By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY
We recently celebrated, on July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which, according to tradition, is associated with the giving of the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock on that date in 1251. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him with the scapular saying, “This will be for you and for all Carmelites the privilege, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.”
This promise implies that our Lady will intercede to ensure that the wearer of the scapular obtains the grace of final perseverance, that is of dying in a state of grace, and this privilege has now been extended to all Catholics who are enrolled in the scapular. The small brown scapulars most usually worn today are smaller versions of the scapular worn by Carmelite friars and nuns, the garment worn over the shoulders (scapula), and which hangs down to the front and back.
But this great promise associated with the Brown Scapular is not the only privilege associated with it, since its power even extends to Purgatory through the Sabbatine Privilege. This is based on the papal bull traditionally believed to have been issued by Pope John XXII on March 3, 1322.
Unfortunately, there is no certain, exact copy of this “Sabbatine bull,” the original of which has been lost, but the privilege is understood to mean that those who wear the scapular and fulfill two other conditions, which were made in an apparition to John XXII, will be freed from Purgatory on the first Saturday — the Sabbath, and hence “Sabbatine” — after death.
All that the Church has ever said officially on this point, though, is that those who fulfill the conditions of the Sabbatine privilege will, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, be released from Purgatory soon after dying, and particularly on a Saturday.
We can have moral certainty about this privilege because, at a time when aspects of it were being criticized, the following statement was made by Pope Paul V (1605-1621):
“It is permitted to preach . . . that the Blessed Virgin will aid the souls of the Brothers and Sisters of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel after their death by her continual intercession, by her suffrages and merits and by her special protection, especially on the day of Saturday which is the day especially dedicated by the Church to the same Blessed Virgin Mary, if they have worn the habit (the Scapular) during life, observed chastity according to their state, and recited the Little Office (of the Blessed Virgin).”
The Sabbatine Privilege, then, applies to those who wear the scapular, observe chastity according to their state in life, and also recite the Little Office of Our Lady. With the verbal permission of any priest, however, saying certain prayers, for example, praying five decades of the rosary daily, can be substituted for this second condition. This is more practical nowadays and more in keeping with what the Blessed Virgin asked for at Fatima, that is praying the rosary daily for peace in the world.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, many Popes promoted the Sabbatine Privilege, including Clement VII, Paul III, Pius IV, Pius V, Gregory XIII, Urban VIII, Clement X, and Innocent XI, thus lending their spiritual authority to belief in it. And more recent Popes have also advocated it.
Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) addressed the seminarians of Rome saying, “The Scapular of Mary . . . enjoys the singular privilege of protection even after death,” while in commemoration of the sixth centenary of the Sabbatine Privilege, Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), in a letter dated March 18, 1922, said:
“It surely ought to be sufficient merely to exhort all the members of the Confraternity to persevere in the holy exercises which have been prescribed for the gaining of the indulgences to which they are entitled and particularly for the gaining of the indulgence which is the principal and the greatest of them all, namely that called the Sabbatine.”
Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) emphasized this point, too, saying: “And certainly this most gentle Mother will not delay to open, as soon as possible, through Her intercession with God, the gates of Heaven for Her children who are expiating their faults in Purgatory — a trust based on the promise known as the Sabbatine Privilege.”
So a number of the recent Popes have also supported the Sabbatine Privilege, and thus we can legitimately look to it as a means of shortening our time in Purgatory after death, and thus as a very valuable privilege given by God through our Lady.
However, we tend not to think very much about Purgatory, even though it is a prospect most Catholics will face. It is worth remembering that our Lady told the children of Fatima, in response to a question from Lucia in 1917 about two of her friends who had recently died, that one of them, Amelia, would be in Purgatory “until the end of the world.”
Many people found this shocking, but when Lucia was questioned about this by John Haffert, the co-founder of the Blue Army/World Apostolate of Fatima, in 1946, she replied: “Is it so unbelievable that a soul could be in Purgatory until the end of time, when for one mortal sin a soul can be in Hell for all eternity?”
A Cleansing Fire
And if we go on what the saints have said about Purgatory, it is definitely best to avoid going there, or at least do what we can to shorten our stay there as much as possible.
For example, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi said, “The pains suffered by all the martyrs are as a pleasant garden in comparison with the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory,” while St. Augustine said that the torments of Purgatory surpass all that a man can suffer on Earth.
Regarding Purgatory, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (nn. 1030-1031) says:
“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
“The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.”
So the language is more restrained, but this passage still speaks of a “cleansing fire” and so it is obviously going to be a very painful process; thus the Sabbatine Privilege is something definitely to be aimed for.
St. Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite and doctor of the Church, alluded to the power and importance of the Sabbatine Privilege when, in her autobiography, she recounted how she had had a vision which astounded her because in it she saw that a certain Carmelite had gone straight to Heaven: “I understood that, having become a friar and carefully kept the rule, the Bulls of the Order had been of use to him, so that he did not pass into Purgatory.”
It does not take a huge effort to gain the Sabbatine Privilege; what is required is the wearing of the Brown Scapular, observing chastity according to one’s state of life, and with a priest’s permission, praying five decades of the rosary daily.
Thus, given the extraordinary nature of this privilege, this is something every Catholic should be striving for.
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(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk.)
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