The Brown Scapular

When the Crusaders took the Holy Land, they climbed Mount Carmel and were astonished to find a monastery up there, remote and self-sufficient – and that the monks assured them they had been there, not since the time of Christ, but since the time of Elias the Prophet. They had a great devotion to the Mother of God. But the Crusaders lost the military battle for the Holy Land and, when they withdrew to Europe, the Carmelites reluctantly decided to go with them.

It was a time of great despondency in Christendom. The Crusades had failed, life seemed to be declining, the Religious Orders were somehow bereft of ideas. Religious fervour among the masses was in serious decline. Simon Stock returned to his native Aylesford in Kent, South East England. He was the leader of the ragged remnant of the Carmelites. He had gained his nickname through his childhood habit of spending whole days inside the bole or 'Stock' of a hollow tree on his father's property, meditating on the Things of God. On this day he felt at the very end of his tether, and sank to his knees, pouring out a prayer to Our Lady, the Queen of Heaven and Patroness of the Carmelite Order. [He did NOT worship her as a God!]

His prayer is preserved for us. It is a beautiful short prayer in Latin Verse, known to us as the Flos Carméli (the flower of Carmel).

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FLOWER of Carmel, Tall vine blossom laden;

Splendor of heaven, Childbearing yet maiden.

None equals thee.

Mother so tender, Who no man didst know,

On Carmel's children Thy favours bestow.

Star of the Sea.

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Now it is when we are most abjectly on our knees that God responds the most generously. As with the wine at Cana, as with the Feeding of the Five Thousand, as with the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, Heaven's response was overwhelmingly more superabundant than poor Simon could ever have imagined. Our Lady appeared to him, holding the Carmelite habit – well not quite; it is the Minimum Possible version of the habit, two squares of brown fabric with two ribbons to hold it over the shoulder (the 'scapula') – it is in fact the Habit of the Third Order of the Carmelites, instituted there and then. Our Lady said these astonishing words: 'Receive the Scapular of your Order. WHOEVER DIES WEARING THIS SCAPULAR WILL NOT SEE THE ETERNAL FIRE'. That is all she said. [N.B. in the many false 'apparitions', the alleged apparition always says far too much.]

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The news spread like wildfire, and there was an explosion of renewed fervour within Christendom. It was the Morale Boost that the dejected people had needed. Within less than a couple of years, more than one million of the Faithful were enrolled in the Scapular (You can't just put it on: there is a formal enrolment.)

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Now, how can this be possible?

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You see, in the Catholic Faith, there are certain promises given, which we believe. Our Lord says several times in Scripture, "Pray constantly". Normally, God, who knows all the future, does not reveal it to us, because if we knew the future, we would not pray about it. But for faithful souls, such as those who will make the Act of Faith in wearing the Scapular, He lifts the curtain, just a little corner, and reveals the future. We are promised, through His Mother: "Whoever dies wearing the Scapular will not see the Eternal fire'.

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So where is Free Will in all this? Consider the Action of the Blessed Trinity when we pray. God the Father created the earth on which we kneel. God the Son died to save us. And God the Holy Spirit is the One who has inspired us to kneel down and pray.

God's Providence is unfathomable. But in His Secret Designs, as a gift and as a Reward, He inspires certain of His souls to wear the Scapular. It is a secret message that they are among the elect: information to which we are normally denied.

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There are times when the Faithful will just close his hand around the Scapular and 'hold God's Hand'. The Catholic Religion is close and personal. And why would it not be: God devised it for us.

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There are innumerable stories about the Scapular.

By Papal Decree, this is not taught at the infallible level of Scripture, but 'may piously be believed by the Faithful'. There is nothing in it that contradicts the Faith. Otherwise we would indeed be adding to Revelation. Yet there is something going on.

Just one story..

The grandfather of a good friend of mine, who lives in Philadelphia, was on his deathbed. He had lived a life away from the Church for years. My friend had been trying, also for years, to get him to wear the Scapular. At length, his illness being now in its final stages, the Grandpa gave in and accepted the scapular and put it on. Immediately (not an hour later, but immediately) there was a knock on the door. My friend went down. It was a Catholic priest ... who had come to the wrong house by mistake! My friend had him upstairs in a twinkling, he gave all the Last Sacraments to the old man, and not long after that, he died. Now I'm only saying this because it really happened. 'Contra factum non arguméntum'.

Micheál Ó Fearghail