Recently, a friend was asking about scapulars. I myself haven’t been very good about wearing mine the last couple years, but after re-reading all the information about it, I just pulled mine out and put it back on!
A few years back, while we were in Nebraska for one of my Brother-in-laws ordinations, we visited the Carmelite nuns. While we were there, we purchased a beautiful little booklet called Garment of Grace. I have been looking everywhere for it, but I can’t find it! It had several amazing stories of miracles attributed to the Brown scapular in addition to quotes from saints & popes. There is also a version written for Children.
Anyway, here is a little bit of information on the Brown Scapular:
Back in the year 1251, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite, in the town of Aylesford in England. She handed him a brown woolen scapular and said,
“Take, beloved son this scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity and for thee and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of the covenant”.
The Roman Catholic Church extended this wonderful privilege to all the laity who are willing to be invested in the Brown Scapular of the Carmelites and who perpetually wear it.Any priest may bless and enroll a person in the Brown Scapular. On the Sunday closest to the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, one of our local priests will do enrollments after Mass and he hands out scapulars to whomever wishes to be enrolled, or needs a new one. Our children have all been enrolled as babies and, as soon as they are old enough, they start to wear their scapulars. (This has generally been around age 5.) Each person can only be enrolled once, and after being enrolled, replacement scapulars do not have to be blessed, since the person has been.
- Wear the Scapular.
- Observe Chastity according to your state in life.
- Pray daily the Little Office of Our Lady OR Observe the fasts of the church together with abstaining from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays OR substitute the Rosary with permission of a confessor OR substitute some other good work with the permission of a confessor.
In addition to all of the above, Pope Benedict XV granted an indulgence of 500 days for devoutly kissing your scapular.
There was also an emphasis on the Scapular during the apparitions at Fatima and Sister Lucia said, “One could not follow the Message of Fatima unless he fulfilled the five conditions, one of which is wearing of the Brown Scapular all the time–day and night.”
So, put on those Brown Scapulars, and get enrolled if you haven’t. Let’s not pass up these wonderful promises from Our Lady!
O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss the scapular as a sign of your consecration), I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with It the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day. O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can, and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate, that she may best apply them to the interests of Thy most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
PRAY THE ROSARY DAILY.
This is such a beautiful devotion and one that I should renew as well! I wear a fiveway medal, but the prayers that accompany the scapular are so beautiful! Thank you for this lovely post.
Isn’t she Awesome.?
Mary does so much for us to intercede and keep us from eternal fire.
I have the “Garment of Grace” in the bookstore.I’ll send you one in the mail tomorrow.
I once saw a bumper sticker on a car (about 14 years ago) that I’d LOVE to have, but have never seen it in a store. It read
……LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER……
PRAY THE ROSARY/WEAR THE SCAPULAR
If I can ever figure out how to make a bumper sticker on my computer, I, shall.
Love
Grandma
Thank you so much Jessica for posting this! i will have to get that book!
Hello Jessica! Thank you so much for sharing this information! I was wondering what to do if one accidentally fell out of practice with this devotion (like stopped praying the rosary for several days) and wanted to start up again. This had happened to me. And I feel like I need to go to Mary and apologize! Do you have any information on starting up this devotion again? Thank you for your time 🤎