The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

In AD 1241 (as per account of John Haffert) when Baron de Grey of England was returning from the Crusades in Palestine, he brought with him a group of religious from the holy mountain of Carmel. Upon their arrival in England, they established the first foundation of the Brothers of Mary, which St. Simon Stock joined. St. Simon was later elected Superior General of the Carmelite order. Fr. Duetao writes that the brown scapular was given to St. Simon in a moment of great stress for the Carmelite order. St. Simon, being a holy, prayerful man, begged the Blessed Mother for special protection for the order. On July 16, 1251, as he was praying "Flos Carmeli" (Flower of Mount Carmel), the prayer he composed for the Blessed Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary appeared to him, accompanied by a multitude of angels. Holding the brown scapular in her hands, Our Lady of Mount Carmel handed it to St. Simon Stock and said:

Wear the brown scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is my garment. To be clothed in it means you are continuously thinking of me and I in turn am always thinking of you. Whoever dies wearing it shall not suffer eternal fire.
Since then the brown scapular has become a widespread devotion and several popes have richly endowed it with indulgences.
By wearing the brown scapular, we profess that we want Mary as our Mother in a special way. The brown scapular is also a shield from the devils as "they are tormented by it" according to Venerable Juan Yepes, the brother of St. John of the Cross. The devils told Juan that there are three things that torment them: the name of Jesus, the name of Mary, and the brown scapular. The brown scapular identifies us in a special way with Mary. It puts us at the foot of Mount Carmel which we have to "ascend" in our struggle for holiness. How do we "ascend"?
By doing little things with love; praying the Rosary daily and paying attention to the mysteries; making holy each act of the day; accepting all from God with love. There's also a privilege attached to the brown scapular, the "Sabbatine or Saturday privilege". St. John of the Cross praised God that he should die on a Saturday, the day of the special brown scapular privilege. Literally, this privilege means that we shall be "saints" by the time we die.

On the last apparition of Our Lady in Fatima on October 13, 1917, after the miracle of the dancing sun, the Blessed Mother appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel holding out the brown scapular in the sky because, according to Sister Lucia, one of the visionaries of Fatima, "She wants everyone to wear it. It's a sign of consecration to her Immaculate Heart."
She also said that "the Rosary and the brown scapular are inseparable. In the Rosary we speak to our Lady and the brown scapular makes Our Lady real to us". In conclusion, we highlight the touching words of the late beloved Pope John Paul II who in his earlier years was a member of the Tertiary Order of Carmel:

Through the brown scapular, those devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel express their desire - to pattern their existence on the example of Mary… to accept God's Word with a purified heart, and to devote themselves to the zealous service of others.