Rosary and Scapular - Parallel Histories

Parallel Histories

Scholarly debates on the origins of these Sacramentals are not conclusive. For instance, while Richard Copsey questioned the fact that any apparition took place with respect to the Scapular, Benedict Zimmerman proposed that an apparition did take place in the 13th century, but was to another Carmelite brother and it was later attributed to St. Simon Stock, and that the vision was not of the Virgin Mary, but of a recently deceased Carmelite. The Carmelite Order states on their website "Although the historicity of the scapular vision is rejected, the scapular itself has remained for all Carmelites a sign of Mary's motherly protection and as a personal commitment to follow Jesus in the footsteps of his Mother, the perfect model of all his disciples."

Some scholarly sources question the authenticity of the apparition to Saint Dominic but others lend their support.

Regardless of the scholarly debates about the exact date of the first appearance of either the Rosary or the Scapular, historical records indicate that devotions to both Sacramentals followed specific historical stages which included initial pre-Reformation introductions, promotion and growth as a response to the challenges of the Reformation and entertwined incidents such as being jointly recommended by the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima.