Can you wear a brown scapular without it being blessed or your being enrolled?

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Aeden

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So my friend was kind enough to offer me a brown scapular, which I accepted. I’m thinking of seeing how the prayers associated with it fit into my present prayer schedule and until I find a way that works, I don’t want to enroll into the confraternity. Could I wear the scapular without being enrolled and without it being blessed?
 
Really? I just wanted to be sure because I had read that the scapular is a sacramental. I didn’t want to risk doing something that might constitute a wrong action in that sense.
 
Aeden said:
So my friend was kind enough to offer me a brown scapular, which I accepted. I’m thinking of seeing how the prayers associated with it fit into my present prayer schedule and until I find a way that works, I don’t want to enroll into the confraternity. Could I wear the scapular without being enrolled and without it being blessed?
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You do not have to be enrolled in the confraternity to wear it. You should however, have the scapula blessed, being it is a sacramental if you wish to wear it.
 
I asked a priest about this once and he told me that every Catholic was enrolled at his or her first communion. Was this incorrect?
 
I have worn the brown scapular for years, even during surgeries. Could not find a priest that would bless it and say the prayers. I went to the Adoration chapel, said all the prayers to Jesus and asked for His blessing.
 
KrazyKat said:
I have worn the brown scapular for years, even during surgeries. Could not find a priest that would bless it and say the prayers. I went to the Adoration chapel, said all the prayers to Jesus and asked for His blessing.
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Can a priest refuse to invest you? I thought that any priest could, although apparently to get the “full benefit,” you need to be invested by a priest who “possesses the faculties.” How do you know if a priest possesses the faculties?

fatima.org/essentials/requests/invest.asp
 
Aeden said:
Can a priest refuse to invest you? I thought that any priest could, although apparently to get the “full benefit,” you need to be invested by a priest who “possesses the faculties.” How do you know if a priest possesses the faculties?

fatima.org/essentials/requests/invest.asp
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Good question. Not all priests put much stock in it. The priest I have now informed me that not all priests believe in the “Jesus I trust in you. - Divine Mercy”, revelation. Just told him that that is his perogative. 🤷
 
KrazyKat said:
Good question. Not all priests put much stock in it. The priest I have now informed me that not all priests believe in the “Jesus I trust in you. - Divine Mercy”, revelation. Just told him that that is his perogative. 🤷
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If they don’t put much stock in it, I don’t see why they’d refuse it, though. Well, I guess I’ll just have to ask one of the priests at my college if they can invest me. I hope they can, it’s a jesuit college and jesuits were one of the “big” orders not mentioned on that website. :confused:

What’s the divine mercy revelation? I vaguely remember hearing about it, but I admit I don’t really know about it.
 
I, too, was told that I had been enrolled at the time of my entry into the church (that was when I was 30 yo). But I know that was not the case. So I went to a friend priest and asked him to enroll me. He said he didn’t know the ceremony; so I got him the info. I sent away for 25 Brown Scapulars and the priest announced that after Mass we would have an enrollment for anyone who would like to participate. 15 Folks stayed after for the ceremony. 🙂

The Carmelites have the ritual posted on line. In fact several site have it. 👍
 
So a priest at my church just invested me a minute ago, but I think he did the blessing wrong (he was supposed to place the scapular on me, but I ended up putting it on myself after the blessing). Does that invalidate the blessing and investment? Please say no.😦

Also: do you need to get a priest to change the little office of our mother or can you just switch it to the daily rosary yourself?
 
Also: sorry for the double post, but do you need to get a priest to change the little office of our mother or can you just switch it to the daily rosary yourself?
 
Aeden said:
Also: do you need to get a priest to change the little office of our mother or can you just switch it to the daily rosary yourself?
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From what I’ve been able to figure out, the Scapular Confraternity today no longer requires the Little Office, the prayer obligation is expressed in these terms:
Members are bound to set aside regularly time to be with God in prayer, frequent
participation in the Eucharist, daily recitation of one of the hours of the liturgy or of some
psalms or the rosary or other equivalent prayers.
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Source: thereseocds.org/uploads/DoctrinalStatement.pdf (p. 6)

Traditionally, however, permission from a priest was required to substitute the rosary for the little office (and it seems to me that most investitures are still drawn from traditional forms).

The 1996 rules have the advantage of being more flexible, and clearly linking the scapular to its original purpose (a sort of scaled down religious habit). But the disadvantage is they allow for so many gradations of membership (c, d, e, and f on p.2) that it can be hard to even know anymore whether you were enrolled in the Scapular Confraternity or not!

Regardless, I would say that if you were enrolled in the confraternity, then by the rules I quoted above you can pray the rosary. If you weren’t, then you are free to participate in the spirituality of the scapular to as great an extent as you desire, and of course a daily rosary is a great way to do that.

At least that’s how I interpret the latest rules I was able to find (which I was originally looking for to get clear info on which indulgences were still in force).
 
Well, if that’s what it says on their website, that’s what it says. No mention of a dispensation or priest needed, so it sounds like it would be fine to pray the rosary.

I wish I knew for sure whether the priest not being the one to put the scapular on me invalidated it though. I suppose I can just ask another priest and get him to do it for me if he thinks it would invalidate the ritual.
 
Hi again Aeden,

This is my opinion only, but what I think matters are the prayers and the blessings that are said for the enrollment.

I was enrolled almost twenty years ago. I think that I probably took my scapular off that I was wearing so that my priest friend could bless it for me. He/we said the enrollment prayers, and then when he was done, he had me kiss the scapular. I think that I was probably the one who put it back on around my neck.

If you are at all uncertain about what happened during the enrollment and if it would make you feel better, then I would say that you should ask another priest.
 
I recall that when I converted and was baptized (by SSPX priest), he gave me a brown scapular and had me put it on and said that the scapular itself is not blessed, but the person wearing it is blessed. He wanted to make sure I knew that distinction, but I don’t know if that’s the proper way to go about it.
 
My mom passed away from Alzheimer’s in November, 2016. She was 90 years old and had been away from the Church for years. In the last couple of months of her life, she had a lot of hallucinations and was mentally confused most of the time due to her illness. A month before she died, a priest came while she was heavily sedated and gave her the anointing of the sick. On the following day, she came out of her sedation and said “Lord have mercy,” and “Jesus have mercy.” In the last hours of her life, I found a blessed brown scapular that I had and never wore. I put it over my mom’s shoulders and asked Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to pray for her and asked Our Lord to take her to Heaven. My mom died peacefully and the priest who officiated at her burial surprised us by singing the “Salve Regina.” I bought another brown scapular and took it to a priest and he blessed it. I put it on and have been wearing it faithfully. Even though he didn’t say the enrollment prayers, God and Our Lady know that I’m wearing her scapular and that it’s a constant reminder for me to live a good life and is also a reminder of her intercession and protection.
 
Aeden said:
So my friend was kind enough to offer me a brown scapular, which I accepted. I’m thinking of seeing how the prayers associated with it fit into my present prayer schedule and until I find a way that works, I don’t want to enroll into the confraternity. Could I wear the scapular without being enrolled and without it being blessed?
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The recitation of the Little Office (which can be substituted for the Rosary) is not required simply for wearing the scapular to obtain the promise of not suffering eternal fire. What it is required for is receiving the Sabbatine Privilege, which means that on the first Saturday after your death, the Blessed Virgin Mary will descend to Purgatory and bring your soul to heaven.
 
Michael85 said:
The recitation of the Little Office (which can be substituted for the Rosary) is not required simply for wearing the scapular to obtain the promise of not suffering eternal fire. What it is required for is receiving the Sabbatine Privilege, which means that on the first Saturday after your death, the Blessed Virgin Mary will descend to Purgatory and bring your soul to heaven.
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The Sabbatine Privelege was debunked in 1613, the Carmelites were told by the Holy Father to stop promoting it.

In 2000, both branches of the Carmelite family (O.Carm and Discalced) published a Catechesis on the Brown Scapular for it’s 750th anniversary. Praying the rosary, Little Office of the BVM, etc are no longer required.

There are new requirements:
  1. frequent participation in the Mass and reception of Holy Communion;
    2.frequent reading of and meditation on the Word of God in Sacred Scripture;
    3.the regular praying of at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours;
    4.imitation of and devotion to Mary, the woman of faith who hears the Word of God and puts it into practice;
    5.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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All information is here: Brown Scapular Catechesis
 
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