The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is to wear the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

While the miracle of the sun was unfolding in Fatima, on October 13, the shepherds were able to admire three successive scenes, of which the last was that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel recalling the glorious mysteries of the Rosary.

Lucia explained: “Our Lady had the scapular in her hands because she wants us all to wear it. The scapular, as Pope Pius XII has said, is the sign of our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Wearing the scapular is essential to fulfil the requests of Our Lady of Fatima. The scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.”

The scapular invites us to unite our hearts with the Heart of the Blessed Virgin, pushing us to be similar to her. We must say like Saint John of the Cross: “I want to fervently practice all the virtues of Mary, which the scapular represents.”

To the use of the scapular as a sign of consecration to Mary, it is accompanied by the promise of obtaining the grace of the final perseverance. Certainly, this promise could be well corroborated in the revelations of Fatima.

The devotion to the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was born on July 16, 1251, in Aylesford, England. Saint Simon Stock, the General of the Carmelite religious order, had an apparition of the Virgin Mary presenting it as a sign of salvation for the brothers of the congregation and their special protection. Our Lady appeared to him surrounded by a multitude of angels, holding a scapular in her hand. She made him the following promise:

“Receive, my beloved son, this scapular of thy Order; it is the special sign of my favour, which I have obtained for thee and for thy children of Mount Carmel. He who dies clothed with this habit shall be preserved from eternal fire.”

As a result of this, July 16 became the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.

The scapular must be blessed by a priest and all priests can impose it on the faithful.

Imposition Prayers

Receive this blessed scapular and ask the most holy Virgin that, by her merits, it may be worn with no stain of sin and may protect you from all harm and bring you into everlasting life. Amen.

By the power granted to me, I admit you to a share in all the spiritual works performed with the merciful help of Jesus Christ by the religious of Mount Carmel. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

May almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, bless you, whom he has been pleased to receive into the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. We beg her to crush the head of the ancient serpent in the hour of your death and to obtain for you the palm and the crown of your everlasting inheritance. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The medal called “of the scapular”, allowed by pope Saint Pius X, can replace the scapular. Let us point out that, in granting this permission, Saint Pius X expressed his fervent wish that we continue to use the scapular in its traditional form whenever possible.