Our Lady of Mount Carmel & The Brown Scapular

J.M.J.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

OUR LADY APPEARS TO ST. SIMON STOCK

In the year 1241, the Baron de Grey of England was returning from the Crusades in Palestine:he brought back with him a group of religious from the holy mountain of Carmel. Upon arrival, the baron generously presented the monks with a manor house in the town of Aylesford. Ten years later, in the very place, there occurred the now famous apparition of Our Lady to St. Simon Stock. As the Holy Virgin handed St. Simon the Brown Woolen Scapular she spoke these words: "This shall be the privilege for you and all Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall not suffer eternal fire." In time, the Church extended this magnificent privilege to all the laity who are willing to be invested in the Brown Scapular of the Carmelites, and who perpetually wear it.

Many Catholics are invested in the Brown Scapular at the time of their First Holy Communion; in the case of converts, the vesting concurs with their Profession of Faith. When a person is enrolled in the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular and vested in that tiny habit of brown wool, the priest says to him: Receive this blessed Scapular and ask the Most Holy Virgin that, by Her merits, it may be worn with no stain of sin and may protect you from all harm and bring you into everlasting life. The following true stories will give a brief idea of how Our Blessed Mother keeps Her promise.

TRUE STORIES:

MIRACLE OF GRACE

A priest relates how one day in a town near Chicago he was called to the bedside of a man who had been away form the Sacrament for many years. "The man did not want to see me: he would not talk. Then I asked him to look at the little Scapular I was holding. 'Will you wear this if I put this on you?' I ask nothing more. He agreed to wear it and within the hour he wanted to go to confession and make his peace with God. This did not surprise me, because for 700 years Our Lady has been working in this way through Her Scapular."

On the very day Our Lady gave the Scapular to St. Simon, he was hurriedly called by Lord Peter of Linton: "Come quickly, Father, my brother is dying in despair!" St. Simon left at once for the bedside of the dying man. Upon arrival he placed his large Scapular over the dying man, asking Our Blessed Mother to keep Her promise. Immediately the man repented, and died in the grace and friendship of God. That night the dead man appeared to his brother and said, "I have been saved through the most powerful Queen and the Habit of that man as a shield."

St. Alphonsus tell us: "Modern heretics make a mockery of wearing the Scapular, they decry it as so much trifling nonsense." Yet many of the popes have approved and recommended it.

It is remarkable that only 25 years after the Scapular vision, Blessed Pope Gregory X was buried wearing the Scapular, when his tomb was opened 600 years after his death, his Scapular was found intact.

PROTECTION AGAINST THE DEVIL

You will understand why the Devil works against those who promote the Scapular when you hear the story of Ven. Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, "Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!"

Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel. To that list we could add the Holy Rosary.

OUR LADY PROTECTS A MISSIONARY

One day in 1944, a Carmelite missionary in the Holy Land was called to an internment camp in order to give the Last Rites. The Arab driver made the priest get off the bus four miles from the camp because the road was dangerously muddy. After two miles, the missionary found his feet sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. Trying to get solid footing he slipped into a muddy pool. Sinking to his death in this desolate place, he thought of Our Lady and Her Scapular. He kissed his great Scapular -- for he was wearing the full habit -- and looked toward the holy mountain of Carmel, the birthplace of devotion to God's Mother. He cried out, "Holy Mother of Carmel! Help me! Save me!" A moment later, he found himself on solid ground. Later he said, "I know I was saved by the Blessed Virgin through Her Brown Scapular. My shoes were lost in the mud, and I was covered with it, but I walked the remaining two miles praising Mary."

A TRAIN ACCIDENT

One of the most extraordinary of all Scapular incidents took place in the United States. It happened around the turn of the century in the town of Ashtabula, Ohio, that a man was cut in two but a train; he was wearing the Scapular. Instead of dying instantly, as would be expected he remained alive and conscious for 45 minutes -- just enough time until a priest could arrive to administer the Last Sacraments. These, and other such incidents, tell us that Our Blessed Mother will take personal care of us in the hour of our death. So great and powerful a Mother is Mary that She will never fail to keep the Scapular contract, i.e. to see that we die in God's grace.

NECESSITY OF WEARING THE SCAPULAR

During the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, seven Communists were sentenced to death because of their crimes. A Carmelite priest tries to prepare the men for death; they refused. As a last resort, he brought the men cigarettes food and wine, assuring them that he would not talk religion, in a short while they were all friendly, so he asked them for one small favor: "Will you permit me to place a Scapular on each of you?" six agreed, one refused. Soon all Scapular wearers went to confession. The seventh continues to refuse. Only to please them he put on the Scapular, he would do nothing more. Morning came, and as the time of the execution came near, the seventh man made it clear that he was not going to ask for a priest. Although wearing the Scapular he was determined to go to his death an enemy of God. Finally, the command was given, the firing squad did its deadly work, and seven lifeless bodies lay sprawled in the dust. Mysteriously a Scapular was found approximat! ely 50 paces from the bodies. Six men died WITH Mary's Scapular; the seventh died Without the Scapular. St. Claude gives us the solution to the mystery of the missing Scapular: "You ask; what if I desire to die in my sins?" I answer, "Then you will die in your sins but YOU WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR SCAPULAR." St. Claude tells the story of a man who tried to drown himself three times. He was rescued against his will. At last he realized that he was wearing his Scapular. Determined to take his life, he tore the Scapular from his neck and leaped into the water. Without Mary's protective garment he accomplished his wish and died in his sins.

VATICAN APPROVAL

In wearing the Scapular at all times we make silent petition for the Blessed Mother's continual assistance. We share in all the prayers and good works of the Carmelite Scapular Confraternity throughout the world. Pope Pius XII often spoke of the Scapular. On the 700th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to St. Simon Stock, Pope Pius XII referred to the Scapular as "the sign of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary". The Scapular also represents the sweet yoke of Jesus Christ, which Mary helps us to bear. And finally, the pope continued, the Scapular marks us as one of Mary's chosen children, and becomes for us (as the Germans call it) a "Garment of Grace". St. Claude tells us, "Of all the pious practices which have inspired the faithful to honor the Mother of God, there is none so sure as that of the Scapular. No other devotion has been confirmed by so many and such extraordinary miracles."

As we mentioned above, during the Scapular Anniversary celebration in Rome in 1951, Pope Pius XII told a very large audience to wear the Brown Scapular as a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady asked for this consecration in the last apparition at Fatima, when She appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular out to the whole world. It was Her last moving appeal to souls to wear Her Scapular as a sign of consecration to Her Immaculate Heart.

A BRIEF SUMMARY

The Scapular is a habit -- Our Lady's habit. The Scapular must be worn over the shoulders in such a manner that one part hangs in front of the body and the other at the back. Worn in any other way, it carries no indulgence or promise. It is not necessary to wear the Scapular next to the skin. Many Catholics may not know it is the wish of the Holy Father the Pope, that the Scapular Medal should not be worn in place of the Cloth Scapular without sufficient reason.

Mary cannot be pleased with anyone who substitutes the medal out of vanity, or out of fear of making open profession of faith. Such persons run the risk of not receiving the Promise. The medal has never been noted for any of the miraculous preservations attributed to the Brown Cloth Scapular.

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The above are excerpts from "Garment of Grace" (http://olrl.org/books/garment_grace.shtml), an excellent 48 page booklet (English or Spanish) available from OLRL for $1.25.

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"The Rosary, The Brown Scapular and the Sabbatine Privilege" brochure for 5 cents ea. (http://olrl.org/pray/rosary.shtml).

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