The Blessed Virgin Mary ~ Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The story

+ This title of Mary refers to the origins of the ancient Carmelite Order, whose first members lived as hermits on Mount Carmel in Palestine.

+ The hermits’ first chapel on Mount Carmel was dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In time, the hermits left Mount Carmel and became itinerant beggars, spreading their way of life and spirituality throughout Europe.

+ According to legend, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Simon Stock, a Carmelite priest, in England on July 16, 1251, presenting him with the brown Carmelite scapular. In time, devotion to “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” and the brown scapular spread throughout the world.

+ Although this is the patronal feast of the Carmelite Order, the Church’s liturgy on this day focuses more broadly on Mary’s role as intercessor and protector of Christians.

For prayer and reflection

“A royal virgin of the house of David is chosen. She is to bear a holy child, one who is both God and man. She is to conceive him in her soul before she conceives him in her body. In the face of so unheard of an event she is to know no fear through ignorance of the divine plan; the angel tells her what is to be accomplished in her by the Holy Spirit. She believes that there will be no loss of virginity, she who is soon to be the mother of God. Why should she lose heart at this new form of conceiving when she has been promised that it will be affected through the power of the Most High? She believes, and her faith is confirmed by the witness of a previous wonder: against all expectation Elizabeth is made fruitful. God has enabled a barren woman to be with child; he must be believed when he makes the same promise to a virgin.”—Saint Leo the Great

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember Saint Yangzhi Lang and her seven-year-old son Saint Paulus Lang Fu. These two martyrs were killed together during the anti-Christian persecution of the Boxer Rebellion on July 16, 1900, in Lujiapo, Hebei, China. They were canonized with other Chinese martyrs in 2000.

Vocations

-The Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Joseph (Brooklyn, NY): www.brooklyncarmel.org

-The Monastery of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Morristown, NJ): www.carmelnj.org

-The Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Therese of the Child Jesus (Barrington, RI): https://barringtoncarmel.weebly.com

Prayer

May the venerable intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary
come to our aid, we pray, O Lord,
so that, fortified by her protection,
we may reach the mountain which is Christ.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.