Our Lady of Mount Carmel: the patroness of the Carmelite family

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patroness of the Carmelite family

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the Marian title that identifies the Marian devotion of the Order of Carmelites, founded on Mount Carmel (Galilee) in the second half of the twelfth century by Western “devout pilgrims to God”. The liturgical feast is celebrated on July 16 and is one of the most widespread Marian memorials among the Christian people, especially in Hispanic, Italian, and Latin American regions.

Origin of the Carmelite Marian devotion

The first hermits of Carmel, gathered into a “collegium” by Albert Avogadro, Patriarch of Jerusalem (1206-1214), built a small church dedicated to the Virgin next to their hermitage. From 1252 onward, the Order appears in the pontifical documents as the “Order of Saint Mary of Mount Carmel”. In its primitive tradition, Carmelite devotion to Mary does not begin from a special image nor from a new devotional aspect, but from the evangelical contemplation of the Virgin of Nazareth: the “handmaid of the Lord” who welcomes and keeps the Word, and whose “yes” makes her the Mother of the Son of God made man. Mary is seen as the “lady” of the first place in Carmel, that is, the one to whose service the brothers wholly consecrate themselves.

The “solemn commemoration” and the feast of July 16

In the second half of the fourteenth century, in England, the Carmelites instituted a “solemn commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary” to celebrate their gratitude for the benefits received from Mary as Patroness. The original date was July 17, linked to the final session of the Second Council of Lyons (1274), which confirmed the existence of the Order. At the end of the fifteenth century, the feast was moved up to July 16. Benedict XIII extended it to the whole Church in 1726. After the Second Vatican Council, it is kept as an “optional memorial” in the Roman calendar.

The scapular and the vision of Saint Simon Stock

The tradition of the Carmelite scapular is linked to a vision attributed to Saint Simon Stock (thirteenth century), in which the Virgin is said to have handed him the Carmelite mantle, saying: “This shall be the privilege for you and for yours: whoever dies clothed in it shall be saved.” The historical value of this vision is debated by specialists, since the oldest manuscripts of the Catalogue of Carmelite Saints in which it appears are later than 1411. The “Sabbatine Bull” (1322), attributed to John XXII, which promised deliverance from Purgatory on the first Saturday after death to those who wore the scapular, is likewise considered spurious. The devotion to the scapular must be interpreted in its genuine sense: as a “little habit” that unites one to the Carmelite family, expresses a special dedication to Mary, and is an invitation to imitate her humility and chastity. Pius XII called it a “memorial of the Virgin, a mirror of humility and of chastity”.

Carmelite spirituality looks to Mary as the inspirer, guide, and lady of a life centered on contemplative prayer and on listening to the Word. The “Ascent of Mount Carmel” culminates in Christ, and Mary’s own “munus” in the economy of salvation is to lead to the perfection of charity, symbolized by the mountain that is Christ. Mary is at the same time “mother and sister” in the Carmelite tradition, in an atmosphere of contemplative intimacy. The Second Vatican Council confirms this insight: Mary has “the office of being mother in the order of grace… she cares for the brethren of her Son who are still journeying and are beset with dangers and afflictions, until they are led into the blessed homeland” (LG 61-62).

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Ordo Fratrum Beatissimae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo ab initio se posuit sub patrocinio Mariae, cuius imitatione vivit et cuius contemplationem propositum habet.

Second Vatican Council, Decr. Perfectae Caritatis, no. 2 (28 octobris 1965)

📚 Literal translation: The Order of the Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel placed itself from the beginning under the patronage of Mary, whose imitation it practices and whose contemplation it has as its purpose.