07/16/2025
Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Patron of the Carmelites, Chile, Bolivia, Protection from Danger, and for Deliverance from Purgatory. 🎉
Read below for the Story...
Mount Carmel has been a place of prayer and closeness to God since the time of the prophet Elijah in the 10th century before Christ (cf. 1 Kings 18:41ff).
There, also, Christian hermits persisted in prayer. And there, in the 12th century, the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin of Mt. Carmel was officially founded.
The 13th century, however, was a time of persecution for the Carmelites, and, in the midst of this trial, on July 16, 1251, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Prior of the Carmelites, giving him the Brown Scapular. She said to him, “This is a privilege for you and the order: whoever dies wearing the Scapular will be saved.”
The wearing by others of a miniature version of the Carmelite Scapular, known simply as “the Brown Scapular” from the color of their habit, has come to mean being joined spiritually with them in accepting the Blessed Mother’s love, devoting oneself to the spirituality of the Carmelites, and trusting that Our Lady will protect them in life and at their death.
Why do we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel? 🎉
While Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patron saint of the Carmelite Order, the basis for the universal Church honoring Mary under this title dates to her appearance to an English Carmelite St. Simon Stock in the 13th century. She gave him the Brown Scapular, a garment worn by religious over the neck and shoulders as an apron, to be worn by Carmelites “as a sign of her protection.” It is a Marian devotional practice which, over the centuries, has spread to Catholics around the world.
We celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16, today! đź‘Ź
Information about Our Lady of Mt. Carmel taken from EWTN Global Catholic Media
