⛪ Our Lady of Mount Carmel

🌟 Our Lady of Mount Carmel 🌟

Patroness and Mother of the Carmelite Order

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🖼️ Iconography: “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” by Pietro Novelli, 1641

📜 Papal Approval:
• 30 January 1226 by Pope Honorius III
• Renewed in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V

📅 Feast Day: July 16

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👕 Attributes: Brown scapular, crown, holding the Christ Child, often shown handing down the scapular

🌎 Patronage: Carmelites, Chile, Bolivia, Catemaco, Aylesford, Roraima, Birkirkara, Jaboticabal, Valletta, Pernambuco, Villalba, Hatillo, Higuerote, Carlopoli, Barasoain Church, protection from harm and danger, and deliverance from purgatory

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“Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” – Promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also known as the Virgin of Carmel, is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated as the patroness of the Carmelite Order, including both the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance and the Discalced Carmelites. This devotion, rooted in the 12th century, centers on the Brown Scapular and is celebrated liturgically on July 16.

Historical Origins

The Carmelite Order traces its origins to hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th to early 13th centuries. They built a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom they revered as the "Lady of the place." Mount Carmel, meaning "garden" or "vine of God" in Hebrew, is located in Israel between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jezreel Valley. It is referenced in Isaiah 35:2 as a place of beauty and was associated with the prophet Elijah, who demonstrated God’s power against the pagan priests of Baal.

The Carmelites, unique among religious orders for their origins in the Crusader States, migrated to Europe in the 13th century, establishing a presence in England by 1241–1242. Our Lady of Mount Carmel became the patron saint of Chile in the 19th century.

The Brown Scapular and Simon Stock

Since the 15th century, devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel has focused on the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, commonly called the Brown Scapular. Tradition holds that in 1251, the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock, an early English Carmelite prior, presenting him with the scapular and promising salvation to those who die wearing it. The scapular, a sacramental symbolizing consecration to Mary and affiliation with the Carmelite Order, became part of the Carmelite habit after 1287.

However, a document purportedly written by Stock’s secretary, Peter Swanington, claiming the vision occurred on July 16, 1251, was later identified as a 17th-century forgery by Carmelite friar John Cheron. Despite this, the association between the scapular and the July 16 feast persisted for centuries. Historical records show the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel likely began in England in the late 14th century as a thanksgiving for Mary’s protection of the Carmelite Order. The feast was set on July 16 due to a conflict with the feast of Saint Alexis on July 17 in Europe. The Latin poem Flos Carmeli ("Flower of Carmel") became the sequence for this Mass.

Simon Stock’s feast, while not officially canonized, is celebrated in Carmelite communities, particularly in places like Aylesford, England, where a relic was placed in 1951. Post-Vatican II liturgical reforms removed references to the scapular in the feast due to historical uncertainties.

Devotion and Practices
Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel emphasizes Mary as a model of prayer, contemplation, and virtue, guiding Christians toward Christ. The Brown Scapular signifies a wearer’s commitment to emulate Mary’s humility, chastity, and prayerful life. The 1996 doctrinal statement from the Congregation for Divine Worship describes the scapular as a sign of belonging to the Carmelite Order, consecration to Mary, and a call to imitate her virtues.

The Carmelite Order views Mary as a Spiritual Mother, with the Stella Maris Monastery on Mount Carmel serving as its spiritual center. A traditional prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel seeks her intercession:

“O most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me you are my Mother…”

Global Veneration

• Spain and Spanish-Speaking Countries: Our Lady of Mount Carmel is deeply revered, particularly as the patroness of sailors, fishermen, and the Spanish Army (proclaimed in 1901). Coastal towns hold maritime processions on July 16. In Spain, names like Carmen and María del Carmen are popular. In Peru, the Mamacha Carmen festival in Paucartambo features processions with traditional dancers, while in Lima, she is the patroness of Criollism and perpetual mayor. She is also the patroness of Chile’s armed forces, Colombia’s National Police, Bolivia’s nation and armed forces, Venezuela’s army and drivers, and the Dominican Republic.
• United States: In Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, a 10-day festival in July includes parading a 65-foot giglio tower with a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, culminating on July 16. In the Bronx’s Belmont neighborhood, a procession occurs on 187th Street, home to the parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Hammonton, New Jersey, hosts a week-long festival, ongoing since 1875, recognized as the longest-running Italian-American festival in the U.S.
• Italy: In Acquafondata, a sanctuary marks a reported apparition of the Virgin on July 16, 1841. In Palmi, Calabria, an annual commemoration on November 16 recalls a 1894 earthquake, where a statue of Our Lady reportedly displayed unusual signs beforehand. A procession during the quake is credited with saving lives, as most residents were outdoors. The Catholic Church recognized this as a miracle, crowning the statue in 1896.

Association with Purgatory
Since the Middle Ages, Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been linked to aiding souls in Purgatory, often depicted with angels and scapular-wearing souls seeking her intercession. The Sabbatine Privilege, associated with a papal bull, suggested special graces for scapular wearers, but its promotion was curtailed in 1613 due to exaggerated claims. Today, the Carmelites emphasize Mary’s general intercession for the faithful, particularly those who wear the scapular, and encourage devotion to her on Saturdays.

Apparitions and Miracles

• Fátima Apparitions (1917): The Virgin Mary, appearing as Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the final vision, reportedly emphasized the scapular’s importance, urging all to wear it.
• Palmi Miracle (1894): Strange movements and color changes in a statue of Our Lady preceded an earthquake, and a procession during the event is believed to have minimized casualties.

Peace Movement
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16 coincides with the 1945 Trinity nuclear test in New Mexico. Since 1990, Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy has organized a prayer vigil at the Trinity site on this date, seeking Our Lady’s intercession for peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Church Teaching
The Carmelite spirituality, as articulated by Discalced Carmelite Kieran Kavanaugh, views the scapular as a sign of belonging to Mary, consecration to her Immaculate Heart, and a call to emulate her virtues. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi describes devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel as a call to a contemplative, Marian life of prayer and union with God, with Mary as the “Queen and Splendor of Carmel.”

1. To escape hell and gain salvation ought to be the end and aim of all our devotions, of all our actions. You must then employ those means which are indispensable to save your soul and to escape hell. These are: Keeping the true faith; observing the commandments of God and of the Church; worthily receiving the sacraments; avoiding sin; doing penance and other good works; and practicing patience in trials and suffering. If you neglect these means, then everything else is insufficient to lead you to heaven, or save you from eternal destruction For this reason it is necessary that you prefer the good works commanded by God and the Church to those which are voluntary. It is according to the teachings of the heretics not to do any good works that are not commanded by God: and that those good works which one does voluntarily are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord. But on the other hand, it is also a deceit of the wicked enemy of man, if we practice only voluntary good works, and leave undone those which are commanded us, or if we rather do the former than the latter. Those which are commanded have always to precede the others, and we must be much more careful in practicing those than all others.

2. Besides those good works which it is your duty to perform, do also others voluntarily, that is, such as you are not obliged under sin to perform, but which, in addition to the means needful for your salvation, assist you to persevere in the right path, although as previously said, they are not absolutely necessary for your salvation. With these, among many others, may be classed pious confraternities, sodalities or associations. To join them and to live according to their regulations is a voluntary good work. To join all the associations and not observe rightly the rules of one, is of little or no benefit. To join one, and strictly to follow its precepts is, in my judgment, much to be preferred. Those associations that are to be first recommended to all, are: The confraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that of a Happy Death, and of the Blessed Virgin. Countless incidents are told which clearly prove that the Mother of Mercy has obtained especial graces for those who have been members of such associations, and who have venerated her and called to her for aid. Many sinners have been converted by such voluntary devotions, many pious persons strengthened to do right: hence, many have escaped hell, and have attained the kingdom of God, which might not have teen the case had they omitted this voluntary devotion. Be, therefore, a zealous member of some pious association. It will afford you great comfort and benefit in your last hour. Justus Lipsius, a man famous for his great learning and virtues, said when on his death bed: “When I remember that I have been a member of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, and that, as such, I have endeavored to live in accordance with the prescribed regulations, I am filled with joy and confidence.”

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