Our Lady of the Mountain That Is Christ

Today (July 16) the Church observes the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. While an optional memorial on the general Roman calendar, both branches of the Carmelite family — the ancient observance and the Teresian reform — observe today with the highest level of reverence, as a Solemnity. It is the patronal feast of the entire Carmelite order and is often associated with the Brown Scapular.

The Carmelite order began in the late twelfth century when a group of Crusaders from Western Europe left their soldiering life behind them in order to swear allegiance to Christ and to do battle in prayer. And they chose as the site for their battles a landmark in the Holy Land well-known as the site of the battle between the prophet of Elijah and the false prophets of Baal. By about 1210, they had received the approval of the local bishop, who helped codify their way of life. They dedicated the chapel of their community to Mary.

Thus they became known as the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Increased Muslim pressure throughout the thirteenth century made their presence in the Christian kingdom of Acre more and more difficult, so most of the hermits fled back to their countries of origin: England, France, Sicily. They brought their way of life with them. Many of those in Western Christendom were unsure of what to make of these newcomers, and the Carmelites faced misunderstandings and even the threat of being shut down completely.

It was during this time of uncertainty (tradition suggests that it was on July 16, 1251, though the historical evidence for the exact date is complicated) that Our Lady is said to have appeared to a leader in the English Carmelite community. We now know him as St Simon Stock. Mary appeared to Simon wearing the habit (distinctive clothing of a religious order) of a Carmelite, and raising the scapular in particular (this would be the full scapular, a long apron-like garment originally meant to keep the rest of the habit clean), she told the Carmelite that the order was under her special protection and anyone who died wearing the order’s habit would be saved.

The Carmelites took this vision as a special sign of heaven’s approval of their way of life. They fought for, and eventually won, the Church’s sanction of their existence as a community, though they shifted from being a community of hermits to becoming a mendicant order, combining contemplative prayer with apostolic activity. The order grew, and by the fifteenth century, women wanted to live this way of life as nuns, and even lay people wanted a way of associating with the Carmelite charism. This gave rise to a lay order, as well as various Carmelite confraternities. At first, the friars gave these lay associates pieces of their own habits to wear as a mark of their connection to the greater Carmelite fashion. Eventually this became the Brown Scapular that we know today: two small pieces of brown cloth connected by ribbon or cord and worn over the shoulders with one panel over the chest and one over the back.

Anyone who wears a Brown Scapular is in some way affiliated with the Carmelite order.

One of the reasons I have gone through all this history is to remind ourselves that the Brown Scapular is not some sort of magic “get out of hell/purgatory free” charm. Rather, those who wear it are supposed to take it as St Simon Stock and the early Carmelites took it: as a mark of Mary’s maternal love and protection. Today’s feast is in the first place a reminder to reflect on who Our Lady in fact is. She is our sister in faith — she has walked the same vale of tears that we now walk, so she knows what struggles we face. She is a model disciple of Our Lord. (There is, in fact, a long interpretive tradition among Carmelites that sees the provisions of their rule of life as codifying Mary’s own life as an example.) Mary is also the Queen Mother of the King of Kings, and so her prayers (which are never outside the divine will) have influence, so to speak, over the providential actions of her Son. But more than Queen, she is our mother. Christ gave her to us as our mother from the Cross, and she looks after us with a mother’s care.

Mothers protect and clothe their children, so it is no wonder that an article of clothing has become such a popular sacramental. The symbolism is obvious. But as a garment, the scapular is also a reminder of the wedding garments that we each receive in our baptism. We must keep the garment of baptismal grace spotless so as to arrive at the wedding banquet of the Lamb. The Brown Scapular as a sacramental sanctioned by the Church is meant to call to mind and strengthen these baptismal commitments.

How are we to keep our baptismal garments spotless? Our Lady of Mount Carmel shows the way. In the prayers for today’s feast, the Church instructs us what graces we are asking for today. Here is the opening prayer (this version taken from the Carmelite propers):

One notes several interesting things from this prayer. We ask the Father to hear the prayers that Our Lady offers to Him on our behalf. These prayers are understood in a special way to be prayers of protection — a clear allusion to the Brown Scapular. But perhaps the most striking phrase is the goal of this protection. Our Lady’s prayers are meant to “bring us to your holy Mountain, Christ our Lord.”

Why would Christ be called a mountain? In the Scriptures, mountains are privileged places for encounter with God. God spoke to Abraham on Mount Moriah to prevent him from sacrificing Isaac. God gives the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and the elders of Israel celebrate a covenant meal with God there. The Temple is built on Mount Zion, and God dwells with His people there. As we have seen, Mount Carmel is the place of contest between the false gods of paganism and the one true God. In the New Testament, Our Lord recontextualizes the Law and gives His path to beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is transfigured in appearance before Peter, James, and John and converses with Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor. Mount Calvary is the site of the Crucifixion, and the Mount of Olives the site of the Ascension.

One can easily see the importance of mountains in the Scriptures. But I wonder if today’s prayers are meant to call to mind one of the strangest references to mountains in all of the Bible. In Daniel 2, the young Jewish exile Daniel is called upon to interpret a disturbing dream of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. The king saw a huge statue composed of various materials that was struck by a “stone cut out by no human hands” (Daniel 2:34). This stone utterly destroyed the statue, and even more bizarrely, it somehow started to grow until it became “a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).

The interpretive tradition of the Church sees this stone that becomes a mountain as a clear prophecy of Jesus Christ. What God in times past accomplished at Sinai and Carmel, He now accomplishes in our Savior. Jesus Christ is the locus of encounter with God.

And Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, takes us by her hand, takes us under her apron, and leads us to this encounter. She teaches us to ponder the saving works of God and meditate on them in our heart day and night. She teaches us to exalt in our Savior. She beseeches us, as she did the servants at Cana, to do whatever Jesus tells us to. And she remains with us in prayer, especially for the fire of the Spirit.

May the prayers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel protect us and guide us to the wedding feast of her Son.