The Brown Scapular

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I recently heard a nun give a talk on the wearing of the brown scapular. She claimed certain promises for those wearing the scapular at death. What I would like to know is it required for all catholics to believe in this. Thanks, this has really been bothering me.
 
The promises accorded to those who wear the brown scapular devoutly were given by private revelation. As far as I know, we are not required to believe in any private revelation. But would you like to tell what it is about the promises that you have difficulty with?
 
The promises attached to the Brown Scapular are from a private revelation. Catholics are not required to believe in any private revelations, even if the Church declares them to be “worthy of belief”. However, if you choose to believe in any private revelation, so long as the Church has approved it, then you have nothing to worry about.

One promise attached to the Brown Scapular that has been misinterpreted and abused is the Sabbatine Privilege. In the past, and sadly even today, some people treat this promise in a superstitious way. They feel that simply by virtue of wearing the Brown Scapular it will protect them like some sort of magic charm and prevent them from being damned. But the promise relies on the wearer fulfilling all the requirements that come with the Brown Scapular devoutly. Without faith in the Lord, repentance of our sins, and obedience the Scapular will be of no use. Conversely, if the Scapular is worn with faith and the devotions attached to it are practiced devoutly then it can bring great spiritual benefits.
 
Thanks to all those that have replied. The promises that have given me difficulty are just what Jtodisco has mentioned. It seems as if the wearer is depending on a superstition or some “magic” to take place instead of depending on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In the way jtodisco explains it it seems that it is more of a reminder of the promises rather than a sure fire way to be released from the punishment of purgatory. The way the nun talked it was a miraculous way of escaping all that.

Thanks again as I am still learning.
Dave
 
I hev been wearing the Browm and Green for years. My mother and sister have been wearing then decades. My mother was so worn out I gave her a new one with whilte cords.

I suppose you could say I’m fanatical. I wear a crucifix, carry a niraculous medal and a Rosary in a pouch in my pocket always also.

I pray the Rosary daily but rarely use the beads. I do carry them though.

God Bless, Gary

I forget which Saint made to quote. “You may go to hell, but you won’t go to hell wearing the Brown Scapular”.
 
As many know, God has sent Mary to warn people and as a sign of His love and mercy. Here is some information about the brown scapular:

catholic-church.org/apcarmel/scapular.htm

Just as the image on the cloak of Our Lady of Guadalupe has not faded or been explained as natural, we have an opportunity here, a tangible sign of what God can do.

Peace,
Ed
 
Strictly speaking you do not have to believe in the promises of the Brown Scapular. Neither denying nor (especially) affirming them will make you a heretic, as it is not a matter of faith. However, consider this; it is Catholic doctrine that praying to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints is both spiritually beneficial and can bring numerous graces into our lives. Wearing the Brown Scapular is in a way “praying” to Mary and it is heresy to say praying to Mary is fruitless. Another thing to consider; no one here is going to disagree when I say Jesus lived in a thoroughly Jewish society right? At the time of Christ (and still with some Orthodox Jews today) it was believed that if you mentioned your mother’s name in prayer, God would be more likely to listen. When Our Lord died on the Cross, He gave Mary to us The Faithful to be Our Mother. Whenever we pray or perform a devotion (like wearing the scapular) to Mary or a Saint and our prayers are answered, we need to remember one thing the grace itself is from God but it is through either Mary or the saint in question. One other thing you should do, is read on the many miracles attributed to wearing the Brown Scapular.

God Bless,
Crusading Canuk
 
Isn’t the grace from God then “through” Christ His Son? This is the problem I have with all this. After all these years, I pray to Christ, rarely if ever through saints. I go straight to the ultimate intercessor, the Son of God, Jesus, who is is the gateway to the Lord God Himself. I just don’t see the point in praying to a saint to pray to Jesus and Jesus prays to God. I cut out the middle man. I personally don’t wear all these medals and chords and images. Hope I don’t get blasted as an iconoclast here. I just like going straight to the boss…🙂
Crusading_Canuk said:
Whenever we pray or perform a devotion (like wearing the scapular) to Mary or a Saint and our prayers are answered, we need to remember one thing the grace itself is from God but it is through either Mary or the saint in question. One other thing you should do, is read on the many miracles attributed to wearing the Brown Scapular.

God Bless,
Crusading Canuk
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gurneyhalleck1 said:
Isn’t the grace from God then “through” Christ His Son? This is the problem I have with all this. After all these years, I pray to Christ, rarely if ever through saints. I go straight to the ultimate intercessor, the Son of God, Jesus, who is is the gateway to the Lord God Himself. I just don’t see the point in praying to a saint to pray to Jesus and Jesus prays to God. I cut out the middle man. I personally don’t wear all these medals and chords and images. Hope I don’t get blasted as an iconoclast here. I just like going straight to the boss…🙂
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But, do you accept that there are real benifits from praying to saints so they can intercede to God for us? It is dogma that there is and heresy to say otherwise. Remember that all these devotions have been approved and promoted by the Church in some cases for hundreds, sometimes well over 1000 years.
 
Honestly, Canuk, I’m working through all this stuff. I’ve never understood the need for a middle-man and it’s one thing about Catholicism that always bugged me. I get in a car wreck, pray to this saint, I want to become a lawyer, pray to that saint, I need to sell my house, bury St. Joseph upside down, can’t get pregnant, pray to St. Ann, I can’t get a job, pray to St. ___. I wonder why we can’t just pray straight to the Lord rather than ask a saint to ask the Lord who asks the Father? It’s not like Jesus is out of His office and I need to leave a note with the secretary. He’s always in…🙂
Crusading_Canuk said:
But, do you accept that there are real benifits from praying to saints so they can intercede to God for us? It is dogma that there is and heresy to say otherwise. Remember that all these devotions have been approved and promoted by the Church in some cases for hundreds, sometimes well over 1000 years.
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We wants us to pray to His Son. The Bible tells me that. It doesn’t admonish me to pray to saints. So I’ll stick with the Word of God 🙂
Shin said:
We pray to saints because that’s what God wants us to do. 🙂
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The Bible tells us to listen to tradition, and that the Word of God is not subject to private interpretation. 🙂

The prayers of a pitiful sinner, bereft of almost all virtue, are not going to be as pleasing to God as the prayers of His angels, His saints, and His Holy Queen.

One person asks for the help of their prayers, another does not.

Who will gain salvation and who will lose it?

The man who loves his mother, or the man who thinks he can go to the Son without going to His mother too?

The angels and saints and holy souls are the family of Heaven. One either wishes to be a member of the family or one does not. One either is in Communion, ‘communicates’ with the family or not. One is not alone in Heaven.

Not is not good. 🙂 There is only benefit in turning to the saints and praying for their help and learning from their virtues.

To neglect them is to neglect Him.

Everything the saints do that is good is God in them. There is no detraction from the glory of God… no, far from it…
 
BigDave31 said:
There’s nothing magic about promises from Heaven. 🙂 They all have a proper light and context seen through the eyes of faith.

'Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: Why could not we cast him out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. ’

Matthew 17:18-19

‘Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.’

Matthew 7:7-8
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BigDave31 said:
Its a devotion many follow and believe in. Its not required. But as the Sister mentioned there are specific promises which go along with the devotion.

I find it interesting that an idividual will wear a Gold Chain for strict vanity but balk at wearing a Brown Scaplar which promise is, the wearer will not go to hell with it on?

What will the Gold Chain do for you? And thats not to say wearing a Gold Chain is a bad thing. Yet lets see things for what they are?
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Gurney,

A good Catholic need not ever rely on the intercession of the Saints, merely to believe that it is a viable way of spirituality. And in fact the book of Revelations does talk about the Saints in Heaven praying for the saints on earth, so it is a part of the Word of God. Catholics just must believe that the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven (the Militant Church and the Triumphant Church) are united by virtue of the fact that the Body of Christ is one and as a result of this the Saints can help and pray for us. Just like you might ask a friend to pray for your dying mother. It is not so much praying to the Saints instead of God, rather just having more people (Saints) praying with you to God. I hope that makes the dogma more accessible to you.
 
Hi smad,

I named my three children after saints. My daughter is Veronica, my sons are Luke and Caleb John. So Veronica, Luke, and John are their saints. I have nothing against saints.

In fact, from time to time, while I’m praying to Jesus with them in their bedrooms, I pray “and St. Veronica, who wiped the blessed face of Our Lord on his way to the Cross, who cared for Him when nobody else would, please pray with us right now that Veronica, my little girl here, will have a great…” etc. So occasionally I invoke them to pray “with” me when I’m already praying to Jesus. But I never invoke a saint by themselves and pray to them. I find it more appropriate to have a devotion to Christ than a devotion to a saint. I don’t pray novenas. I find the language of novenas to sound almost like they’re buttering up the saint. “Oh holy St. Jude, Oh cousin of Our Lord, Oh bringer of miracles to the lost, Oh great missionary, Oh great apostle,” etc. It feels weird to be extolling their virtues when I’d rather focus on the greater virtue of Jesus being whipped, tormented, abandoned, spurned, beaten, and crucified for my sins. I think St. Jude might prefer it, too. 🙂 So I just have my own quirky way about me. 😛
smad0142 said:
Gurney,

A good Catholic need not ever rely on the intercession of the Saints, merely to believe that it is a viable way of spirituality. And in fact the book of Revelations does talk about the Saints in Heaven praying for the saints on earth, so it is a part of the Word of God. Catholics just must believe that the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven (the Militant Church and the Triumphant Church) are united by virtue of the fact that the Body of Christ is one and as a result of this the Saints can help and pray for us. Just like you might ask a friend to pray for your dying mother. It is not so much praying to the Saints instead of God, rather just having more people (Saints) praying with you to God. I hope that makes the dogma more accessible to you.
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BigDave31 said:
I recently heard a nun give a talk on the wearing of the brown scapular. She claimed certain promises for those wearing the scapular at death. What I would like to know is it required for all catholics to believe in this. Thanks, this has really been bothering me.
Click to expand...
Pope Gregory X, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, St.John Bosco wore a scapular when they died and paid great devotion to the scapular, yet when their remains were uncovered, while all the flesh and bones had turned to dust, the scapulars were found perfectly intact. As a businessman I am always looking for clues for a better approach to a business decision, yet in these cases, why did this happen? Is someone trying to tell me something here?

Yeah, I can come up with all kinds of issues and other questions, but in this case I must ask myself again,……is someone trying to tell me something?

There are many other miracles, stories and traditions, but why can I see these scapulars today? 🙂
 
BigDave31 said:
I recently heard a nun give a talk on the wearing of the brown scapular. She claimed certain promises for those wearing the scapular at death. What I would like to know is it required for all catholics to believe in this. Thanks, this has really been bothering me.
Click to expand...
I steered clear of sacramentals for quite awhile, even after I converted. I even steered clear of total consecration to Mary. Silly me. Now, things are very different. I’m hoping to be invested with the 5-fold scapulars this Sunday after Mass. I’m pretty excited, lol.

You can only accept what you are able to accept. In time and with prayer and study, you may wake up one day with the sudden realization of how awesome the scapulars are! But in the mean time, it is private revelation. You will never be required to believe that Our Blessed Mother made some really awesome promises for whoever is invested with the Brown Scapular. These sacramentals are not a part of general revelation. Your salvation doesn’t hinge on believing in these things.

Just be aware that mothers tend to give little ‘extras’ to their children simply because they love them. If that’s what sinful moms do, how much more so the Mother of God?

Why not look into the Church’s teachings on sacramentals? It isn’t unknown for God to use physical things as a means of Grace.
🙂

Pray for me,
Andrew
 
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