The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

“The most favoured Marian Devotion in Heaven”

REGÍNA decor Carméli, ora pro nobis.
O QUEEN, who art the beauty of Carmel, pray for us.
300 days, trad. Indulgence

Devoutly kissing the Brown Scapular:
500 days, trad.

The reader is assuredly wearing his Brown Scapular of Carmel — seldom removing it — being astutely wise to the promise given St. Simon Stock by the Queen of Heaven herself, that “Whosoever dies in this garment shall not suffer eternal fire.”

At the Miracle of the Sun (Fatima, 13th October, 1917) the Blessed Virgin, identifying herself as Our Lady of the Rosary, held out to the young shepherd children a Brown Scapular, appearing subsequently as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In 1949 Sr. Lúcia dos Santos remarked that “The scapular and the Rosary are inseparable. The scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady” and in 1950 that “Our Lady wants all to wear the scapular.”

St. Dominic, to whom Our Lady first entrusted the Holy Rosary and who subsequently preached on nothing else, is himself known to have prophesied that “One day through the Rosary and the Scapular she will save the World.”

The Scapular is a silent prayer, in perpetuity, to the Holy Mother of God, so long as it remains in situ around the neck — not draped over the bed-head, discarded on a door-handle or slipped into one’s brassiere — it must be worn and be worn worthily. Our Lady is quoted as saying: “Wear the Scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is My garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of Me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life” and this can be reasoned as the axiom via which an increase in super-natural grace flows, unto salvation, to those who wear faithfully Our Lady’s most venerable livery, the Brown Scapular of Carmel.

The renowned Jesuit St. Claude de la Colombiere (spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and noted promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart) regarded the faithful wearing of the Scapular as the Marian devotion most favoured in heaven: “I say without a moments hesitation that the Brown Scapular is the most favoured of all!” and further that “No devotion has been confirmed by more numerous authentic miracles than the Brown Scapular” (see earlier links). He argued, strenuously, on the efficacy of devotion to the Brown Scapular, declaring that “If a person wants to die in his sins, he will die in his sins, but he will not die wearing the Brown Scapular.” That is, one will either stop sinning or else one will cease wearing the Scapular and stories aboundstories abound not only of miracles attributable to the Brown Scapular but, also, of it loosing itself from reprobates who desire neither repentance nor improvement of life.

The astute reader will be familiar with the promise of the Sabbatine Privilege (i.e. liberation from Purgatory on the Saturday following one’s death) which applies only — and only — when the following conditions have been assiduously fulfilled:
• The faithful wearing of the Scapular; and
• Chastity in one’s state of life; and
• The unwavering daily recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which in practise is typically commuted by one’s confessor to five (5) decades of the Holy Rosary* (daily) and which has long been the norm; or instead of this:
• The observance of all Church’s fasts and in addition the abstinence from flesh meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays, excluding Christmas Day (however there is some uncertainty as to whether this condition is applicable only for the illiterate or simple-minded who can not sensibly recite the aforementioned).

The authenticity of the Sabbatine Privilege is attributed to John XXII and it has been explicitly confirmed and re-affirmed by popes and saints throughout the ages, amongst them: Clement VII, St. Pius V, Gregory XIII, Paul V, and St. Pius X.

In 1870 a Belgian monastic, Sr. Mary Seraphine, after an on-going sense of dolorous haunting (which included an invisible pulling at her Scapular), was visited by her recently deceased father, who appeared enveloped in flames, and implored the mercy of her prayers. He attested: “Oh, if only people would know what purgatory is! They would suffer everything in order to escape it and to release the poor souls confined in it.” Turning to his own circumstance, he continued: “At first I was sentenced to purgatory for many years; and I owe it to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin that my time was reduced to a few months” (which he nevertheless compared to an ‘eternity’).

Directed by her confessor, Sr. Seraphine subsequently asked her father whether the intensity of torment in purgatory surpassed the sufferings of the martyrs, to which he replied “It is but too true.” She enquired further as to whether members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel are released on the first Saturday after their death (i.e. those who honour the promise of the Sabbatine Privilege), to which he answered: “Yes, if they have faithfully fulfilled all the conditions” (see Hungry Souls, TAN Books).

In his oft repeated sermon, “The Little Number of Those Who are Saved”, St. Leonard of Port Maurice spoke on the frightful number of Catholics who lose their souls. This holy Franciscan friar preached to thousands at a time as hordes were drawn to his brilliant and eloquent insights. He was devoted to the Holy Mother of God and in his preaching contributed much to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (not yet formally declared until some hundred years after his death). In this disturbing sermon, which can be readily found, he relates the narrative of St. Vincent Ferrer (that great saint responsible for thousands upon thousands of the most incredible miracles that he is given the moniker ‘the 13th Apostle’ and depicted with the flaming tongue of Pentecost above his head) regarding an archdeacon from Lyons who died on the same day and in the same hour as St. Bernard of Clairveau. This archdeacon appeared to his bishop with the dire message “Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, 33,000 people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went to heaven without delay, three (3) went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell.”

Worse still, the saint continues, one of his brother friars preaching in Germany gave such forceful expression to the ugliness of sins of impurity that a faithful hand-maiden of the Lord fell dead on the spot. Returning to life, presumably to relate what she had just then encountered, she forthwith proclaimed: “When I was presented before the Tribunal of God, 60,000 people arrived at the same time from all parts of the world; out of that number, three (3) were saved by going to Purgatory, and all the rest were damned.”

“You sinners”, admonishes St. Leonard, “are listening to me, in what category will you be numbered? What do you say? What do you think?”

Our Blessed Mother has promised that those who pray faithfully her psalter, the holy Rosary* (i.e. daily) will not perish, and that those who die in her Scapular, having worn it faithfully (i.e. worthily & always), will not suffer eternal hell-fire; and these promises are intimated in Scriptural passages that Holy Church attributes as alluding directly to the Blessed Virgin:

Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord. But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death. (Prov. 8:32-36)

I am the Mother of Fair Love. In me is all grace of the Way and of the Truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. My memory is unto everlasting generations. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.
I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age. See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth. (Sirach 24:24-31;46-47)

 

* It would be very wise to regard this as pertaining only to the traditional & authentic fifteen (15) Mysteries. There is absolutely no reason to regard the promises attached to the Rosary, and by extension the Sabbatine Privilege, extend beyond those original 15 Mysteries given us by the Queen of Heaven herself; indeed, there are numerous to think otherwise.

Traditional Prayer to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel or of the Brown Scapular:

O ALL Blessed, Immaculate Virgin, ornament and glory of Mount Carmel, thou who dost look with most gracious countenance on those who have been clothed in thy venerable livery, look kindly also on me and take me under the mantle of the maternal protection. Strengthen my weakness with thy might; increase in me faith, hope and charity. So adorn my soul with graces and virtues that it may be always dear to thy divine Son and thee.

Assist me during life, comfort me in death with thy most sweet presence, and present me as thy child and faithful servant to the most Holy Trinity, that I may be enabled to praise and extol thee in heaven forevermore. Amen.

Ave Maria .. (x3), Gloria Patri ..

(500 days, trad.)

Intercessory Prayer to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

O MOST beautiful Flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O star of the sea, help me and show me herein thou art my mother.

O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech thee from the bottom of my heart to succour me in this necessity:

~ mention request ~

There are none that can withstand thy power. O show me herein thou art my mother. Amen.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (x3)

Sweet Mother, I place this cause in thy hands. (x3)

Mother and ornament of Carmel, pray for us.
Virgin, Flower of Carmel, pray for us.
Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us.
Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, pray for us.

St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.
St. Joseph, chaste spouse of Mary, pray for us.
St. Joseph, our patron, pray for us.

O Sweet Heart of Mary, be our salvation!

Litany of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

KYRIE, eleison.
Christe, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison.

Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of heaven, ~ have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, ~
God, the Holy Ghost, ~
Holy Trinity, One God, ~

Holy Mary, pray for us.

Queen of Heaven, * Our Lady of Mt Carmel, pray for us sinners.
Victorious over Satan, *
Most obedient Daughter, *
Most pure Virgin, *
Devoted Spouse, *
Mother most tender, *
Model of perfect virtue, *
Sure anchor of hope, *
Refuge in sorrow, *
Dispensatrix of the gifts of God, *
Bastion against our enemies, *
Our aid in danger, *
The way leading to Jesus, *
Our light in darkness, *
Our consolation at the hour of death, *
Advocate of the most abandoned sinners, *
For the hardened in vice, *
For those who offend thy divine Son, *
For those who neglect to pray, *
For those who are in [their] agony, *
For those who defer their conversion, *
For those suffering in purgatory, *
For those who do not know thee, *

Let us pray.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, glorious Queen of Angels, channel of God’s tenderest mercy to man, refuge and advocate of sinners, with confidence I prostrate myself before thee, beseeching thee to obtain for me

~ mention your request, silently ~

In return I solemnly promise to have recourse to thee in all my trials, sufferings and temptations, and I shall do all in my power to induce others to love and reverence thee and to invoke thee in all their needs. I thank thee for the numberless blessings which I have received from thy mercy and powerful intercession. Continue to be my shield in danger, my guide in life, and my consolation at the hour of death. Amen.

 

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