On July 16, the Church will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which commemorates the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251.
During the vision, the Blessed Virgin revealed to Saint Simon the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, popularly known as the "Brown Scapular."
The feast celebrates the devotion that the Blessed Virgin Mary has to those who are devoted to her, and who signal that devotion by wearing the Brown Scapular. According to tradition, those who wear the scapular faithfully and remain devoted to the Blessed Virgin until death will be granted the grace of final perseverance and be delivered from Purgatory early. It is still the custom in many parishes to enroll the faithful in the Brown Scapular on the day of the feast (or on the Sunday closest to it).
As we prepare for the feast, I have chosen a Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel as our novena of the week. (To end the novena on the day before the feast, begin praying the Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 7.) This prayer is a particularly popular (and powerful) novena, and many Catholics pray it every day throughout the year. After the novena is over, you might consider making it part of your own daily prayers.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
(A statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding the brown scapular and the Christ Child, at the National Padre Pio Center in Barto, PA. Photo © flickr user jcapaldi; licensed under Creative Commons Some Rights Reserved)
The Sabbatine Privilege you speak about is no longer supported. There is no historical fact for it. It is not a magical charm or superstition. According to the Carmelite Order, no one except God can guarantee what His judgement will be on the particular person. There is a Catchisis out on it authored by Father Patrick, McMahon, OCarm and Father Anthony Mello, OCD. It is recommended to be reviewed. According to a former Prior General of the Order, If you misuse the Scapular can you probably not count on Mary’s protection from God but only Mercy. However, everything else about the Scapular is true on Mary’s support, Protection, given you are in the state of Grace and follow the basic Carmelite Spirituality and Church requirements, and love for consistently wearing her “garment”.
On whose authority are you sopeaking. Either MAry delivered the scapular with promises or she didn’t. It can’t be half true
On the Carmelite Order’s authority. The one who puts out the Brown Scapular. See the Cathechesis for the Brown Scapular. It’s history and fact has been well researched.
“What is the official status of the Sabbatine Privilege?
Historical research has shown that the alleged fourteenth-century appearance of the Blessed Mother to Pope John XXII is without historical foundation. As a matter of fact, in the year 1613 the Holy See determined that the decree establishing the “Sabbatine Privilege” was unfounded and the Church admonished the Carmelite Order not to preach this doctrine. Unfortunately, the Order did not always comply with this directive of the Holy See.
At the time the Carmelites were instructed to stop mentioning the “Sabbatine Privilege” the Holy See acknowledged that the faithful may devoutly believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary by her continuous intercession, merciful prayers, merits, and special protection will assist the souls of deceased brothers and sisters and members of the confraternity, especially on Saturday, the day which the church dedicates to the Blessed Virgin.
Consistent with the Catholic tradition, such favors associated with the wearing of the Brown Scapular would be meaningless without the wearers living and dying in the state of grace, observing chastity according to their state in life, and living a life of prayer and penitence. The promises traditionally tied to the scapular offer us what the Second Vatican Council says about the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “By her maternal love, Mary cares for the brothers and sisters of her Son, who still make their earthly journey surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led to their happy fatherland.”
The New Order Carmelite Order of Vatican II? I would put all my trust and stock in that…..Wear the Brown Scapular..Say the Traditional Rosary..not the Illuminati Version….and rely on the intercession of Mary and the Mercy of her Son.
Of course Mary made those promises. More lack of faith thanks to Vatican 2.
As soon as you quoted Vatican 2 you lost all credibility.
Just another case of revisionist history. St. Simon Stock was hallucinating no doubt. The further away in time you get from an event, the more credible are the original accounts.
You have reversed that so that a council in the 1960′s knows more about what happened than St. Simon Stock.
Why would anyone wear the scapular if not for ALL the promises Mary made.
Pray for faith son.
I don’t wear the scapular because of the sabatine privlages. I wear it as my armor against evil, just as my rosary is my weopon against of evil. However, I will accept all graces from God for wearing it, whether it is a shortened purgatory or any other gift from God. I do not focus on that. It is a gift from God through Mary. That is all I need to know.
I believe that Fr. Anthony Mello, really d’Mello, has done irreparable damage to the faith with his “illuminati”….and he is all you can get for spiritual reading everywhere I went in Latin America and his ilk.
We are a faith that must be rooted on Truth, and we can make this Truth relevant and lived in the present moment without thinking we have the brightest brain and re-invent the faith.
Please think this through……..jhankok
The problem is there are *two* priests named Father Anthony D’Mello: one is a good Carmelite, the other is a Liberation Theology heretic. You gotta look close to see which one you’re dealing with. The good one I think uses his middle name (?)
–St Simon Stock was told by the Virgin in 1251 that anybody who died wearing the scapular would not go to Hell. If a person superstitiously wears the scapular while leading a sinful life, thinking it has power to save them from deserved punishment for unrepented sin, you may be sure circumstances will ensure that the scapular is removed from their body before death.
St Simon Stock did NOT invent the idea of the Sabbatine privilege, which purportedly said that “Our Lady would deliver wearers of the scapular from Purgatory on the first Saturday after death.”
–This misrepresentation occurred in a spurious (forged) papal bull centuries after the granting of the scapular — The Carmelite Order (in its two branches, O. Carm. and OCD) is the custodian of the Scapular, and the two branches jointly put out a very fine recent booklet on the theology of the scapular which takes it back to the original teaching on this sacramental, which is actually the very same before as after Vatican II.
Ignore the “New” ideas coming from so called “enlightened catholics”. When I attend mass I still use my missal from 1957. Strange how vatican II uses some of these same prayers and call it Up dated or modern. Most of the new prayers are so STERILE in meaning and also the watering down of the Sabatine privilege . Afriend of mine who is secretary to the auxilary bishop of Chicago says the sabatine privilege is still in force regardless what this so called catholic says. Don’t believe what you read with these so called enlightened ones say. Trust in our Lord and Lady and the “official magesterium” of the church. THATS ALL YOU NEED!!
jlhancock: your tone is so “academic-secular”! Who cares about the exact historical provenance or lack thereof of Simon Stock’s visions or the vision of Pope John XXII in year 1312? It has always been understood that wearing the scapular as if it were an amulet will get you nowhere while wearing it as a “habit” signifying one’s commitment to living out the christian life in allegiance to Mary and therefore to Jesus, will get you to the hoped for destination…And “historical proof” or not, if anyone really lives out his/her life in allegiance to Mary, it should not surprise anyone that Mary’s intercesdion would result in the admission into Heaven the next Saturday after death! I wish Christians would stop sounding like pedantic secular academes!
I prayed this novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel never know to fail for 3 day and publish it and it will be granted to you Thank you Mount Carmel
Oh, most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven. Blessed Mother of the Son of God; Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.
Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me you are my Mother.
Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. (Mention your request here).
There are none that can withstand your power.
Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3x).
Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands. (3x). Amen.
Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then you must publish it and it will be granted to you.
Oh, most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven. Blessed Mother of the Son of God; Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me you are my Mother. Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in my necessity. (F F and R F D O A). There are none that can withstand your power.
Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3 times).
Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands. (3 times).
Amen.
Oh, most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven. Blessed Mother of the Son of God; Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.
Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me you are my Mother.
Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. (Mention your request here).
There are none that can withstand your power.
Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3x).
Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands. (3x). Amen.
Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then you must publish it and it will be granted to you.