The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order for men and women. Historical records about its origin remain uncertain, but it was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States. Berthold of Calabria, as well as Albert of Vercelli, have traditionally been associated with the founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived. The order of Carmelite nuns was formalised in 1452.
The scapular is a Western Christian garment suspended from the shoulders. There are two types of scapulars, the monastic and devotional scapular, although both forms may simply be referred to as "scapular". As an object of popular piety, it serves to remind the wearers of their commitment to live a Christian life.
The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel belongs to the habit of both the Carmelite Order and the Discalced Carmelite Order, both of which have Our Lady of Mount Carmel as their patroness. In its small form, it is widely popular within the Latin Church of the Catholic Church as a religious article and has probably served as the prototype of all the other devotional scapulars. The liturgical feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, is popularly associated with the devotion of the Scapular.
The Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also known as the Lay Carmelites, is a third order of the Carmelite Order of the Ancient Observance, established in 1476 by a bull of Pope Sixtus IV. It is an association of people who choose to live the Gospel in the spirit of the Carmelite Order and under its guidance. Its members are mainly lay people.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order, particularly within the Catholic Church. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid-13th century. They built in the midst of their hermitages a chapel which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they conceived of in chivalric terms as the "Lady of the place." Our Lady of Mount Carmel was adopted in the 19th century as the patron saint of Chile.
Simon Stock, OCarm was an English Catholic priest and saint who lived in the 13th century and was an early prior of the Carmelite order. The Blessed Virgin Mary is traditionally said to have appeared to him and given him the Carmelite habit, the Brown Scapular. Thus, popular devotion to Stock is usually associated with devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
The Society of Mary is an Anglican devotional society dedicated to and under the patronage of Mary, mother of Jesus. As its website states, it is a group of Anglican Christians "dedicated to the Glory of God and the Holy Incarnation of Christ under the invocation of Our Lady, Help of Christians." The Anglican Society of Mary is not to be confused with the two Roman Catholic religious orders of the same name commonly called the Marists and the Marianists.
Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, but generally rejected in other Christian denominations.
The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel or the Order of Discalced Carmelites, is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers. The order was established in the 16th century, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order by two Spanish saints, Teresa of Ávila (foundress) and John of the Cross (co-founder). Discalced is derived from Latin, meaning "without shoes".
A Catholic order liturgical rite is a variant of a Catholic liturgical rite distinct from the typical ones, such as the Roman Rite, but instead specific to a certain Catholic religious order.
The Confraternities of the Cord are pious associations of Christians, the members of which wear a cord, girdle or cincture in honour of a Catholic saint or Angel whom they wish to honour and emulate.
The Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a prayer in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a part of a novena for prayer beginning on July 7, July 8, and in time of need.
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a wooden devotional image of the Madonna and Child enshrined in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. The image is closely associated with Mother Saint Michel, the Superior of the New Orleans Ursulines.
The Fivefold Scapular, also known as Redemptorist Scapular, is a sacramental made up of five best-known of the early scapulars in the Catholic Church: the Brown Scapular of the Carmelites, the Blue Scapular of the Immaculate Conception, the Black Scapular of the Servites, the Red Scapular of the Passion, and the White Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity. There are 17 total officially approved scapulars of the Catholic Church.
The Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, formerly the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and of the Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Jesus, is a third order of Catholic lay persons and secular clergy associated with the Discalced Carmelites.
The exact origins of both the rosary and scapular are subject to debate among scholars. Pious tradition maintains that both the rosary and the brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel were given by the Virgin Mary to Dominic and Simon Stock respectively during the 13th century. Historical records document their growth during the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. By the early 20th century, they had gained such a strong following among Catholics worldwide that Josef Hilgers, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, stated: "Like the Rosary, the Brown scapular has become the badge of the devout Catholic."
The Blue Scapular of the Immaculate Conception is a devotional scapular that traces its roots to Venerable Ursula Benincasa, who founded the Roman Catholic religious order of the Theatine Nuns. This scapular must have a blue woollen cloth and on one side bears a symbolization of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady and on the other the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Worldwide The Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the oldest lay apostolates still operating in the Roman Catholic Church, having been part of the Congregation of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception founded by Stanislaw Papczynski. "The Blessed Marian Founder fervently encouraged his spiritual sons to establish confraternities of the Immaculate Conception at Marian churches. 'The first laws of the Order of 1694-1698 speak of this already."
