You've probably heard of the brown scapular, if you've stopped here to read this, and may even be aware that there are other scapular devotions out there.
This post is intended to be a guide for those who are indulging their inquisitiveness about the Redeptorist or Five-Fold Scapular--five scapulars in one, including the brown (i.e. Carmelite). When I first heard of it, I could find very little information, so I decided to eventually become the go-to place for...well, the jumping-off point for people who were interested but didn't know everything. I know how frustrating it can be.
This isn't supposed to be comprehensive; just an omnibus article on what the 5-fold is and what its obligations are, so devotees can get started. I was hoping to compile something that could pass for close-enough-to-authoritative in a pinch, something that would suffice for a first-blush good-faith effort and assist anyone who wanted to really close the book on the matter and get on with their lives; but even looking just at the records I have access to in English, things are too disjointed.
Oh, whom am I kidding? I'd like for this to be comprehensive, exhaustive. I don't know what resources exist only in other languages. But I have tried to document and interpret everything I could find.
First, the summary of my research. Discussion follows. I invite your insights and knowledge.
Summary of Requirements (see discussion for details)
I am somewhat of a generalist in life, but have learned that this attitude can lead to not doing anything much in particular at all. When I was preparing for my first communion, I was given a children's missal that came with a Rosary and a brown scapular. I was encouraged to wear it to avoid hell. I wore it once but the plastic corners of the covering irritated my skin, so I resolved to rely on avoiding sin and going to confession, and took it off. That proved to be optimistic. When I learned that there were prayer obligations I couldn't understand, I was further deterred. The family members who gave me the communion kit weren't familiar with scapular enrollment; my grandparents knew to tell me something about it, but perhaps because they were trying to explain something, which my parents weren't even doing, to an eight-year-old, I remained confused.
Many years later, I'm a little less reckless--I'm more reck?--and have discovered the five-fold scapular, which appealed to my cover-all-bases disposition. But having just learned there was more than just the brown scapular out there, I was overwhelmed and confused by the apparent plethora of requirements associated with the devotion of the five-fold scapular. I won't argue against the value of spending more time in prayer, but if they all require things like the Rosary or the Divine Office (and if they require the same thing, can I double count?), am I going to be able to fit it all into my day and still have the stamina to pray for the things I want to pray for, and still have a semblance of a normal life (to whatever degree I ought)? If I'm a lay person or otherwise living and working in the world, am I obligated to get up at 2 or 5 and then 6 in the morning to pray certain hours of the Divine Office, or is there an option to reduce it somewhat or substitute the requirement with something else?
This is not a great question, but I like to think it is an understandable one for someone just starting out.
I found different answers everywhere I turned, which also did not help me, so the five-fold scapular I bought stayed on my nightstand. Perhaps it is a sign that in three moves between four states in fifteen years I never lost it. But my life turned a corner a few years ago starting with weekly Eucharistic Adoration, and again with daily prayer of the rosary; and more recently I was drawn to revisit this abandoned devotion. So I set out to set the record straight.
This is according to my personal research; I have listed my sources at the end of this article, to the extent that I can identify them (I'm not going down the rabbit hole of trying to link random fifteen year old Internet forum posts or forgotten Google-translated Indonesian blog posts that might but might not turn up in a particularly worded Web search, even if they are unusually perspicacious; most that I have found crib the same generic descriptions and rites of enrollment that are not what I needed, and none referenced the books I used).
The five-fold scapular seemed, perhaps erroneously on my part, one of the more complicated private devotions known today and I have struggled to find information describing not just what it's about but how to practice it, so I wanted to compile everything I learned in one place, in the hope that (1) it's not wrong and I can refer back to it later as I learn the practices (2) anyone reading this who knows better can correct me (3) anyone else with the same interest will have a more or less encapsulated document to refer to and be saved a lot of time and confusion.
I invite all my readers to post corrections or recommendations for better sources in the combox. I'll keep this post updated and will track changes by responding to your comments with my subsequent findings.
I have found many sources that are ambiguous or contradictory or had very lax recommendations. One booklet I got online, for example, even said one only had to wear the five-fold devotionally, apparently without enrollment, but other sources discussing just a singular scapular often enumerate several particular practices. Sometimes I would find an instruction that was clearly meant to supersede an older one, but other times it wasn't so clear; if a pope makes a ruling and at another time the head of an order contradicts it, which if either trumps the other? Was a pope merely trying to promote a devotion by publicizing the then-current rules rather than imposing something in perpetuity, and was the order just adapting to historical circumstances? Where I couldn't tell, I wanted to present both sides with concrete evidence so you could see for yourself and hopefully bring back a more educated opinion with which to correct me.
For the most part, the discrepancies were small once I understood what I was looking at, but others became more intractable the deeper I went, so I tried to elaborate on the contradictions where I couldn’t resolve them.
My general metric was based on the idea that the people with authority over these devotions want them to be widely practiced. In many cases the sources themselves suggest as much: for people who cannot read, which was more common in the earlier days than it was at the Millennium, the instructions may commute requirements for reading Scripture to something like praying seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys while kneeling before a crucifix; or if a devotee is in prison, requirements for pilgrimages are waived.
On the other hand, we've learned in the modern era that it is not always the case that making something easy to do makes it more popular.
My biggest challenge, it turned out, was the conflation of obligations to the scapulars with requirements for attaining certain associated promises from Our Lord or Our Lady, or for gaining various indulgences that once were tied to the scapulars but now are not (at least, not most of the plenaries). This was, after all, my main reason for doing this. Considering the confusion I discuss below regarding the brown scapular, I am still only confident enough to publish this with all these cautions and invitations to correction, so caveat lector.
Any priest can perform the investiture, so you don't have to track down five different friars, or even a single Redemptorist priest in particular. Unlike other sacramentals, you don't just have a priest bless the object and then keep it on your person, but there is a particular rite of investment for each of the scapulars. You can look up the rites in many places online, and a copy is often included with the scapular when you buy one.
I have tried to identify which scapulars have medals to wear as an alternative, but I'm not sure I've found all the answers. Haffert gives a good capsulized history of the notion. Just for the sake of clarity, though, medals can substitute for the cloth in cases of necessity, like if you work in a job or live in an environment where the wool panels or cords would be destroyed in short order, or if you have a wool allergy; but generally not just for convenience or preference. Each medal should be separately blessed after investiture with the cloth scapular. According to New Advent's entry on scapulars, however, in 1910 the Holy Office permitted the scapulars to be replaced with wearing a single medal, provided the medal has the Sacred Heart on one side, Mary on the other, and has been blessed with all the investitures that go with the particular scapulars. It doesn't comment on necessity versus convenience, but if you want the option, I'd suggest bringing a medal to your investiture and making sure the priest knows to make a Sign of the Cross over it corresponding to each scapular, and you can sort out the details later. You can't exclude the cloth scapular from the rite even if you intend to take up the medal exclusively.
Because of the brown scapular’s spectacular legacy, combining it with other scapulars has sometimes been discouraged. Some of my sources suggest it is impious to wear more than one scapular, particularly anything other than the brown; others say the investiture of the brown shouldn’t be watered down by combining it with the enrollment of other scapulars. Magennis has the most discussion on this topic that I have found, but even there it isn’t consistent; on page 6 or so, he quotes a Jesuit who admonishes against trivializing the brown but expressly does not dishonor the other four; fifty pages later, it is claimed that Leo XIII decreed that enrollment with the brown should not take place with the others—but this was only a year after the five-fold was approved by that same pope in the first place. Allegedly this was reiterated in 1913, but that still was over a hundred years ago, so there might be more recent drama to unpack. But again, more than a hundred pages after that, it talks about "cumulative" enrollments and whether the brown ought to be done there or just first and the others accumulated to it afterwards; and all this when faculties to enroll in all five were not universal, so objections to the modern practice might all be moot. I probably won't know until I learn a few more languages and dive deeply into the next tier of sources. I happen to be enrolled in the brown already, so I think if I got enrolled in the other four now, it wouldn’t hurt anybody’s feelings.
Something I might like to do in the future is revisit my sources and create a list of all of their cited resources. I mention a few of them in this work, but I could only hypothesize about whether anything not presented by one of the documents I refer to, would be applicable or helpful.
What follows is my findings for each scapular. My bibliography of referenced sources is at the end.
White, of the Most Holy Trinity:
6 Paternosters, 6 Aves, 6 Glorias for the glory of the Trinity and for the liberation of all those in captivity. There is an associated medal. Formal enrollment beyond the investing rite seems to be abrogated. Per Hughes, according to Innocent XI this scapular must be blessed every time a replacement is donned, while for the others the blessing automatically carries to the new garment. Comerford also cites a Summary approved by the Sacred Congregation from 1847 that says the same. However, according to O'Boyle's more recent work, the scapular may be replaced by another scapular or medal after imposition, and his work carries an imprimi potest from the Trinitarian's provincial, so I would think that would take precedent.
Black, of the Seven Sorrows (Servites):
Meditate daily ≥15' on the dolors of Mary (preferably by praying the longer Seven Sorrows Chaplet) for the Servite order and the Church, including at least 1 Ave Maria and 1 Hail Holy Queen. Formal enrollment beyond the investing rite seems to be abrogated.
Red, of the Passion (Lazarists):
None, other than the general requirements, although sometimes it is said for one to contemplate the Passion and pray what's on the scapular ("Holy Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Save Us" and "Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, protect us").
Indulgences were attached to reciting five Paternosters and five Aves while meditating on the Passion, or spending half an hour in mediation on the Passion, or kissing the scapular and praying "We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood." Formal enrollment beyond the investing rite seems to be abrogated.
Brown, of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel:
For being the most widely known scapular, it strikes me as odd that uncovering the practices behind it was the most confusing, if not the most difficult. All the various other sources, as I discuss, were ambiguous or mutually contradictory; maybe this is so because it's more popular than the other four scapulars so there's just more chance for error to crop up. But my request for help from more knowledgeable persons has paid some dividends, and I was able to acquire a book compiled by the North American Provincials of the Carmelite Orders (O.C.D. and O.Carm, for those of you who want to check my work), who put it together specifically for the same purpose that I am writing this, titled The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The book is a little dry but is an excellent primer on the usage and devotion of scapulars as sacramentals, not just the brown one.
For the record, this booklet states that the best historical evidence does not vouch for the authenticity of the Sabbatine Privilege (not to be confused with the Scapular Promise, which can be piously hoped for but does not excuse one to treat the scapular as a get-out-of-hell-free card). The Scapular Book disagrees, citing the Sabbatine Bull of March 3 1322 and naming at least six later popes who endorse it. Scapular Facts also supports it, citing a vision of Mary that John XXII wrote of having, where Mary allegedly made the promise of the Privilege (but not without conditions); as well as a decree by the Inquisition on 20 January 1613 saying it is lawful to preach the Privilege may be obtained if one dies in charity wearing the scapular and recited the Little Office (alas, Facts does not specify which, and I do not know which should be assumed) daily or abstained and fasted on the usual days if one could not read. Mary In Her Scapular Promise by Haffert also goes as far as to name the persons responsible for planting seeds of doubt about the Sabbatine Privilege, making skeptics’ protests sound like little more than “Well, it seems a bit much, doesn’t it?” Either way, these requirements are pretty standard, and if exercised piously, will tend to be good for one's immediate judgment and purgation anyway; and SOLMC and Facts both have nihil obstats and imprimaturs so perhaps arguing about it is moot. But if you're interested in your own research, maybe you can find another source cited by Facts, namely, "The Sabbatine Privilege of the Scapular" by Most Rev. E. P. Magennis, Prior General O. Carm.
Haffert is interesting in this regard. It comes off first as a devotional history, and includes so many anecdotes (some are validated by other sources I used; some of these sources even give relevant names and dates) about unbelievers being convinced to simply put the scapular on to humor someone and soon converting, that it lends some credence to the notion of wearing the scapular being a “silent devotion”—that is, the act of wearing it is a fruitfully meritorious practice all by itself.
Most of the requirements are like the "general requirements" I enumerate below: things like wearing the scapular, frequent reception of the Eucharist, meditation on and imitation of the themes that inspired the scapular, and even meeting for communal prayer. The unique ones come from III.18.7 of the Doctrinal Statement on the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is included in the book from the Carmelite provincials. I quote the paragraph in full: "Members are bound to set aside regularly time to be with God in prayer, frequent participation in the Eucharist, daily recitation of one of the hours of the liturgy"--i.e. the Divine Office--"or of some psalms or the rosary or other equivalent prayers." Further, on page 8, under "Some Practical Rules" in the section A Message From Your Brothers and Sisters in Carmel, it reads in part "The Scapular holds us ... to profess our special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, which should be expressed each day, at least, by saying the Hail Mary three times."
Finally: something concrete and unambiguous.
Formal enrollment beyond the investing rite was abrogated by Gregory XVI in 1888.
There is an associated medal, and where the booklet allows for it to replace the scapular, it does not stipulate that the medal be used only out of necessity.
Added bonus: You do not need to be enrolled to wear the scapular and receive some graces, as I said was discussed by Haffert, so if you have some impediment, it's not an all-or-nothing situation--but if you don't follow the obligations, at least be mindful that it’s not a good-luck charm. But maybe those converted skeptics who wore it as “fire insurance” at the insistence of friends or clergy who just happen to be visiting them on their deathbeds--remember the crippled man whose friends lowered him through the ceiling to be healed by Jesus--can teach us a thing or two about what’s really faith and what’s just superstition.
Like many sacramental devotions, there are loads of indulgences you can receive by doing various things like pilgrimages to Carmelite churches or attending mass on the feast of St. Simon Stock and various other Marian feasts; but those aren't hard to find for yourself.
There is also a Morning Prayer for the brown scapular, as follows; I am not sure what attaches to it.
O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss your Brown Scapular), I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with it the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day. O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate that she may best apply them to the interests of Thy most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, save us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Blue, of the Immaculate Conception:
Pray for the conversion and repentance of recalcitrant sinners, the sick and the dying, and for the souls in purgatory. Pray the Salve Regina (aka "Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy..."). Chaplet of the 10 Evangelical Virtues, or Little Office of the Immaculate Conception (similar to the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the LOIC contains prayers for the hours but there are no propers for the day), or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I think this is up to the devotee's choice. Most of my research says formal enrollment with the Theatines is still required, but Comerford cites the document Le Chretien eclaire sur la nature et 1'usage des Indulgences by P.A. Maurel, which claims the Theatines themselves gave some communique that they no longer mandate it, either. The book is available online in some countries and in a few libraries, but unfortunately it's in French and I haven't found an English translation to complement the little French I know. Fortunately, though, I did find this Marianist web site about confraternity enrollment that offers the option of taking on the scapular without formally enrolling, so to the extent that I understand things this question of formal enrollment is answered in the negative.
And, what I have been calling the "general requirements":
These are requirements that are common to more or less all the scapulars, and would apply in some form to many another devotions.
Wear the proper scapular (most have requirements for shape, color, or construction, with a few exceptions; and have stipulations for the medals if they are available), wear them constantly, get enrolled/invested in each one, and cultivate devotion and honor to the various devotions (e.g. develop a habit of meditating on the Passion, the Immaculate Conception, etc. and praying for the associated graces for yourself and those in most need), perform charitable works to the poor and destitute and dying and dead, partake in the sacraments as frequently as a devout Catholic should if possible (but daily mass would be even better), masses on appropriate feast days for further graces and indulgences &c, live chastely according to one's station in life. Mostly stuff you should be doing anyway, if perhaps more mindfully--and pretty much all you need for the red scapular.
One should be inclined to support in prayer the obligations and duties of the various orders or confraternities whence these scapulars come, so their other members can receive some blessing from your membership as you receive blessings by becoming a member. You're not becoming a professed member of anything by taking up the scapular--it's kinda-sorta like becoming a fourth-order member, which is not quite really a thing--but think twice about keeping up with the requirements before you jump in. I don't want you to be deterred, but it is commendable to look at what you can spiritually offer these communities when you take their spiritual memberships on.
However, none of these binds under pain of sin. You only fail to receive the associated blessings on the days you do not pray these devotions or wear the scapular, which is usual for a sacramental.
At the start of each day, or when putting the scapular on after removing it (which should only be for bathing, although even then you don't have to--the whole point is to wear it devotionally), pray the following: "Holy Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, save us. Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, protect us. Holy Trinity, we adore Thee. Holy Mary, ever virgin Mother of God, we venerate Thee and throw ourselves under the mercy of the protection of Your intercession." I don't know if it's a standard requirement but it seems a good practice. If you're going this far, why stop short of a single fourteen second prayer?
Some people experience dye bleeding when they wear it and sweat or shower or go through rain. It's okay to wash it before you wear it if this is a concern; hopefully someone who does their laundry with more care than I can offer some instructions in the comments about how to best extract or set extra dye in a fabric. I shower with mine on, so dye bleeding stopped pretty early; it saves me the trouble of cleaning it separately, and the only thing it does is leave wet spots on the front and back of whatever shirt I put on next.
Several plenary indulgences were previously attached to this devotion, but some time ago they were abrogated. I think the partials are still applicable. The plenaries might qualify as partial now, actually; I read something to that effect once and I think it was a general rule--but again, I invite correction on the matter. Some of the books, particularly Fr. Comerford's, are of a vintage to contain references to indulgences that are gauged by numbers of days, a practice done away with by Paul VI in 1967 with Indulgentiarum Doctrina.
The scapular must be made of wool, with all five parts bound on the same woolen red cords, but could be encased in plastic. It does not have to be worn directly against the skin. The red scapular must be topmost and have the prescribed image and text on it. The white should be bottommost with a red and blue cross.
While one source does say a scapular may be cotton, this wool requirement is the consensus for all these scapulars; indeed, the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences said as much in 1868 to the Procurator General of the Redemptorist Fathers. Lace can be permitted to decorate a scapular but the panels themselves must be woven wool. When asked whether felt (i.e. nonwoven fabric) could suffice, the answer was in the negative; if you’re a Latin scholar, the words used were “pannus” and “panniculus” and “lana subcocta,” so hopefully you can confirm for me and my few readers whether this refers specifically to woven fabric.
I won’t get further into the designs of the individual scapulars—the descriptions you can find anywhere are normative; clear and relatively consistent—except to point out that the brownness of the brown scapular can apparently range between black and tawny
Usually the 5-fold can be found with a small cross and St. Benedict medal on the cords, but apparently they aren't required. The St. Benedict medal normally receives a particular, lengthy (especially in the old rite, which is more potent) exorcism blessing, but once invested in the 5-fold, the scapular's blessing follows you rather than the object so when you replace it after it gets worn out you don't have to have it reblessed (but you should still dispose of it as a holy object that is fit for retirement), so I don't know how it works. Maybe transfer the cross and medal to the new scapular.
Sources
- The Five Scapulars, by Fr. Raymond J Miller, C.Ss.R. Refuge of Sinners Publishing 2014
- The Fivefold Scapular, Carmel books, author and date unknown
- The Book of Holy Indulgences, Rev. Michael Comerford, James Duffy and Sons 1876 via Palala Press*
- The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel: Catechesis and Ritual, prepared under the direction of the North American Provincials of the Carmelite Orders.
- The Blue Scapular
- The Blue Scapular Prayer Book
- The Devotion of the Holy Rosary and the Five Scapulars, Fr. Michael Mueller C.Ss.R. Loreto Publications 2004
- The White-Red-Blue Scapular, Patrick A. O'Boyle, Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity, 1954
- The Scapular Book and The Golden Book of the Confraternities, John Hughes
- Scapulars, at New Advent
- Scapular Facts by Rev. Albert H. Dolan, O. Carm. Refuge of Sinners Publishing 2015
- The Scapular of Carmel,> by Most Rev. E.K. Lynch, O. Carm. AMI Press 1996 ed., Washington, NJ
- Our Lady’s Garment, the Brown Scapular, at The Fatima Center
- Mary In Her Scapular Promise, John Mathias Haffert, Refuge of Sinners Publishing, Pekin, IN 2nd ed. 2019
- The Scapular Book, ed. Brother Hermengild TOSF, issued 8 April 2015, author and publisher unknown
