The Carmelite Order has a truly remarkable
history dating back to Old Testament times and the holy prophet Elias. Dom
Gueranger reviews some of this history in his entry in The Liturigical Year that
is reproduced here. For brevity’s sake,
I include only what concerns the origin of today’s feast and the wonderful gift
of Our Lady to mankind: the Brown
Scapular, with the great blessings that have, since the thirteenth century
been ratified by the Church by many Popes, and by Our Lady again herself in her
message at Fatima. There are two major
privileges associated with the Brown Scapular. As Our Lady told St. Simon
Stock:
“Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”
And, for
those who fulfill the conditions of the Sabbatine Privilege (see below) Our
Lady’s words to Pope John XXII:
“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.”
We continue
with the account by Dom Gueranger:
In the night
between the 15th and 16th of July of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of
Carmel confirmed to Her sons by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship She
had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries; as Mistress and Mother
of the entire religious state She conferred upon them with Her queenly hands
the Scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient
religious family of the West. On giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by
contact with Her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: "Whosoever
shall die in this habit shall not suffer eternal flames." But not against
hellfire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be
felt by those who should wear Her Scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was
imploring Heaven to put an end to that long and disastrous widowhoood of the
Church, which followed on the death of Pope Clement V, the Queen of Saints
appeared to James d'Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as Pope John XXII;
She foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and
at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege She had obtained from
Her Divine Son for Her children of Carmel—viz., a speedy deliverance from
Purgatory. "I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the
Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in Purgatory I will deliver and
will bring to the mountain of life eternal." These are the words of Our
Lady Herself, quoted by Pope John XXII in the Bull which he published for the
purpose of making known the privilege, and which was called the Sabbatine Bull
on account of the day chosen by the glorious Benefactress for the exercise of
Her mercy.
The Sabbatine Privilege
The Blessed
Virgin of Mount Carmel has promised to save those who wear the scapular from
the fires of hell; She will also shorten their stay in purgatory if they should
pass from this world still owing some debt of punishment.
This promise
is found in a Bull of Pope John XXII. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him and,
speaking of those who wear the Brown Scapular, said, “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.”
The Blessed Virgin assigned certain conditions
which must be fulfilled:
1. Wear the
Brown Scapular continuously.
2. Observe chastity according to one’s state in
life (married/single).
3. Recite daily the Little Office of the Blessed
Virgin OR Observe the fasts of the Church together with abstaining from meat on
Wednesdays and Saturdays OR With permission of a priest, say five decades of
Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary OR With permission of a priest, substitute some
other good work.
Pope
Benedict XV, the celebrated World War I Pontiff, granted 500 days indulgence
for devoutly kissing your scapular.
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