The Brown Scapular
of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
A
magnificent assurance of salvation is Our Lady�s Brown Scapular. One of
the great mysteries of our time is that the great majority of Catholics
either ignore or have forgotten the Blessed Virgin Mary�s promise that
"whoever dies wearing this (Scapular) shall not suffer eternal fire."
She further says: "Wear it devoutly and perseveringly. It is my garment.
To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of me, and I in
turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life."
Many Catholics may not know that it is the wish of our Holy Father, the Pope, that the Scapular Medal should not be worn in place of the Cloth Scapular without sufficient reason. Mary cannot be pleased with any one who substitutes the medal out of vanity, or fear to make open profession of religion. Such persons run the risk of not receiving the Promise. The medal has never been noted for any of the miraculous preservations attributed to the Brown Cloth Scapular.
During the Scapular Anniversary celebration in Rome, Pope Pius XII told a very large audience to wear the brown Scapular as a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady asked for this consecration in the last apparition at Fatima, when She appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular out to the whole world. It was her last loving appeal to souls to wear her Scapular as a sign of Consecration to her Immaculate Heart.
Blessed Claude de la Colombiere, the renowned Jesuit and spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary, gives a point which is enlightening. He said: "Because all the forms of our love for the Blessed Virgin, all its various modes of expression cannot be equally pleasing to Her, and therefore do not assist us in the same degree to Heaven, I say without a moment�s hesitation the BROWN SCAPULAR is the most favored of all!" He also adds: "No devotion has been confirmed by more numerous authentic miracles than the Brown Scapular."
