symbolizing kind of like being an “honorary” Carmelite, with a devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel like that of a Carmelite religious.


The “original” or the first scapular is the brown scapular as given by Our Lady to St. Simon, but there are also now other colors associated with other devotions. During the Middle Ages, lay people wanted to associate themselves with religious orders, so they formed confraternities. Because large wool work aprons of the religious were impractical to wear for the average lay person, many began wearing these necklace type scapulars like that of our Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to show their association with a confraternity or devotion. Some additional church approved scapulars are the white scapular of the holy Trinity, showing a consecration to the blessed Trinity, the scapular of St. Joseph showing a consecration to St. Joseph, the green scapular of the Immaculate Heart of Mary symbolizing an intention for conversion of a loved one, the purple scapular for protection during the great chastisement of the end times, the red scapular of the Passion to be worn on Friday’s for an increase of faith, hope, and charity, and many more.


As you can imagine, Our Lady and her brown scapular have had quite a long time to rack up miracles, so the list of documented miracles is well, less of a list and more of a book, but worth the Google search if you have time! The amount of conversions due to one agreeing to wear the scapular is incredible. One miracle that I thought was cool was…


In France, the following was reported: As the town of Montpellier was in a state of siege, in 1622, there occurred a miracle in the sight of the entire army and under the eyes of the King of France, Louis XIII. In a general assault, one of his officers, Champrond De Beauregard, received a bullet wound in the chest. The wound should have been fatal, but the bullet, after piercing the clothing, flattened out against the Scapular, without doing the least bit of harm to the officer… the scapular is truly Our Lady’s armor.


It is certainly easy with devotions such as the scapular to get caught up in the specifics or promises, so I’d like to share this beautiful reminder and summary of the scapular that I read in one of my research articles: "The scapular is a garment that we wear as both a sign of our belonging to Mary and pledge of her maternal protection in this life and the next. It is also a sign of three entwined elements: a) belonging to the Carmelite ‘family,’ b) consecration to and trust in Mary, and c) an incentive to imitate Our Lady’s virtues, especially her humility, chastity, and prayerfulness.”


One of the beautiful things about the scapular is that it is a silent prayer- after the initial enrollment blessing, there are no long daily prayers or written devotions to be said- the prayer is simply wearing it, simply being reminded every time you see it that you are wearing the armor of Our Lady, that you are hers and her protection is yours. It is also said that in times of need, you should grab your scapular as you pray and hold onto it as if you were a little child grabbing the hand of our mother...


Watch this reflection in video form here:


SOURCES


 
 
MARIAN SATURDAYS
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