HISTORY
While praying, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular and
making this promise:
"Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of
peace. Whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire."
There are those today who say this apparition doesn't have the documentation to prove its
validity. John Haffert in his book, "Mary in Her Scapular Promise," states that the documents
were originally stored in the Carmelite libraries at Bordeaux and at London. A hundred years
after the Vision, the library at Bordeaux was burned by the city officials to prevent the spread of
the Black Plague. During the Anglican schism, Henry VIII ordered the London library burned to
the ground.
But there is one document that is authentic. In 1389, the General of the Carmelite Order, John
Grossi, wrote the book known as "The Viridarium". It is a catalogue of the Carmelite Saints and
gives an accurate account of the Vision. John Grossi consulted and talked to companions of
St. Simon. He had access to all the libraries in the Order. He explicitly declared that he wrote
nothing in his Viridarium that was not from the ancient documents.
After Our Lady appeared to Saint Simon, almost immediately a miraculous change took place
in the Order. The order was saved, its Marian character confirmed and Mary became more a
Mother than a Queen to it. In the beginning only the Carmelites wore the scapular. But by the
14th century the privilege of wearing the scapular extended outside the order. Lay groups and
third orders were formed. Some of these groups were called confraternities.
Still Our Lady continued to favor the Carmelite Order and her scapular with further blessings
and promises. In 1321, St. Peter Thomas was told by Our Heavenly Mother that 'the Order of
Carmel is destined to exist until the end of the world'.
