The “Mantle” of Mary

According to Carmelite tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the Superior the Carmelite Order in the thirteenth century (during a time of uncertainty and turmoil for them and other “new” religious movements—such as the “Dominicans” and the “Franciscans”) and gave the Carmelites the long brown double-sided “apron” that is worn over the shoulders in their religious habit (this portion of the habit is called the “scapular”). In this way the Blessed Mother enfolded them in a special way in her mercy and protection.

In the ensuing centuries, lay people associated themselves with the Carmelite charism and Mary’s special protection by enrolling in a broad association (a “confraternity”) that connected them vitally and particularly to the prayers and sacrifices of the Carmelite Order. They were symbolically “clothed” in Mary’s “mantle”—the garment of the Carmelite brown scapular—by taking up and wearing a cord with two small pieces of brown cloth (for the front and back). According to the reports of the thirteenth century vision, when Mary originally gave the Carmelites their brown scapular, she said, “Whoever dies clothed in this will not suffer eternal fire.” Not surprisingly, the brown scapular became a very popular and widespread devotion in the Western Church, to the point where many parishes enrolled (and gave a brown scapular to) every person when they received their First Communion. 

I’m not sure whether or not I was enrolled thus (in the olden days), but I did formally receive the scapular from a priest at my University, according to the proper (and simple) “form” at that time for enrolling in the Confraternity. I wear it day and night and I cherish it. I don’t “think much” about it. It’s a gift from Mary. I’m grateful for these little tangible pieces of cloth that “enfold me” in the maternal love of the Mother of God. Mary wants to be with me on my journey to her Son (who is also—thanks to her “fiat”—my Brother) and His Kingdom: this journey that is beautiful and full of faith and love and building up the good, full of the “hundredfold” of the zest for life, and at the same time arduous and steep, extreme and so hard, with stumbling and wounds and dark places that make one cry out, “Where am I?”… with failure and humiliation, pain and disappointment, but also those inexplicable joys that persist in the still center of the soul in whispers and sighs too deep for words.

I know that the Carmelites have revised their norms regarding their confraternity and have emphasized its specific relationship with the worldwide Carmelite family and its spiritual tradition. I’m not sure what that entails, but it’s not a kind of “third order” (Carmelites have a proper Third Order, just like the Dominicans and Franciscans, which diocesan priests and lay people can join). The Confraternity of the Scapular (I would think) involves more of an “awareness” of a relationship with the Carmelites, their charism, their profound tradition of penance, prayer, and the ways (even mystical ways—remember Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and of course the astonishing “little” Thérèse) to abandonment and union with God through the grace of Jesus Christ.

The proper enrollment in the brown scapular is important. I don’t know if it has become more “difficult” or whether parishes in North America have just neglected it in recent years. I haven’t researched this point much, to be honest. [UPDATE: this current CARMELITE WEBSITE gives a thorough explanation.] I recommend to you the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Ask your parish priest or any priest who helps guide you in your faith about how this devotion might be helpful for you. [UPDATE: refer to LINK above for information about various ways of more-or-less “formal affiliation” with the Carmelite spiritual family that are possible through the brown scapular. I have given what I think is a reasonably accurate “general sense” of things, at least as I have understood them over the years—but current Carmelites can explain the specifics and answer many questions that people may have. A link like THIS ONE is very useful.]

It is important to understand properly the “promise of not suffering eternal fire” within the context of living a life committed to Christ. The scapular—like so many other physical gestures and helps and objects that Catholics integrate into the practice of their faith (and which can seem so complicated and confusing to our Protestant brothers and sisters)—is a sign of the fundamental promises of Jesus who is God made flesh: “Whoever believes in me has eternal life.” “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). 

These are not promises that allow us to disengage from living our relationship with Jesus in the Church; they are promises that “move with us” as we adhere to Jesus in trust, abandoning ourselves to Him, cooperating with the grace of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to do His will, keep His commands, worship and love God above all else, and love one another in Him. We live these promises in the hope that the Holy Spirit instills in us on our journey every day, as we trust that the love of God our Father is shaping our lives for the glory of His Son Jesus, which it is our destiny to share as His brothers and sisters. 

This too is the concern of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and us. She knows we need signs, gestures and objects that we can touch and wear and carry and gaze upon with our eyes. The scapular is a sign—something we wear that is physically linked to Christ’s Body, the Church—a sign of the new life that has already begun for us in Baptism, that is nourished or restored by the Sacraments, that enables us even now to engage life in this world with the transformed knowledge and love of Christ. In hope and prayer we open our hearts to Him, living and hoping to remain in Him, to persevere in Him, to die in Him who has conquered sin and death.

Wearing the scapular is sharing in a gift from our Merciful Mother who is full of tenderness toward us, who is abundant in maternal solicitude and gifts that are close to the heart (the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe reminds me of this too).

Here are a few words from someone with a deep devotion to the brown scapular that he wore from his youth, the great Pope Saint John Paul II:

"Mother of Christ, let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope!" (Saint John Paul II).