Fr Hermann Duncan O.Carm
Throughout the years, many confraternities, churches and chapels have been dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The devotion towards Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Holy Scapular dates back more than 750 years. According to tradition, the Scapular was given to St Simon Stock during an apparition he had in Cambridge, England, on 16 July, 1251 at a time when the Carmelite Order was being oppressed.
Every Catholic is called to live a full life, giving praise and glory to God, looking towards Jesus as our role model who always did the will of God. Jesus himself said "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Behind Christ we find His beloved Mother Mary, who is the best role model of sanctity and devotion who will lead us to her son Jesus.
The Church recommends that we wear the Holy Scapular through which we can have a relationship with Our Lady. Through the Scapular, we consecrate ourselves to Holy Mary meaning that we are ready to walk in her footsteps as She is a mirror of sanctity especially in the love shown towards others through prayer and Her obedience to the will of God (as we read in the Mass of the solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel)
Those who wear the Scapular show that they belong to Our Lady. It is the badge of salvation, a shield in time of danger, and a pledge of special peace and protection.
Enrolling in the Scapular
Enrolling in the Holy Scapular is done only once, through a Carmelite friar or priest.
After enrolling in the Holy Scapular, a medal can also be worn depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one side and Our Lady on the other.
It is important that before enrolling, one knows what they are committing themselves to, and does not think that the Scapular is a piece of magic cloth.
Those wearing the Carmelite Scapular are expected to live as true Christians as asked of us through the Holy Gospel, receiving the sacraments and showing devotion especially towards the Virgin Mary.
Every Catholic should be open to Christ and God's will throughout their life and above all to help those in need.
The Popes and the Carmelite Scapular
There were many Popes who had a great devotion for the Holy Scapular. We will mention just a few to get a better understanding of what enrolling in the Carmelite Scapular means.
- Pope Leo XI (1605), while being dressed as Pope, was going to have his Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel removed. He immediately told them "Leave Mary with me that She may not leave me"
- Blessed Pope Pius IX (1846-78) was notable for his special love for the Mother of God. It was he who defined the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. This saintly Pontiff said: "This most extraordinary gift of the Scapular from the Mother of God to St Simon Stock, brings its great usefulness not only to the great Carmelite family of Mary, but also to all the rest of the faithful who wish, affiliated to that family, to follow Mary with a special devotion."
- Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), known for his social teaching on the Church always had a special devotion for the Scapular. He once said: "The Carmelite Scapular, because of its nobility of origin, its extraordinary spread among Christian peoples for many centuries, the spiritualizing effects produced by it and the outstanding miracles worked in virtue of it, render the Scapular of Carmel commendable to a wondrous degree." At the end of his life he said "Let us now make a novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and I shall be ready to die."
- Pope Saint Pius X (1903-14), who had a great devotion for the Eucharist, not only wore the Scapular but was also a Carmelite Tertiary.
- Pope Benedict XV (1914-22), used to encourage everyone during their fight against evil to have "...a common language and a common armour; the language, the words of the Gospel; the armour, the Scapular of the Virgin of Carmel... which enjoys the singular privilege of protection even after death".
- Pope Pius XI (1922-39), known as the missionary Pope, who canonized the great Carmelite Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, said "I learned to love the Scapular Virgin in the arms of my mother." He never tired of urging the faithful to wear the Scapular faithfully and so obtain the protection and promises of Our Lady.
- Pope Pius XII (1939-58), who from childhood wore the Carmelite Scapular, on the 700th anniversary commemorating the presentation of the holy Scapular commented, "Therefore, all Carmelites, ... Third Order ..., or ... Confraternities, belong to the same Family of our Most Blessed Mother and are attached to it by a special bond of love. May they all see in this Keepsake of the Queen herself, a mirror of humility, and purity; may they read in the very simplicity of the Garment a concise lesson in modesty and simplicity; and above all, may they behold in this same Garment, which they wear day and night, the eloquently expressed symbol, of their prayers for the divine assistance; finally may it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the most Pure Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, which in recent times we have so strongly recommended."
- Pope Saint John XXIII (1958-63), known as the good Pope and who started the Second Vatican Council, once said, when visiting a Carmelite Church, "of the Mother of God who is honoured in this Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Devotion to her becomes a necessity; towards Our Lady of Mount Carmel we are drawn with a most tender, yet irresistible, attraction".
- Blessed Pope Paul VI (1963-78) who wrote the Apostolic Exhortation "Marialis Cultus" when he saw the devotion for Our Lady diminishing said, "Let the faithful hold in high esteem the practices and devotions to the Blessed Virgin approved by the teaching authority of the Church. It is our conviction that the Rosary of Mary and the Scapular of Carmel are among these recommended practices. The Scapular is a practice of piety, which by its very simplicity is suited to everyone".
Last but not least we must not fail to mention Pope Saint John Paul II (1978-2005) who as everybody knows, had a great devotion for Our Lady. In fact when he became Pope, he chose the apostolic motto for his pontificate to be "Totus tuus" ("Totally thine") addressed to Mary.
In one of the many times he mentioned the Holy Scapular, he said, "From when I was young, I used to wear the Scapular of Our Lady around my neck, and in faith I sheltered under the cloak of the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus".
During surgery following the assassination attempt on his life in May, 1981, he insisted that doctors not remove his scapular.
On one particular occasion when addressing young people, the Pope said he owed much in his youth to the Carmelite scapular. "Our Lady helped me greatly. She assisted me in finding the grace of my vocation". He compared Mary's clothing us in the scapular to a mother who sees that her children are properly clothed. "Our Lady of Mount Carmel dresses us in a spiritual sense. She dresses us with the grace of God and helps us always ..."
In the letter he sent to the Carmelites on 25th March 2001, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the presentation of the Scapular, he wrote: "There are two truths which the sign of the Scapular brings out: on the one hand, there is the continuous protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only along the pathways of this life, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other hand, there is the awareness that devotion towards Our Lady cannot be limited to the occasional prayer in her honour, but must become a 'habit', that is, a permanent way of Christian living made up of prayer and the interior life, frequent recourse to the Sacraments and the concrete exercise of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy...".
On the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel being held in Mdina on 23 and 24 July, the relic of the Carmelite Scapular worn by Pope Saint John Paul II will be exhibited. This Scapular was given to the Carmelite order in 2007 by Cardinal Stanislaw Dsiwisz, who was the Pope's secretary. The relic is kept in the chapel of the Carmelite church in Torre Spaccata, Rome.
Go and see this relic and enrol in the Carmelite Scapular as well as becoming a Carmelite Tertiary.
We pray to Our Lady of Mount Carmel that this visit will leave spiritual fruit in our Province.