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Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the name given to the Blessed Virgin
Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites
were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the
late 12th and early to mid-13th century. The Carmelite Order were one of the
first religious orders to start in the Crusader States. In the mid-1200s,
many of the members of the Carmelites migrated to Europe. Several years later, once established, conquerors climbed Mount Carmel and massacred monks and their dwellings. Thereon after, Mount Carmel would
continue to suffer a decline of Carmelites for 3 centuries. Tradition says
that in the late 14th century, Simon Stock witnessed an apparition from Our
Lady of Mount Carmel. Simon Stock, who is a saint of the church,
was an early English general of the Carmelite order. In Simon Stock’s
apparition, Our Lady of Mount Carmel came to him, gave him a brown scapular,
and told him to promote devotion to it. A scapular consists of 2 pieces of
cloth connected by chords that go over the head. Scapulars are now part of
the Carmelite habit. Carmelites whom wear it, wear it as a form of devotion
to Mary and place their care in Mary. In Simon Stock’s apparition, Mary
promised that those who died wearing a scapular would be later saved.
Although this is the origin of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, how Our Lady became
the patron saint of Chile lies in Chile’s struggle for independence. The
Chileans were fighting for their independence from Spanish rule. This fight
is known as the Battle of Chabuco. On the morning of the Battle of Chabuco,
General O'Higgins proclaimed the Our Lady of Carmel patroness. As the Spanish
army marched into Santiago, Chileans crowded into the cathedral to pray and
declared the Our Lady of Carmel help them. The Chileans promised to raise a church
in her honor at the location that Chile's declaration of independence was
signed if they were defeated the Spanish. Later that year, Chile had defeated
the Spanish and the church was built. Today “Catedral Castrense de Nuestra
Señora del Carmen” is located in the community of Providencia in Santiago,
the capital of Chile. Finally in 1923, Chilean bishops the Vatican proclaimed
the Our Lady of Mount Carmel to be the main patron saint of all Chileans. Citations “Feast of Our Lady of Carmel.” Feast of Our Lady of Carmel | Chilean Holidays | Office Holidays, www.officeholidays.com/countries/ chile/our_lady_of_carmel.php. “The History of Carmel.” Lafayette Carmelites, lafayettecarmelites.org/home-page/community-life/history-carmel/. “Marian Library.” Our Lady of Mount Carmel : University of Dayton, Ohio, 21 Dec. 2017, udayton.edu/blogs/imri/2016-02-24-epinal-3.php.
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