Apparition
Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Brown Scapular (Saint Simon Stock)
Private revelation · Aylesford, Kent, United Kingdom, 1251
Carmelite tradition holds that on 16 July 1251 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared at Aylesford to Saint Simon Stock, then leading the order in its difficult transplanting from Mount Carmel to Europe, and gave him the scapular of the habit as a sign of her protection. The brown scapular has since become one of the most widespread sacramentals in the Church.
Background
The Church has never issued any pronouncement on the historicity of this vision, and historians debate its earliest attestation; what she has approved is the scapular itself as a sacramental and the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose feast on 16 July is kept in the universal calendar. The Carmelite orders teach that the scapular is a sign of consecration to Mary and of the desire to live her fidelity to Christ, worn by those who intend to live and die in the state of grace — and they expressly do not promote the so-called Sabbatine privilege or any promise that mere wearing of the cloth guarantees salvation. A sacramental disposes to grace; it never dispenses from conversion, the sacraments and a Christian life.
Location
Aylesford, Kent
Country
United Kingdom
Approved status
Private revelation
Year of apparition
1251
Visionaries
- Saint Simon Stock
Subject
marian
Feast day
July 16
Content subtype
unapproved_apparition