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OUR LADY of MOUNT CARMEL (1251) Mount Carmel is located about 20 miles from Nazareth and was used as a place of gathering before a vision of the Blessed Virgin appeared in 1251. It had become a place of Marian devotion where prayers were said in honour of the Blessed Virgin. By the twelfth century, the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was founded and a church was built on the ascent of the mountain to honour her. This place of honour remains today a spiritual center for all religious vocations following the example of Our Lady. The tradition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel tells us the St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite friar, was in Aylesford, England, praying to the Blessed virgin when she appeared to him. Our Lady was holding her Immaculate Son in her left arm and was wearing a brown gown with a white mantle and she was holding a scapular. She promised that it would be a sign for him and for all Carmelites that she would help to sustain the Carmelite Order. She promised too, that anyone who dies wearing a scapular would not suffer eternal fire. The wearing of the scapular became widespread in the Church for the next seven centuries, and with it the promise of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. With this widespread devotion came the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, declared in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. Feast Day: July 16 |
Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel O Most beautiful Flower of the Mount Carmel, Fruitful Vine, Splendour of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein you are my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succour me in this necessity; there are none that can withstand your power. O, show me herein you are my Mother, O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3 times) Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (3 times) Amen.
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