The origin, privileges and blessings of the Brown Scapular

By a Carmelite Nun   |   17 July 2024

From Novena in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Boston Carmel, 1931).

The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel consists of two small pieces of brown woollen cloth connected by two cords made of wool, cotton thread, etc. The word “scapular” is derived from the Latin scapulae — “shoulders” — because it is intended to hang suspended from the shoulders. It is also called the “little habit of the Blessed Virgin”. Many of the religious orders wear a scapular the colour of their habits, but to none has Heaven granted the special privileges and prerogatives that have been so lavishly showered upon the one of Mount Carmel.

The Confraternity Scapular, the small one worn by the faithful in general, traces its origin to the famous apparition of the Virgin Mother of God to St Simon Stock, the sixth Latin General of the Order. It took place 16 July 1251, at Cambridge, in England, although, centuries previous there existed a Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on the holy mountain bearing this name in Palestine, as there are records extant showing that Pope Leo IV, in 847, granted indulgences to the then existing Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Our Lady’s Confraternity is hence the most ancient of all sodalities of the kind, as it is also the one which has been the most favoured by Heaven, by the Blessed Virgin herself, and by the Holy See. No less than thirty Pontiffs have accorded to it privileges and indulgences of exceptional favour.

A new glory, however, was added to the Confraternity on 16 July 1251, when the Queen of Heaven appeared to her devout servant, St Simon Stock. For a long time, this holy monk had been imploring the Mother of God to take the cause of her Order into her own hands, as it was, at the time, undergoing a storm of opposition from the world without.

“O Mary,” said he, “show us that you are our Mother; you are our hope in the midst of storms, our shield in combats, our refuge and salvation. O Virgin Most Holy! Give me a sign of your predilection for your Order of Carmel, which will astonish our adversaries and confound our detractors.” And with fervent accents he addressed to her that beautiful prayer, Flos Carmeli, so dear to the heart of the Queen of Heaven.

The confidence and perseverance of this Elias-like Saint could not but win the favourable regard of the Queen of Carmel, who appeared to him with the Infant Jesus in her arms, surrounded by a multitude of celestial spirits, holding in her hands the Scapular of the Order, which she presented to him, saying: 

“Receive, my beloved son, this Scapular of thy Order as the distinctive sign of my Confraternity; it is a token of the privileges I have obtained for thee, and for all the children of Carmel; whoever dies piously wearing this Scapular shall be preserved from eternal flames. It is a sign of salvation, a sure safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of my special protection until the end of ages.”

This took place under the Pontificate of Innocent IV, and before the Blessed Virgin disappeared from the raptured gaze of St Simon Stock, she directed him to go to the feet of the Vicar of her Divine Son and announce these magnificent promises in behalf of her children, assuring the saint that Innocent would remedy the persecutions then existing against the Order.

The truth of this vision has been magnificently ratified by the learned Pope Benedict XIV, not to speak of the bulls and decrees of Innocent IV, John XXII, Urban VI, Alexander V, Clement VII, Sixtus V, Paul V, etc., who granted many indulgences. The learned Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmine composed new lessons for the Office, and the Mass of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, when its obligation was extended to the universal Church by Paul V; nor [could] the Feast be transferred to the Sunday following without a special indult. The doctors of the most celebrated universities of Europe, the saints of all the religious orders, the pious kings, queens and princesses of all nations, the religious authors of all centuries, have been happy in making known the praise of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the prerogatives of her Scapular.

Some fifty years after the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St Simon Stock, she appeared to Pope John XXII, extending her maternal solicitude still further, even to the other life, in promising him she would assist and console the children of Carmel detained in Purgatory, and also speedily release them on the first Saturday after their death. This consoling privilege of a speedy deliverance was made by the Blessed Virgin in the following words: 

“John, Vicar of my Son, you are indebted to me for the high dignity to which you have been elevated by my solicitations with my Son for you, and as I have delivered you from the snares of your adversaries, I expect from you an entire and favourable confirmation of the holy Order of the Carmelites, which had its birth on Mount Carmel, and who are the descendants of Elias and Eliseus; they have always been singularly devout to me, and if any of the religious or wearers of my Scapular leave this present life to expiate their sins in Purgatory, I will, as their tender Mother, descend in their midst to Purgatory on the Saturday after their death; I will deliver those I find there, and will bring them to the holy mountain in the happy sojourn of life eternal.”

For a participation in the first privilege, that of a good death or exemption from eternal doom, a person should duly receive the Scapular from a priest, wear it devoutly over the shoulders and have it on particularly at the hour of death.

For as said, the Blessed Virgin, in presenting the Scapular to St Simon Stock, announced that it was a “sign of Salvation”, but Our Lady’s words are to be understood that this sacred pledge of her protection is a means leading and assisting thereto. Hence, to be the recipient of her favour and promises, it is essentially requisite to live in conformity with the precepts or the Holy Church, to wear it devoutly, that is, lead a pure life and make efforts to imitate the virtues of the Immaculate Queen of Heaven. Some may, however, be inclined to say, “Why, if I lead a pure and holy life I can be saved without the Scapular, why encumber myself with it if I am already on the road to Heaven?” But it must be remarked that the graces received through the Scapular, the special protection you will enjoy as being one of the chosen fold of Mary, will better enable you to keep the heart pure from deliberate sins and to lead a holy life. Millions of saved souls might have been in hell today but for this “sign of salvation”. 

Number, if you can, the death-bed conversions it has brought about, for every true Catholic knows that the Blessed Virgin has marvellous and providential ways of obtaining the salvation of her children engendered at the foot of the Cross and redeemed at the cost of the Precious Blood of her Divine Son. All wonder whence the mysterious grace of repentance, and soon they learn its channel — the Scapular. But no one should rely with presumptive confidence on this extraordinary intervention of the Most Blessed Virgin, whom the Church beautifully styles the “Refuge of Sinners”, but strive to make their election sure, as the Apostle says, by the practice of virtue, so as to merit the powerful protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the hour of death, for St Bernard says, “All graces flow to us through the hands of Mary, and no one having recourse to her protection is refused succour.”

To enjoy the second privilege, called the Sabbatine bull, it is obligatory, in addition to the foregoing conditions, to observe chastity according to one’s state, and, if able to read, to recite daily the Office of the Blessed Virgin according to the Roman Breviary. (The Canonical Office of the Church fulfils the condition for priests and those bound to say it, if the intention is directed to this end.) But, if the person is unable to say the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it can be commuted by one who has special faculties for this purpose (Decree, 22 June 1842), in which case, the person must observe the fasts of the Church, and abstain from flesh-meat on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but if this likewise be impossible, a confessor, who has the faculties as above, can commute for some other pious work.