Faith

Walk in my ways 1 Kings 3:14

Scapulars. What is a scapular? Most people would say they have no idea. Most Catholics, however, have either heard of it or wear one every day. I was enrolled in the scapular when I was younger, wore it for a while, then didn’t wear it for years. Recently, I started wearing mine again. The other day I was asked what exactly it was, it then occurred to me that I really didn’t know.

A scapular is sort of like a necklace. It is made up of two wool patches of cloth. In its early days, it was a piece of cloth that covered the individual from shoulder to shoulder and hung down as far as the ankles. Today, they are small and worn over or under regular clothing everyday as an open sign of devotion. There are four original scapulars: the Carmelites, Servites, the Mercederians and Trinitarians. The most common scapular is the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and is believed to be the oldest of all the scapulars. This is the one that I wear every day. This scapular was given to the Carmelite friar, St. Simon Stock, by Our Lady. It came with a special promise to its wearers and it is  a sign of personal consecration and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Wearing this brown scapular places you under her protection. Mary told St. Simon the scapular would be a special sign of grace and that whoever dies wearing it will not suffer everlasting fire. The scapular is protection against danger, a sign of salvation and a pledge of peace. Mary also promised she would give special aid, especially at the hour of death, to those who faithfully wore their scapular throughout their life. She also stated that she will pray and intercede for those who are in Purgatory who wore their brown scapular in good faith, followed their vocation, and followed through with praying the rosary everyday or reciting the Divine Office.

(Whoa. Quite honestly, I didn’t not know a lot of the above information. I only knew that at one time I was enrolled in the scapular, but that was it. I did not realize what it all really meant until now!)

Before wearing the scapular, it must be blessed, and you must be enrolled by a priest. After being enrolled in the confraternity of the Brown Scapular, members would wear the scapular every day.  How cool! Ok, so now that we know a little history about the scapular, how do we wear it?

I have a small scapular, it has two wool squares of cloth that are connected by two strings. One of the squares rests on the back and the other on the chest. After the scapular is blessed, it must always be worn  to have the privileges of the scapular. If the scapular is removed for a period, you are not eligible for its associated blessings, but once you wear it again, you are reinvested in the blessings. If your scapular becomes worn out, you may replace it with a new scapular without being re-enrolled. The indulgences are invested in the devotion of the wearer, not the scapular itself.

Whoops. I defiantly didn’t wear my scapular for a good 10 years, if that. Many times, I would refrain from wearing it because it looked funny. I did not want others to think I was super catholic, so I refused to wear it. Over the years, I grew out of that phase. Now, I don’t care what people think! I wear my scapular everyday as a sign of my love and devotion to Mary. I need to start praying a rosary every day, because I did not know that was part of my commitment! I hope this blog helped you understand a little more about the scapular and why it is worn by Catholics. By no means is this all the information, there is so much more out there! But here are a couple links/citations to the websites I received most of my information from!

https://www.catholiccompany.com/content/How-to-use-the-Scapular.cfm

https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/brown-scapular-our-lady-carmel/

Jesus I trust in you!