By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY
Part 2
The previous article looked at the history of the brown scapular, its importance, and its nature as a sacramental of the Church. This article will look at some miraculous events associated with the brown scapular, what various Popes have said about it, and how our Lady promoted it at Fatima.
But first, it is important to realize that wearing the scapular doesn’t do away with the need to receive the sacraments, or to live a good Christian life, nor is it a “magic talisman” which will automatically work no matter what sins the wearer commits; rather, it is a sign of God’s mercy mediated by our Lady. There have been cases of people living sinful lives who have torn off their scapulars just before dying — so it is not something that can be abused. In fact, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque’s confessor and spiritual guide, St. Claude de la Colombière, who was strongly devoted to the brown scapular, said: “If a person wants to die in his sins, he will die in his sins, but he will not die wearing the brown scapular.”
Pope Pius XI, while encouraging the wearing of the scapular, also said, “. . . although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper in [the hour of] death, must in life merit such signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.”
In sum, if the brown scapular is worn in the right spirit and with the right intention, then we can be assured that our Lady will come to our aid at the hour of death.
The power of the brown scapular is shown by the fact that the perfectly intact scapular of St. Alphonsus Liguori was found incorrupt many years after his death, although his body and the priestly vestments in which he had been buried had turned to dust. His scapular is still preserved in Rome. Likewise, St. John Bosco was very devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and was buried wearing his brown scapular. It was later found to be in very good condition and is regarded as a relic.
There have been numerous miracles associated with the brown scapular. One of these occurred on a passenger ship en route from London to South Australia in 1845, and was highlighted in a report in the Carmelite Review in 1902, which stated that the ship involved, The King of the Ocean, had proceeded on its course with no difficulties until it reached a notoriously turbulent part of the Indian Ocean. There, with little warning, a storm severely damaged the ship’s sails and rigging. Tremendous waves enveloped the vessel, evoking cries of despair and pleas for mercy from those on board.
One of the passengers, a Protestant minister named James Fisher, with his wife, his two children, and other passengers, climbed to the deck from their quarters below and began to pray for help. The raging storm, nevertheless, continued to batter the helpless ship. Then a crew member, an Irish sailor named John McAuliffe, removed his scapular from his neck and, making the sign of the cross with it, cast it into the sea. After a short time the furious tempest was calmed. Then, a small wave splashed onto the boat and deposited the scapular almost at the feet of the sailor. The Protestant minister was the only one who noticed the entire incident and realized its significance.
Immediately he questioned the sailor about his little pieces of brown cloth and after a short explanation, the Rev. Mr. Fisher resolved to take the Virgin of Carmel for his patroness and to become a Catholic. When they had safely arrived at Sydney, Australia, Mr. Fisher and his family were received into the Church and became fervent Catholics.
More recently, the Popes have been at pains to emphasize the importance of the brown scapular. For example, Benedict XV, who was Pope during World War I, addressing seminarians in Rome said: “Let all of you have a common language and a common armor: The language, the sentences of the Gospel — the common armor, the brown scapular of the Virgin of Carmel which you ought to wear and which enjoys the singular privilege and protection after death.”
In 1951, Pope Pius XII wrote a letter to the Carmelite major superiors to celebrate the 700th anniversary of St. Simon Stock’s vision, saying: “There is no one who is not aware how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic faith. . . . In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions that of the Holy Carmelite Scapular must be placed.”
Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, as a young factory worker in Poland, wore a brown scapular. When he was shot and operated on in 1981, he apparently told doctors not to remove the brown scapular he was wearing, such was his devotion to it. He also wrote, in 2001, that:
“. . . The most genuine form of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, expressed by the humble sign of the Scapular, is consecration to her Immaculate Heart. . . . The Scapular is essentially a ‘habit.’ Those who receive it are associated more or less closely with the Order of Carmel and dedicate themselves to the service of Our Lady for the good of the whole Church. . . .
“Two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular: on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life’s journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness that devotion to her cannot be limited to prayers and tributes in her honor on certain occasions, but must become a ‘habit,’ that is, a permanent orientation of one’s own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”
So what the Pope said there backs up the point that the scapular is not a magic talisman, but that it should be worn as a sign of consecration to our Lady, and as part of a fully sacramental Christian life.
The Children Of Fatima
The brown scapular also figures in the Fatima apparitions. While the crowd of 70,000 people was seeing the miracle of the sun on October 13, 1917, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia saw various apparitions involving St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, our Lady in a blue and white mantle and Our Lady of Dolors.
These have usually been interpreted as representing the mysteries of the rosary, but they also saw a final apparition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Sr. Lucia describes how she saw this last apparition of our Lady holding a brown scapular, so we find the brown scapular intimately associated with Fatima. She later said: “The rosary and the scapular are inseparable,” and “all Catholics should wear the scapular as part of the Fatima message.”
Thus the Blessed Virgin herself, at Fatima, emphasized how important the brown scapular is, and this shows us its great value as a sign of consecration to her, and a pledge of eternal life.
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(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a related web site at www.theotokos.org.uk.)
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