One of my favorite
images of Mary is that of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. She is depicted wearing a beautiful
crown, holding Jesus, and offering the scapular. I have this statue in my home
and it brings me much comfort and grace. The story of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is
most interesting. I have chosen a few selections from various web sites to put
the story together for you.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s…devotion is connected with the roots of the Carmelite Order. In the
thirteenth century, crusaders, fighting to free the Holy Land from Turkish
control, realized at the foot of Mount Carmel that the first and constant
battle for the Church is spiritual. Laying their arms and armor at the foot of
the mountain, they ascended it to live a life of prayer, solitude, and
apostolic zeal. They followed in spirit of the Prophet Elijah, who, on that
very mountain a millennia before, not only defeated the enemies of God, and
returned the people of Israel to worship of the one true God, but also, as
tradition tells us, revered the women who would one day be the future mother of
the God. These former crusaders first called themselves the Brothers of our
Lady of Mount Carmel, for they loved and served Mary with all the chivalry in
their hearts as their Queen and Sister. As Jesus’ disciples, they wanted to
love Mary with the same filial affection Jesus did during His life on earth.
They also consecrated themselves to Our Lady and sought to imitate Mary as
their ideal of the one who lived silence, solitude, poverty, and especially
close intimacy with Jesus.
Not only is Mary Queen of Carmel, but also the Beauty and Flower of
Carmel, the Flos Carmeli. In Mary's perfect yes, the Church sees itself brought
to perfection. Her splendid purity and loving humility adorn the Church in the
eyes of her Divine Spouse. So Mary gives her own beauty to the order of Carmel.
Carmelites rely on Mary, their Mother, to bestow on them her own virtue and
merit. By her scapular, Mary clothes her children in Carmel with her very self.http://www.carmelitedcj.org/saints/m_m_carmel.asp
Where did the Brown Scapular originate?
A scapular was a form of working clothing worn by
monks. It draped over both shoulders and hung down the front and back of the
wearer. The name derives from the shoulder bone, or scapula. Over time the
scapular took on symbolic meanings, such as the carrying of the cross of
Christ. Among Carmelites the scapular grew to be seen as a symbol of their
dedication to Mary, as an expression of trust in her motherly protection, and
as a desire to be like her in her commitment to Christ and to others. In
the Middle Ages a part of the habit of some Religious Orders, a cord
or scapular for example, was sometimes given to lay persons to express their
association with that Order through membership in a lay group such as a
confraternity or sodality. Among Carmelites a small version of the friars’
brown scapular was given as a sign of the lay person’s association with the
Carmelites and their spirituality. Thus the Brown Scapular is
essentially a “habit”, as John Paul II has said, of the Carmelite Order. http://www.rc.net/lansing/ctk/carmelites/ocds1.htm
The Story of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel
On July 16, 1251, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock,
the Father of the Carmelite Order, and presented him with the Scapular. St.
Simon's story began as an English hermit that lived in the hollow of a tree. He
received the name "stock" because he lived in the hollowed trunk or
stock of a tree. In time he would become a Carmelite and later the Father
General of the order. He led the order during a time of great struggle. The
Carmelites in the beginning were hermits on Mount Carmel, near Nazareth in the Holy
Land. When they migrated to Europe, in this case England, some decided to no
longer be hermits and instead became friars who would work among the people.
St. Simon guided them through this state of transition. In the year 1251 a
miraculous vision took place. St. Simon Stock, newly transplanted to England,
prayed fervently to Our Lady for Her help. Then: To him appeared the Blessed
Virgin with a multitude of angels, holding the Scapular of the order in her
blessed hands...
Our Lady gave St. Simon a scapular for the Carmelites
with the following promise, saying : Receive, My beloved son, this habit of thy
order: this shall be to thee and to all Carmelites a privilege, that whosoever
dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire .... It shall be a sign of
salvation, a protection in danger, and a pledge of peace. Another important
aspect of wearing the Scapular is the Sabbatine Privilege. This concerns a
promise made by Our Lady to Pope John XXII. In a papal letter he issued, he
recounted a vision that he had had. He stated that the Blessed Virgin had said
to him in this vision, concerning those who wear the Brown Scapular: "I,
the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and
whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free, so that I may lead them to
the holy mountain of life everlasting."
Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel
O Most Blessed and Immaculate Virgin, ornament and beauty
of Mount Carmel, thou who beholdest with thy special kindness those who wear
thy blessed Scapular, look lovingly upon me, and cover me with the mantle of
thy motherly protection. Fortify my weakness with thy power, enlighten the
darkness of my understanding with thy wisdom, increase Faith, Hope and Charity
in me, adorn my soul with the graces and virtues that will make me pleasing to
thee and thy divine Son. Assist me during my life, and console me at the hour
of my death and present me to the most blessed Trinity as thy devoted servant,
to praise and bless thee in heaven forever. Amen.
Is this superstition?
Do those who wear the scapular do so in the belief that no matter what they do
in life they will not go to hell? I hope not. Mary does not promote magic.
Think about it. If you are covered in the front by a badge of God, and covered
in the back by a badge of God, don’t you think you just might find yourself “clothed
in God”? Won’t He be leading you onto the right path, and protecting your back
from danger? Someone once asked me why I wear a Miraculous Medal. I said that
Mary leads, and I follow. It is a reminder that on my own, I will fall off the
straight and narrow. The wearing of the Scapular does the same thing. Worn over
the shoulder (scapula bone) it keeps us reminded of the cross Jesus carried and
of the devotion of His Mother as He did so. If we will be spared the fires of
hell, it is because we are clothed in grace all our lives, constantly reminded
of why we even exist.
