Brown Scapular and the Little Office

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Revelation21.3-4

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Hello, I am looking into the Brown Scapular and I saw that as a requirement, one who wears the scapular prays the Little Office of the Little Virgin Mary (unless given permission to do something else). I was wondering, if one is invested with the Brown Scapular and wants to pray the Little Office, how much of the Little Office are they required to recite? I have seen some say only Lauds and Compline while others have said the whole thing.

Thank you in advance.
 
No, actually it says “The regular praying of at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours.” So it doesn’t specify how much; you can choose what fits in your life.
 
We get this question on a regular basis.
Praying the Little Office is not a “requirement” these days and you do not have to “get permission to do something else”. Unfortunately there are a lot of Web pages that contain outdated or incorrect info about this.

Under the current official Scapular Catechesis if the Carmelite order, available here in PDF form, there are a number of ways you can practice Carmelite spirituality. One way they suggest is praying at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours, in other words the public prayer of the Church. The Little Office is not on the list.

However, if you wished to pray the Little Office as a way of practicing Carmelite spirituality and to show devotion to Mary, it’s okay to do so. It’s not prohibited. But it’s also not required and they don’t specify how much of it you need to pray daily, so it’s up to you.
 
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Forgive me if this is a repeat question then, although I feel that this begs another question. I believe you, but if that is the case, if you happen to have an answer, why isn’t the information more widely available? It seems every credible website I visit says to pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 
Catholic21 said:
Here’s a link with information regarding the brown scapular devotion.https://www.sistersofcarmel.com/brown-scapular-information.php
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Sigh.
As we have posted on here many, many, MANY times, the Sisters of Carmel are a schismatic order and are not associated with the actual Carmelite order.

If you search the forum you will probably find a dozen threads where one of us has had to explain this.

Please don’t post the Sisters of Carmel link here. Their site contains all kinds of misinformation. About once a month, one of us has to repost this same thing.
 
Revelation21.3-4 said:
I believe you, but if that is the case, if you happen to have an answer, why isn’t the information more widely available? It seems every credible website I visit says to pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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The only “credible” websites for a Scapular associated with a particular religious order are the ones that are directly associated with the official Order.

In the case of Carmelites, this would mean sites and publications associated with the Carmelite Order (O. Carm.) or the Discalced Carmelite Order (OCD).

In this day and age, anybody can put up a website and put whatever they want on it. Many websites about the Brown Scapular are “traditional Catholic” websites that simply copy out-of-date information from old prayer books or from other websites, and do not check it for accuracy. Such websites often contain misinformation about the Brown Scapular, the Sabbatine Privilege, indulgences, and a host of other topics. In many cases, the requirements or other guidance for practicing devotions have changed at some point between whenever their old prayer book was dated, and today.

Regarding the Sisters of Carmel, who like I just explained to the person above (again, we explain this like once a month on here) are a schismatic order not associated with the Carmelites, they very likely have some arrangement with Google to show their websites first in the search results. The result is that people searching on Carmelite anything tend to find their site, which contains misinformation about the Brown Scapular.
 
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I didn’t know that about the Sisters of Carmel, but I also saw the same information published in the National Catholic Register, which I thought to be a credible source. All the actual Carmelite websites I’ve read (including the official Carmelite Order website and many Discalced Carmelite Order websites) provide no actual information on prayers for once you’ve been enrolled, I feel like it’d be a lot better for those websites to be giving the information and I find it a little troubling that they don’t. They just say to maintain a spirit of prayer, or even, the official Carmelite Order Wesbite mentions prayer Lauds, Vespers, and Compline, but unrelated to the Scapular.

So, correct me if I’m wrong, for I do not mean to cause trouble, but what I’m getting from all of this is that there is nothing in particular required of us so long as we strive for a good prayer life?
 
Revelation21.3-4 said:
So, correct me if I’m wrong, for I do not mean to cause trouble, but what I’m getting from all of this is that there is nothing in particular required of us so long as we strive for a good prayer life?
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This is the relevant section from the Scapular Catechesis by Fr. Sam Morello, OCD, that I posted to you in my previous response. It answers your question. If you have not read the whole Catechesis I would recommend that you do so. I note that until recently it was also available on a website called “Meditations from Carmel” which contained other official Carmelite information, but it appears that there have been technical issues with that website and it is currently down, and its archive is also down, which is why I posted to you the alternative website I did with the catechesis in PDF form.
If a person wears the scapular, but has no formal association to the Order, does that person still
gain the benefits associated with the scapular?

A person who wears the scapular and practices the spirituality of the Carmelite Order has an affiliation, loose as it may be, to the Carmelite family and so shares in the graces traditionally
associated with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. However, simply to wear the
scapular without accepting the responsibilities attached to it would be to reduce this precious
sacramental to the status of a charm or good-luck piece.

What is this Carmelite spirituality that one must practice in order to have an affiliation with the
Carmelite Order?

The spirituality of the Carmelite Order is one of the preeminent spiritual traditions of the
Catholic Church. It is difficult to reduce this spirituality to a few sentences. One who wears the
scapular should certainly reflect upon the teachings of the great Carmelite saints, three of whom
are doctors of the Church.
A few basic introductory principles of Carmelite spirituality would be
  • frequent participation in the Mass and reception of Holy Communion;
  • frequent reading of and meditation on the Word of God in Sacred Scripture;
  • the regular praying of at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours;
  • imitation of and devotion to Mary, the woman of faith who hears the Word of God and puts it
    into practice;
  • the practice of the virtues, notably charity, chastity (according to one’s state of life), and
  • obedience to the will of God.
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So in short, you are not required to do specific things, but you are expected to practice Carmelite spirituality, and the list shows you ways in which you can do that.
 
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Thank you, sorry for the trouble. I think I understand what I need to do now, it’s always good to learn from those who know better. I’ll read the whole document over when I have more time. Thank you so much again!
 
Revelation21.3-4 said:
I also saw the same information published in the National Catholic Register, which I thought to be a credible source.
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I would further note that while websites like NC Register and even EWTN are generally credible sources, I have seen such sources give out wrong information about indulgence practice from time to time, so it doesn’t surprise me if they give out wrong info on other devotional practices too. The reporters and even priests who write on such practices are often not experts on the particular subject matter and may look something up in a book without realizing the book has been superseded by new information.
 
Yes, I wish Google didn’t do that. I think at one point carmelitequotes was investigating how they were allowed to use the Carmel name at all. It’s very misleading.
 
I’m wondering if for the benefit of visitors to CAF like @Catholic21 and others, we don’t have a FAQ permanently posted (and easily accessed) that includes all the pertinent links to the Carmelite Order’s website and their catechetical resources concerning the Brown Scapular. Thanks so much for your clear answers!
  • p.s. - I recently purchased the Catechesis and Ritual from the Carmelites so that I could have the hard copy booklet for my own resource library. No excuse not to read it, memorize it, quote it, even take photos if need be!
 
Catholic21 said:
Google had them as the first result.
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The reason that Google lists the schismatic Sisters of Carmel as the first hit at the top of their search results is that the Google algorithms boost the rank of sites that are rich in content, links, and sites that link back to the source. That’s how Sisters of Carmel has risen to the top.

The so-called Sisters of Carmel are the commercial enterprise and cash cow of the excommunicated Servants of the Holy Family, a sect on the outskirts of Colorado Springs; the women live in a building next to the men on the compound.

It has been thoroughly documented on CAF how the Servants of the Holy Family prey upon unsuspecting young men who are attracted to the traditional Latin Mass, groom them while they are underage, and then at the age of maturity, they enable the young man to abruptly leave his family and travel to their compound, cutting off all communication.

At this link you can read more background information on their disobedience and schism. I investigated the history of a pastoral visitation on behalf of the Holy See concerning the Sister’s original acts of disobedience. At the founding of the sister’s community, solemnly professed Discalced Carmelite nuns were attracted by the charismatic figure of Anthony Ward. Having absconded with the wealth of their previous monastery, they moved to join Ward. I don’t have my notes in front of me, but the essence of the situation was that Ward convinced them to assign custody of the wealth to him. Once they had started a little community of sisters, largely drawn from the families who worship on the compound, and Ward had control of the funds, he expelled the foundresses and they were left homeless, destitute, and expelled from the Discalced Carmelite Order, years earlier because of their willful disobedience.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten the darkness in that community!
 
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