The story is told that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock (an English Carmelite priest
and brother) in the 13 th century, {his skull is housed in a reliquary the the Carmelite Friary at Aylesford, England - I made my first profession into the 3rd Order in front of it], and that she gave him an article of clothing called a brown scapular
(so called because it hangs over the scapula or shoulder bones) as an abiding sign of her special
love and motherly protection. It is also said that she gave him and all who devoutly wear the Brown
Scapular this promise:
“This shall be to you and to all Carmelites a privilege, that anyone who dies
clothed in this shall not suffer eternal fire; and if wearing it they die, they shall be saved.” By wearing it,
or even better, being enrolled in it, a person is saying “Yes” to Mary. “Yes, I want you to be my heavenly
mother. Yes, I believe that when I was baptized I became a member of God’s family, and that I have not
only a Heavenly Father, God, but also a heavenly, Blessed Mother, you, God’s greatest creature. (I also
believe that, as part of this Family, I have older brothers and sisters, the angles and saints.) I believe in
and want your special love for me; I want your motherly protection. I, for my part, will try to live up to the
demands of the Christian life in imitation of you and your Son Jesus Christ. By clothing me with this
physical sign of you motherly love, I trust that you will also help clothe me with your virtues of humility,
of faith, hope and charity for Jesus, of prayer and self-forgetfulness, of friendship with and obedience
to God and His Church, and with your other virtues.”
It is also good to keep in mind that the brown scapular is not a magical charm that will get you into
Heaven automatically. It is meant to be used as an act of religion, not as an act of superstition.
Here are a couple of interesting sites:
www.catholic-soe.org/scapular.html
www.freebrownscapular.com/brown_scapular_miracles.html
A Train Accident
One of the most extraordinary of all Scapular incidents took place in the United
States. It happened around the turn of the century in the town of Ashtabula, Ohio, that a man
was cut in two but a train; he was wearing the Scapular. Instead of dying instantly, as would be
expected he remained alive and conscious for 45 minutes – just enough time until a priest
could arrive to administer the Last Sacraments. These, and other such incidents, tell us that
Our Blessed Mother will take personal care of us in the hour of our death. So great and
powerful a Mother is Mary that She will never fail to keep the Scapular contract, i.e. to see that
we die in God’s grace.
I have read several sources which say you do not have to be enrolled again. My understanding is that you just resume the devotional habit and all is fine.