This feast of the Blessed Virgin honours Mary as patron of the Carmelite Order, and, intimately associated with the devotion of the brown scapular, is of significance to the universal church. Accounts of an ancient community of hermits on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, where the prophet Elijah won over pagan worshippers to faith in the true God, form the basis of the spiritual tradition of the Carmelites. The date of the feast reflects an important English medieval tradition that Our Lady appeared on this day to St Simon Stock, General of the Carmelites, and promised special graces to those who wear the brown scapular. The date and feast are also important to the spiritual family of St Bernadette because it was on this day in 1858 that Our Lady appeared in Lourdes for the final time to our patroness.
“the great Prophet Elijah … in the ninth century before Christ strenuously defended the purity of faith in the one true God from contamination by idolatrous cults. Inspired by the figure of Elijah, the contemplative order of Carmelites arose. It is a religious family that counts among its members great saints such as Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (in the world: Edith Stein).
The Carmelites have spread among the Christian people devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding her up as a model of prayer, contemplation and dedication to God. Indeed, Mary was the first, in a way which can never be equalled, to believe and experience that Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is the summit, the peak of man’s encounter with God. By fully accepting the Word, she ‘was blessedly brought to the holy Mountain’ (cf. Opening Prayer of the Memorial), and lives for ever with the Lord in body and soul.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, Les Combes (Aosta Valley), 16 July 2006.
(Image: Fresco from the facade of the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Colderio, Switzerland.)