Is there a WRONG blessing for scapulars?

[GoodMorning]

Hi! So when I was about twelve years old I went up to one of my parish priests with a scapular I had found under my bed and asked him to bless it. He said something like, “Lord please bless this scapular,” or something of the like. I found out about seven years later about the Brown Scapular Enrollment prayer, yet have been wearing scapulars for years. I guess the question is a matter of whether or not that priest’s blessing was invalid. He didn’t say anything about the enrollment.

Thanks for the help!

 

[janeway529]

Hi! So when I was about twelve years old I went up to one of my parish priests with a scapular I had found under my bed and asked him to bless it. He said something like, “Lord please bless this scapular,” or something of the like. I found out about seven years later about the Brown Scapular Enrollment prayer, yet have been wearing scapulars for years. I guess the question is a matter of whether or not that priest’s blessing was invalid. He didn’t say anything about the enrollment.

Thanks for the help!

Just because the priest didn’t know about the specific enrollment prayer, it doesn’t mean the blessing for your scapular was invalid. For your own peace of mind, although it is not necessary, you can if you wish get it blessed again using the enrollment prayer and having the priest place the scapular on you.

 

[JamalChristophr]

Priests usually do as you have described, giving a simple blessing. However, you could ask to be officially enrolled by the praying of set prayers, but whether it is essential is debatable.

I went to my priest with my official blessing prayer for the Medal of St. Benedict in hand. I could see this stretched my priest’s patience, as he was planning to just quickly give it a simple blessing, but after a minutes hesitation, he relented, reciting the prayer of blessing I handed to him so he would not have to go and find it himself.

I think Our Lady looks at your heart first and the disposition with which you wear your scapular, the choice is yours.

 

[Dorothy]

Hi! So when I was about twelve years old I went up to one of my parish priests with a scapular I had found under my bed and asked him to bless it. He said something like, “Lord please bless this scapular,” or something of the like. I found out about seven years later about the Brown Scapular Enrollment prayer, yet have been wearing scapulars for years. I guess the question is a matter of whether or not that priest’s blessing was invalid. He didn’t say anything about the enrollment.

Thanks for the help!

“Good Morning”,

Here is a site put forth by both branches of the Carmelite Order in the year 2000 that has all the current information you need:

carmelitanacollection.com/catechesis.html

 

[sticknstring73]

A simple blessing is valid and I’m always glad to hear of someone else wearing the scapular. When I asked my priest about the enrollment, he looked it up and discussed it with a Carmelite priest in my parish and came up with a shortened ceremony that we did by the altar one day after mass. His reasoning was to make it more about holiness in life and keeping God’s commands than an enrollment in any particular order. I gratefully accepted the substitute form. I read the link that Dorothy provided here about a week before the blessing and I had no problem with the shortened form he chose.

Something from the Catechesis that really rings true:

“Is it necessary to enroll people in the Scapular Confraternity for them to share in the spiritual benefits attached to the scapular?
No, those who wear the scapular out of devotion, practice the Order’s spirituality, yet who have no formal association to the Order share in a spiritual affiliation to the Carmelite Order.* It gives them the assurances of the graces pertinent to this sacramental.* Indiscriminate enrollment in the Scapular Confraternity or other such associations weakens the purpose and mission of those associations and should be avoided.”

What the Sabbatine privilege always meant to me (imho) was by nature of keeping His commands I could be saved. I never, as I think many unintentionally do, meant to wear the scapular as a good luck charm.