Scapula: The devotion of a fanatic?

[Dempsey1919]

I’ve heard of the brown scapular but I’ve never seen anyone who wears it. I hope I didn’t offend anyone with the title of this thread but I would imagine anyone who publicly wore the scapula would be labelled as a fanatic.

Is it possible to hide the scapula under your clothing or do you wear it so that everyone can see it?

Also, why would a person want to wear it? What benefits to you get from it? I could imagine a priest or nun wearing one of these but it seems strange that a layperson would.

 

[lizaanne]

Most of my closest friends and my husband wear the brown scapular, so does my father.

I see nothing strange about it at all.

~Liza

 

[redrosetea]

Way back in the 70’s our parish priest a very holy man, enrolled us all in the brown scapular of Mt Carmel…google St Simon Stock there is more to it than you understand

 

[tobbias88]

You can easily wear it under your shirt, taking it off for showering/swimming.

It is not meant to be a public thing - in your face - it is a private devotion betwen you and Our Lady.

I wear both Scapular & St Benedict medal discreetly under my clothes - no one need ever know.
The Sabbatine Promise is about the most fantastically reassuring thing I know. Read up what Our Lady promises to its wearers. Of course you must lead a non-sinful life as well.

In this time of increased demonic activity on the earth, I feel we need all the protection we can get.

 

[Edward62]

My best friend wears the scapular, and has done since middle school. (We’re now college students.) She’s hardly a fanatic; simply a devoted young woman who has found a great deal of healing through the Church.

 

[tee_eff_em]

… taking it off for showering/swimming.

tee

 

[PHX_Paul]

I’ve heard of the brown scapular but I’ve never seen anyone who wears it. I hope I didn’t offend anyone with the title of this thread but I would imagine anyone who publicly wore the scapula would be labelled as a fanatic.

Is it possible to hide the scapula under your clothing or do you wear it so that everyone can see it?

Also, why would a person want to wear it? What benefits to you get from it? I could imagine a priest or nun wearing one of these but it seems strange that a layperson would.

Most lay people wear scapulars under their clothes. Some as an outer sign of devotion, wear it visibly. According to the original definition of a " fanatic", most people that wear scapulars are not " fanatics" --" fanatics" were individuals who hung out in temples all day. There are many spiritual benefits to wearing scapulars----do a Google search. I wear the Brown Scapular. I consider the Rosary my " spiritual slingshot" to slay the daily " Goliaths" in my spiritual and temporal affairs. And as Fr. Corapi says-----the Brown Scapular is my " dog tag" !

Pacem vobiscum!

Paul

 

[puzzleannie]

t I would imagine anyone who publicly wore the scapula would be labelled as a fanatic.

Is.

perhaps you would imagine this, I don’t know of anyone else who who would have a problem with any article another person chooses to wear. 90% of the people who see it probably have no idea of its significance and of those who do, most would not IMO ascribe any particular personality trait other than devotion to its wearer

if anyone wants more info on the devotion itself, its origin, purpose etc. the spirituality forum has several threads devoted to the brown scapular

 

[Like]

I’ve heard of the brown scapular but I’ve never seen anyone who wears it. I hope I didn’t offend anyone with the title of this thread but I would imagine anyone who publicly wore the scapula would be labelled as a fanatic.

Is it possible to hide the scapula under your clothing or do you wear it so that everyone can see it?

Also, why would a person want to wear it? What benefits to you get from it? I could imagine a priest or nun wearing one of these but it seems strange that a layperson would.

THE BROWN SCAPULAR OF OUR LADY OF MT. CARMEL:
OUR LADY’S GREAT PROMISE

On July 16, 1251, in Aylesford, England, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock. She was dressed in the Habit of the Carmelite Order with her infant Son in her arms. Taking the Scapular in her right hand, she gave it to him saying, “RECEIVE, MY BELOVED SON, THIS SCAPULAR. WHOSOEVER DIES WEARING THIS SCAPULAR SHALL NOT SUFFER ETERNAL FIRE … IT SHALL BE A SIGN OF SALVATION, A PROTECTION IN DANGER AND A PLEDGE OF PEACE.”

For over 700 years, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel has been one of the most precious gifts and highly-indulgenced Sacramentals of our Church. It is more than that, however; it is in reality a garment, given to us by Our Blessed Mother which makes us her special children. Blessing and clothing with the Scapular of the ‘Blessed Virgin of Mt. Carmel’ enrolls the individual in the Scapular Confraternity and admits him to a share in all the spiritual works performed by the Religious of Mount Carmel.

At Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917, Mary appeared as Our Lady of Mt… Carmel, holding the Brown Scapular in her hand. Years later, Lucia, the remaining seer of Fatima, said that “Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular as their sign of Consecration to Her Immaculate Heart.”

 

[palmas85]

I’ve heard of the brown scapular but I’ve never seen anyone who wears it. I hope I didn’t offend anyone with the title of this thread but I would imagine anyone who publicly wore the scapula would be labelled as a fanatic.

Is it possible to hide the scapula under your clothing or do you wear it so that everyone can see it?

Also, why would a person want to wear it? What benefits to you get from it? I could imagine a priest or nun wearing one of these but it seems strange that a layperson would.

The scapular is to be worn next to the skin. It is made of wool and is designed to irritate the skin slightly so as to remind the wearer of the promises he or she made to our Lady when enrolled into the Scapular. That is a formal introduction into actually wearing it. Any Priest can do it. I’ve worn one for many years. I response to your question as to why a layperson would wear one, for the same reason a Priest or other religious would.

Exactly the same reason.

As far as the benefits, our Lady of Mt. Carmel told St. Simon Stock that anyone who dies wearing the Brown Scapular would not suffer eternal fire. There are conditions for this of course, daily recitation of the Rosary or Divine Office and living in as pure a state as possible for your station in life, example, single no sex, married, sex only with your spouse etc.

The promise was expanded into what is called the sabbatine privilige, which basically states that our lady will free from purgatory anyone who dies wearing the scapular on the Saturday following his or her death.

Many do not believe in this devotion but many of us do. I personally don’t consider myself a fanatic although I do believe in the promises that our Lady made to us.

 

[Dempsey1919]

Thanks for the replies. For some reason I thought that the scapula would be a large rectangular piece of cloth worn over the shoulders on the back. I thought that it would have to be worn over the clothes on display to everyone.

Is this devotion popular? Is it classed as more of a “traditional” devotion? I’d also be interested to know if this devotion was more widespread prior to Vatican II?

 

[Tommy_Joe]

Thanks for the replies. For some reason I thought that the scapula would be a large rectangular piece of cloth worn over the shoulders on the back. I thought that it would have to be worn over the clothes on display to everyone.?

The one I wear is not only very small, (1 1/2"x 2") but made of very soft and comfortable brown wool,…so comfortable in fact that I have to check for it every now and then just to see if I still have it on. On the rare occasion when someone either sees me changing at my locker at work, or notices the ribbons at my neckline, they’ll ask what it is and I simply tell them “It’s a Brown Scapular”,…and despite their curiosity, I’ve never been asked to explain it.

Is this devotion popular? Is it classed as more of a “traditional” devotion? I’d also be interested to know if this devotion was more widespread prior to Vatican II?

Is it popular? I never knew of anyone that wore one until my priest enrolled me in the Brown Scapular and I started paying attention, it now seems that I know more people who do wear one then don’t!

It’s a daily reminder to me that I’ve made a few promises that I should neither forget nor take lightly.

 

[CassiusLonginus]

Scapular medals are also an option if you have already been enrolled. Mine is part of my 4-way medal (Miraculous Medal, Scapular, St. Joseph, and St. Christopher), and is worn on the same chain as my St. Benedict Jubilee medal.

 

[Unitas]

Thanks for the replies. For some reason I thought that the scapula would be a large rectangular piece of cloth worn over the shoulders on the back.

That’s correct, but it adapted when the faithful desired to practice similiar devotions as those in monastice life but were unable to. This is from Newadvent:

It consists essentially of a piece of cloth about the width of the breast from one shoulder to the other (i.e. about fourteen to eighteen inches), and of such a length that it reaches not quite to the feet in front and behind. There are also shorter forms of the scapular. In the middle is the opening for the head, the scapular thus hanging down from two narrow connecting segments resting on the shoulders…

The four oldest small scapulars

Like the large scapulars the first and oldest small scapulars originated to a certain extent in the real monastic scapular. Pious lay persons of either sex attached themselves to the Servites for instance; many of those who were in a position to do so attached themselves to the third order with vows, but in the case of many others either this was impossible or the idea of doing so had as yet not occurred to them. In this manner developed, shortly after the foundation of the Servite Order, the Confraternity of the Servi B. Mariae Virginis. Similarly originated the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; that this existed in 1280 is proved by the still extant “Libro degli ordinamenti de la compagnia di Santa Maria del Carmine scritto nel 1280” (edited by Giulio Piccini at Bologna, 1867, in “Scelta di Curiosità letterarie”). The members of these confraternities were called the confratres and consores of the respective orders; they had special rules and participated in the spiritual goods of the order to which then belonged…

The newer small scapulars

In the course of time other orders received the faculty of blessing small scapulars and investing the faithful with them, although such scapulars were not always connected with a confraternity.

Thus originated the Blue Scapular of the Theatines in the seventeenth century, in connexion with which a confraternity was not founded until the nineteenth century. The Fathers of the Precious Blood have a scapular and confraternity named after their order. Similarly the Camillians have the Confraternity and Scapular of Our Lady the Help of the Sick, and the Augustinians the Confraternity and Scapular of the Mother of Good Counsel, in which cases the scapular and confraternity are not inseparably united; finally the Capuchins have the Scapular of St. Joseph without a corresponding confraternity. The Lazarists have the Red, and the Passionists the Black Scapular of the Passion. Under Leo XIII originated in Rome the Scapular Confraternity of St. Michael the Archangel, which is attached not so much to an order as to the church in which it exists. Also under Leo XIII, in 1900, were approved the Scapular of the Sacred Heart, the Scapular of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (both without a corresponding confraternity), and the Scapular of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which originated in 1877. These complete the list of the seventeen known small scapulars.

 

[tradconvert]

Is this devotion popular? Is it classed as more of a “traditional” devotion? I’d also be interested to know if this devotion was more widespread prior to Vatican II?

Before V2 the brown scapular was very widely used, with children invariably enrolled in it immediately following their first communion. That practice is still followed at many TLM parishes/chapels, but unfortunately now is much rarer elsewhere, even though any priest may enrol someone in the brown scapular. It is therefore now mostly a traditional devotion. For me it always was (used to be) one of the very obvious signs that someone was a Catholic. In pre-V2 days they were widely worn and pretty visible especially in summer months when people obviously wear fewer layers of clothes. They were also worn not only by children and in a general sense were for me as a protestant child a particular item of curiosity and one of the outward symbols of Catholicism which led me to look into the Catholic faith more deeply and eventually convert.

 

[historybrat]

Okay not to hijack the thread but I’ve got some questions about the brown scapular. Last night after mass a group of women handed out brown scapulars as everyone was leaving. The priest mentioned this was in anticipation of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel this week I believe.

1. There has been talk about enrolling. How does one enroll? And what if someone doesn’t, does it loses its meaning?
2. How does one wear it? Mine is a fairly small one with brown cloth squares. It doesn’t really seem to stay put so any advice would be helpful.

If anyone could answer these questions I would appreciate it.

Historybrat

 

[CassiusLonginus]

I found this on the first link I clicked on at members.tripod.com/~LaPieta/scap_lar.html

“To be eligible for THE SCAPULAR PROMISE, one must be enrolled in the Family of Carmel. This is a simple ceremony which takes only a moment and can be done by any Carmelite or duly authorized priest.”

Followed a little bit lower down by:

“The first Scapular must be blessed and imposed by a Priest using the formula contained in the Roman ritual for reception into the Confraternity of the Scapular.”

What this site claims about the scapular medal (not favorable), I believe are incorrect. I’ll have to check, but I think Pope St. Pius X allowed its use.

For the cloth scapular, just put it around your neck with the cloth square with the image of Our Lady on the front, and the one with the written promises in the back. I think they were intended to hang about the same distance down the front and back, but I know people whose scapular hangs down the front as far as it will go (with the rear cloth being at the back of the neck, obviously). Get enrolled!!!

 

[grandfather]

I’ve heard of the brown scapular but I’ve never seen anyone who wears it. I hope I didn’t offend anyone with the title of this thread but I would imagine anyone who publicly wore the scapula would be labelled as a fanatic.

Is it possible to hide the scapula under your clothing or do you wear it so that everyone can see it?

Also, why would a person want to wear it? What benefits to you get from it? I could imagine a priest or nun wearing one of these but it seems strange that a layperson would.

What do you think when someone wears a cap that has the logo of the New York Yankees, or a tee shirt that says Budweiser? Are they fanatics? Or when people wear a garment that has the name of a state or city, I LUV scuba diving, does that make them a fanatic?

But if someone wears a garment under their clothing as a private devotion to honor the Virgin Mary that demonstrates they are fantatics, right?

I assume you are serious in raising this question. Where could such a notion come from? Good grief!

 

[Dempsey1919]

I assume you are serious in raising this question. Where could such a notion come from? Good grief!

To be honest, I chose the name of this thread because I knew that it would make more people read it. Although, I thought the scapular was different; I thought it was a large square cloth worn over the clothes so that everyone could see it. That is why I incorrectly thought that it was a bit extreme.

However, thanks to everyone who posted here. I’ve learned a great deal about this particular devotion. And I no longer think it’s fanatical or extreme in any way.

 

[KingAlfred]

Way back in the 70’s our parish priest a very holy man, enrolled us all in the brown scapular of Mt Carmel…google St Simon Stock there is more to it than you understand

Please don’t be offended. I don’t mean any disrespect. But…what does the Brown Scapular have to do with Jesus?