OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL PATRON SAINT
Invoked for a Special Sabbathine Privilege
Feast Day: July 16
“Whosoever dies clothed in this [Scapular] shall never suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger, a pledge of peace and of My special protection until the end of the ages.”– Our Lady of Mount Carmel to St. Simon Stock, 1251
On July 16, 1251, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to St. Simon Stock, the Superior General of the Carmelite Order, and gave him the Brown Scapular. Assuring him of Her special protection over the Order, She directed him to institute a confraternity of the faithful dedicated to Her service and wearing Her designated habit, whose members would likewise experience Her unfailing solicitude for their salvation.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid 13th Centuries. They built a chapel in the midst of their hermitages, which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they called “Lady of the Place”.
Since the 15th Century, popular devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel has centered on the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also known as the Brown Scapular. It is a Sacramental associated with promises of Mary’s special aid for the salvation of the devoted wearer. The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is know by most Catholic Faithful as the “Scapular Feast” associated with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Brown Scapular is a devotional Sacramental signifying the wearer’s consecration to Mary and affiliation with the Carmelite Order.
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as well as that of St. Simon Stock came under scrutiny after Vatican II, due to historical uncertainties, and today – neither St. Simon Stock or the Brown Scapular are a part of the Liturgies, even in the Carmelite proper, and does not make reference to the Brown Scapular.
According to the ways in which the Church has intervened at various times to clarify the meaning and privileges of the Brown Scapular, “The scapular is a Marian habit or garment. It is both a sign and pledge. A sign of belonging to Mary; a pledge of her motherly protection, not only in this life but after death. As a sign, it is a conventional sign signifying three elements strictly joined; first, belonging to a religious family particularly devoted to Mary, especially dear to Mary, the Carmelite Order; second, consecration to Mary, devotion to and trust in her Immaculate Heart; third an incitement to become like Mary by imitating her virtues, above all her humility, chastity, and spirit of prayer”.
That privilege appears in the Decree of the Holy Office (1613), and later was inserted in its entirety into the list of the indulgences and privileges of the Confraternity of the Scapular of Mount Carmel. Today, the Carmelite Orders, while encouraging a belief in Mary's general aid and “prayerful assistance for their souls beyond death and commending devotion to Mary especially on Saturdays which are dedicated to her, explicitly state in their official catechetical materials that they do not promulgate the Sabbatine privilege, and are at one with official Church teaching on the matter”.
