Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
The Scapular, Her Holy Habit.
During a difficult time of the Carmelite Order’s history, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel appeared to St. Simon Stock and gave him the Brown Scapular, which became part of the Carmelite habit. Lay people wear a smaller version of this habit even today. It consists of two pieces of brown wool connected by cords that one wears over their shoulders, a piece in front on the chest and a piece resting upon the back. Our Lady attached great significance to this “livery” and promised that those who die wearing it shall never suffer eternal fire. It is one of the most highly indulgenced sacramentals in the Church, one that intimately connects the person wearing it to the Carmelite order. In addition it is an outward sign of one’s consecration to Our Lady as well as a guarantee of her protection and patronage.
