Brown Scapular - Question

[Lighthouse2000]

I am thinking about starting to wear the brown scapular (I know about getting it blessed and joining). My question is, does it make any difference what is on the scapular itself? I have seen different ones with different depictions on the badges. Should it be plain or are different depictions perfectly fine? Thanks.

 

[Pancras]

I am thinking about starting to wear the brown scapular (I know about getting it blessed and joining).

Actually, the Brown Scapular has a unique character, unlike other sacramentals.

The blessing isn’t for the scapular, really, it’s for YOU. The traditional procedure is, you have a priest invest you with this garment (it’s a miniature version of the Carmelite habit, made of brown wool material, worn front and back), using a formula and a prayer. This means he puts it over your head, and you do not touch it while he does this. When the priest is finished, you are “invested” (vestment put on you), and from that time forward for the rest of your life, you’ll never need to get your replacement Brown Scapular blessed, because when your old one wears out, you burn it or bury it in the ground, and get a new scapular. The MINUTE you put the new one on yourself, it becomes a blessed sacramental, without any blessing from a priest, because it is YOU that carries the blessing.

This is not the case with any other sacramentals of the Church.

My question is, does it make any difference what is on the scapular itself? I have seen different ones with different depictions on the badges. Should it be plain or are different depictions perfectly fine? Thanks.

Generally, there is a picture of Our Lady on the front panel and the words “Whosoever…” on the back panel. But this is not essential. In fact, when a scapular gets old, the images might wear off, but so long as you have the brown wool hanging on to the cord, it is still a good scapular.

The wool must be brown in color, but the cord can be other colors or the same. I have had white, black, blue and brown cord material, woven, ribbon, rope, thread, and leather. Whatever it is, they eventually wear out. Maybe I should try stainless steel?

There are brown scapulars with just an embroidered cross on them. That’s okay. Some have pictures of saints like Padre Pio, St. Francis, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Pius X, St. Philomena, or Our Lord, but it’s whatever you would like to have that you should get.

Sometimes you might see one that you really like but it’s about twice the money as one that would be okay. I’ve found that the more expensive ones generally last a lot longer than twice what the ones last that are half the price. So I guess it’s more efficient to get one that costs more. That might not always be the case though. Some churches offer them for free, so you can hardly beat that price.

Again, paying money for one does not affect the blessing because whether you buy it or get it for free, or even MAKE it, as soon as you put it over your head the first time, it becomes a blessed sacramental.
.

 

[Dorothy]

I am thinking about starting to wear the brown scapular (I know about getting it blessed and joining). My question is, does it make any difference what is on the scapular itself? I have seen different ones with different depictions on the badges. Should it be plain or are different depictions perfectly fine? Thanks.

Lighthouse2000,

Here is the most recent catechesis on the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, presented by both branches of the Carmelite Order in the year 2000:

carmelitanacollection.com/catechesis.html

It clarifies and updates very well.

Peace,

Dorothy (Third Order Lay Carmelite)

 

[Lighthouse2000]

Thank you very much for your responses - they were very helpful.
God Bless.

 

[Pancras]

Lighthouse2000,

Here is the most recent catechesis on the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, presented by both branches of the Carmelite Order in the year 2000:

carmelitanacollection.com/catechesis.html

It clarifies and updates very well.

Peace,

Dorothy (Third Order Lay Carmelite)

It seems a bit odd they would pound out thousands of words without mentioning the fact that once enrolled, an enrollee never again needs to have his new scapular blessed. In fact, they allude ambiguously to the question with this, "The official ritual provided by the Holy See makes no provision for someone other than a priest or deacon to bless the scapular."

That doesn’t say, literally, that a priest or deacon ever blesses the scapular. All it says is that anyone OTHER than a priest or deacon is not provided a provision to bless any scapular.

Then, in this: “According to the Rite for the Blessing and Enrollment in the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, approved by the Holy See in 1996, any priest or deacon has the faculties for blessing the scapular,” the topic of blessing and of enrollment are confused. One might wonder if it was a typo. Does the scapular need to be blessed before the investment? Is the investment somehow improper if the scapular is not blessed first? Does the scapular need to be removed after investment and blessed, then re-invested? The web page does not say.

In the year 1996, there was chaos worldwide over how, why, when, whether or why not a brown scapular needed to be blessed. Why would that have been necessary? Do you have any idea? I don’t, but I do know there was a lot of confusion in 1996, and it has been going on ever since. There are still people today, 18 years later, looking for answers, even here on Catholic Answers.

The way priests have been investing laymen in the Brown Scapular for hundreds of years before this confusion of 1996 came along has been that the investment prayers accomplish everything, and that’s all there is to it (to the blessing). There was a longstanding provision that in order to obtain the graces of the Scapular in full measure, one had to (besides wearing the Scapular) also recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary every day. A special faculty was given to priests (those who sought it anyway) to give permission for the faithful in their care to pray the daily Rosary instead of praying the Little Office (the latter takes 3 times as long to say).

When you’re traveling or on the road, and you lose your scapular and get a replacement, you don’t have to seek out a priest to get it blessed. All you need to do is PUT IT ON, and it becomes a blessed scapular because YOU are the blessed thing, and YOUR PERSON is what provides the new scapular with its state of being blessed. But if you read the thousands of words on that “latest edition” website linked above, you won’t find a word of that. What you find hints ambiguously to the CONTRARY, where it says (as I already quoted above), "The official ritual provided by the Holy See makes no provision for someone other than a priest or deacon to bless the scapular."

So if that’s the case, how can a layman, who is not a deacon or a priest, effect a blessing on a new scapular simply by putting it over his own head and wearing it? I suppose they could argue that they’re saying that a layman cannot like put holy water on the scapular and say some words and make the sign of the cross and thereby bless the new scapular. Well, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about putting it over one’s head and wearing it. That makes the scapular blessed. And you as the enrolled person have the “faculty” to effect that because it is your scapular.

You just about have to wonder if they were afraid of abuses or something, like someone getting about 100 scapulars and putting them on over his head, and taking them off, then selling them for a profit because they’re “blessed?” No? Well, any blessed article once OFFERED for sale loses its blessing. So that couldn’t be it.

What is it?
.

 

[Dorothy]

It seems a bit odd they would pound out thousands of words without mentioning the fact that once enrolled, an enrollee never again needs to have his new scapular blessed. In fact, they allude ambiguously to the question with this, "The official ritual provided by the Holy See makes no provision for someone other than a priest or deacon to bless the scapular."

That doesn’t say, literally, that a priest or deacon ever blesses the scapular. All it says is that anyone OTHER than a priest or deacon is not provided a provision to bless any scapular.

Then, in this: "According to the Rite for the Blessing and Enrollment in the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, approved by the Holy See in 1996, any priest or deacon has the faculties for blessing the scapular," the topic of blessing and of enrollment are confused. One might wonder if it was a typo. Does the scapular need to be blessed before the investment? Is the investment somehow improper if the scapular is not blessed first? Does the scapular need to be removed after investment and blessed, then re-invested? The web page does not say.

In the year 1996, there was chaos worldwide over how, why, when, whether or why not a brown scapular needed to be blessed. Why would that have been necessary? Do you have any idea? I don’t, but I do know there was a lot of confusion in 1996, and it has been going on ever since. There are still people today, 18 years later, looking for answers, even here on Catholic Answers.

The way priests have been investing laymen in the Brown Scapular for hundreds of years before this confusion of 1996 came along has been that the investment prayers accomplish everything, and that’s all there is to it (to the blessing). There was a longstanding provision that in order to obtain the graces of the Scapular in full measure, one had to (besides wearing the Scapular) also recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary every day. A special faculty was given to priests (those who sought it anyway) to give permission for the faithful in their care to pray the daily Rosary instead of praying the Little Office (the latter takes 3 times as long to say).

When you’re traveling or on the road, and you lose your scapular and get a replacement, you don’t have to seek out a priest to get it blessed. All you need to do is PUT IT ON, and it becomes a blessed scapular because YOU are the blessed thing, and YOUR PERSON is what provides the new scapular with its state of being blessed. But if you read the thousands of words on that “latest edition” website linked above, you won’t find a word of that. What you find hints ambiguously to the CONTRARY, where it says (as I already quoted above), "The official ritual provided by the Holy See makes no provision for someone other than a priest or deacon to bless the scapular."

So if that’s the case, how can a layman, who is not a deacon or a priest, effect a blessing on a new scapular simply by putting it over his own head and wearing it? I suppose they could argue that they’re saying that a layman cannot like put holy water on the scapular and say some words and make the sign of the cross and thereby bless the new scapular. Well, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about putting it over one’s head and wearing it. That makes the scapular blessed. And you as the enrolled person have the “faculty” to effect that because it is your scapular.

You just about have to wonder if they were afraid of abuses or something, like someone getting about 100 scapulars and putting them on over his head, and taking them off, then selling them for a profit because they’re “blessed?” No? Well, any blessed article once OFFERED for sale loses its blessing. So that couldn’t be it.

What is it?
.

I see your point. All these instructions obviously only lead to more questions and confusion. The best thing to do is to corner a Carmelite priest and ask him!

What the scapular is meant to do, as a sacramental, should not be obscured with so many explanations, and then new questions coming out of the explanations. The attempt to explain and clarify causes the need for more explanations. Our Blessed Mother is not a legalist Pure and simple faith in her intercession is best.