{"id":18822,"date":"2012-07-09T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=18822"},"modified":"2012-07-06T16:46:51","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T21:46:51","slug":"pope-benedict-xv-1914-1922-and-the-brown-scapular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/pope-benedict-xv-1914-1922-and-the-brown-scapular\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) and the Brown Scapular"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year I wrote an article about the history of the Brown Scapular<\/a> in honor of the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel that was approaching. This year, I’d like to focus on the role the Brown Scapular plays as our spiritual armor.<\/p>\n

ARMOR IN COMMON\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pope Benedict XV, the Pope of World War I, who had a deep devotion to Our Lady stated to the world, \u201cLet all of you have a common language and a COMMON ARMOR: the language, the sentences of the Gospel; the common armor, the Scapular of the Virgin of Carmel, which you all ought to wear and which enjoys the singular privilege of protection even after death.\u201d<\/p>\n

ARMOR OF KINGS <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore take the WHOLE ARMOR of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.\u201d Fr. Crasset, SJ relates the miraculous event of a trumpeter in a French military company who received a pistol shot from someone near, and that when he examined his breast, where he said that he had been hit, he found that the ball had been stopped by the scapular of the Virgin which the man wore, and that it had not even troubled the flesh.\u00a0 He took it and exhibited it to the whole company.\u00a0 Louis XIII, King of France on witnessing this miracle, immediately asked to receive the heavenly armor of the Scapular.<\/p>\n

ARMOR OF SAINTS LASTS FOREVER<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is remarkable that just 25 years after St. Simon\u2019s Stock\u2019s vision; Pope Gregory X was buried wearing the Scapular.\u00a0 When his tomb was opened 600 years after his death, his scapular was found intact.<\/p>\n

Saint John Bosco, the 19th<\/sup> century founder of the Salesian Order, also had a great devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and her scapular.\u00a0 He was buried in his priestly vestments, and after his death in 1888, when his body was exhumed in 1929, the rest of his clothing had decayed, but Don Bosco\u2019s brown scapular was still in good condition!<\/p>\n

When St. Alphonsus Liguori\u2019s grave was opened decades after his death, his body and vestments were decayed in the dust, but his brown scapular which he was wearing was still intact.\u00a0 It is on exhibit today in the Redemptorist Monastery in Rome.<\/p>\n

ARMOR OF PRIESTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the miracles Fr. Howard Rafferty recounts is of a French priest who was on pilgrimage to Einsiedeln, Switzerland. He was on his way to Mass when he remembered that he had forgotten his Scapular.\u00a0 Although late, he returned to his room for it.\u00a0 While saying Mass, a young man approached the altar, pulled out a revolver and shot him in the back\u2026but the priest continued to say Mass since he had his back to the people.\u00a0 The man was apprehended later, but in the sacristy the abbot exclaimed, \u201cI thought the man missed you.\u201d\u00a0 When the vestments were removed, the bullet was found adhering to his little brown scapular.<\/p>\n

ARMOR THAT IS UNTOUCHABLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the book Glories of Mary<\/em>, St. Alphonsus Liguori tells the story about a young man in Perugia who once promised the devil that if he would help commit a sinful act which he desired to do he would give him his soul, and he gave him a writing to that effect signed with his blood.\u00a0 The evil deed was committed and the devil demanded the performance of the promise.\u00a0 He led the young man to a well, and threatened to take him body and soul to hell, if he would not cast himself into it.\u00a0 The wretched youth, thinking that it would be impossible for him to escape into it, but terrified at the thought of death, he said to the devil that he had not the courage to throw himself in, and that, if he wished to see him dead, he himself should thrust him in.\u00a0 The young man wore about his neck the scapular (ARMOR) and the devil said to him: \u201cTake off that scapular, and I will throw you in.\u201d\u00a0 But the youth, seeing the protection which the Divine Mother still gave him through that scapular, refused to take it off, and after much altercation, the devil departed in confusion.\u00a0 The sinner repented deeply and converted.\u00a0 Later he would present a picture of this case as an offering at her altar in the new church of Santa Maria in Perugia.<\/p>\n

ARMOR AND THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is interesting to note that the last and most important apparition in Lourdes to St. Bernadette occurred on July 16 the feast of Our Lady of Carmel.\u00a0 Also in Fatima at the last and most important apparition the Virgin Mary appeared dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel.\u00a0 The children said she was the prettiest during this apparition in which Mary handed the brown scapular (ARMOR) to the whole world.\u00a0 Was she showing us a way of protecting ourselves in the future?\u00a0 Well, look at what St. Dominic prophesied to St. Francis of Assisi and Brother Angelus, \u201cOne day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

JOIN US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ARMOR OF GOD<\/strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
\nAT SAINT MARY CATHEDRAL<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n
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WHAT:\u00a0Three Lectures on Our Lady of Mount Carmel & the Brown Scapular<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHERE:\u00a0Bishops’ Hall<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHO:<\/strong> Fr. Bonaventure Sauer, Provincial Delegate, Carmelite Order<\/strong>
\nDeacon Guadalupe Rodriguez<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>& Regina Mater students will present on Miracles of the Brown Scapular<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHEN:<\/strong> Saturday July 14, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

TIME: 9 A.M. ~ 12 P.M.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MASS: Saturday, July 14th<\/sup>, 12:05 PM + <\/strong>Scapular <\/strong>Enrollment & Blessing
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

SPECIAL GUESTS: Third Order Carmelites from the Diocese of Austin<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Additional reading:<\/h3>\n