July 16 – Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us be reminded that Mary loves us and protects us from evil.
Many wear the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as a sign of great love of Mary and for her protection.
Church historians believe religious hermits lived on Mount Carmel near the Fountain of Elijah in northern Israel even before the time of Christ on Mount Carmel. It is the mountain that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
They became true believers in Christ.
Mary is said to have appeared to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251, and gave him, a Brown Scapular saying, “This will be for you and for all Carmelites the privilege, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.”
By the late 12th century to the mid-13th century, they built a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the 15th century the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was designed by the hermits to honor their patroness and worn as part of their habit.
A devotional Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was created for lay Catholics and is still popular today.
According to the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship, the Scapular is “an external sign of the filial relationship established between the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Mount Carmel, and the faithful who entrust themselves totally to her protection, who have recourse to her maternal intercession, who are mindful of the primacy of the spiritual life and the need for prayer.”
Saint Pope John Paul II wore his Brown Scapular ever since he was a young boy in Poland.
In 1981, while in the hospital after the assassination attempt, he did not allow it to be removed from his neck even during surgery.Editor’s note: The Brown Scapulars featured in the images with this post belonged to the late Don Klug and Carol Klug, members of Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Wheeling, and shared by their son-in-law Rob Wickham, DWC Director of Website Development.
