Commemoration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Commemoratio Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo
On this day the Church honours the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patroness of the Carmelite Order and of all who wear her brown scapular as a sign of devotion and consecration to her.
The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel takes its name from the mountain in the Holy Land where, according to long tradition, hermits gathered to live a life of prayer in the spirit of the prophet Elias. From these beginnings grew the Carmelite Order, which has ever looked to the Blessed Virgin Mary as its mother, patroness, and the model of its contemplative life.
Our Lady, patroness of Carmel
The Carmelite friars, who came to the West in the thirteenth century, placed their whole order under the protection of the Mother of God, honouring her as the “Beauty of Carmel.” This feast, kept on the sixteenth of July, is in a special way the patronal feast of the Carmelite family, and through their devotion it spread throughout the whole Church. The collect of the day thanks God, who adorned the Order of Carmel with the singular title of Mary ever Virgin, and asks that we, shielded by her protection, may attain to everlasting joys.
With this feast is joined the devotion of the brown scapular, a small garment worn about the neck as a token of belonging to Mary and of trust in her maternal care. The Church has long commended this devotion as an outward sign of an inward consecration: those who wear it are reminded to imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin, to live in her friendship, and to seek her intercession, above all at the hour of death.
Mary’s protection
The honour given to Our Lady on this day is, like all true Marian devotion, an honour that leads to her Son. In venerating the Mother, the faithful are drawn to the Saviour she bore and bears in her arms. The scapular and the title of Carmel are not charms but pledges — reminders that those who entrust themselves to Mary place themselves under the care of one who loves them and leads them to Christ. The feast invites every Christian, and not the Carmelites alone, to take the Mother of God as a guide in the hidden life of prayer.
The Collect
O God, who hast honoured the Order of Carmel with the special title of the most blessed Virgin Mary, ever a Virgin, thy Mother: mercifully grant; that we who this day keep her commemoration with solemn office, may, defended by her protection, be found worthy to attain unto everlasting joys.
Deus, qui beatíssimæ semper Vírginis et Genitrícis tuæ Maríæ singulári título Cármeli órdinem decorásti: concéde propítius; ut, cujus hódie Commemoratiónem sólemni celebrámus offício, ejus muníti præsídiis, ad gáudia sempitérna perveníre mereámur.
Patronage
She is the patroness of the Carmelite Order and of all who wear the brown scapular; she is invoked under this title for protection and for a happy death.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar this feast is observed on 16 July, raised to an obligatory memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel?
It is kept on 16 July in both the 1962 Roman Missal (where it is a commemoration, Fourth Class) and the modern calendar (memorial).
What is the brown scapular?
The brown scapular is a small woollen garment worn about the neck as a sign of devotion and consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is an outward token of an inward life — a reminder to imitate Mary’s virtues, to live in her friendship, and to seek her intercession, especially at the hour of death.
Why is Mary called ‘of Mount Carmel’?
The title comes from Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, where, by ancient tradition, hermits lived in prayer in the spirit of the prophet Elias. From them grew the Carmelite Order, which honours the Blessed Virgin as its patroness and mother. Through Carmelite devotion the feast spread to the whole Church.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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