Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Historical Difficulties

Historical Difficulties

With modern scholarship shedding light on the first centuries of the Carmelite Order, very great difficulty has arisen for the historicity of Our Lady's scapular vision to St. Simon Stock. The first mention of the vision appears in the late 14th century, almost 150 years after the date in 1251 when it is sometimes stated to have occurred, and is not noted in the earliest accounts of St. Simon Stock's life and miracles. The history of the Carmelite habit and legislation and discussion relating to it within the Order during that time span, do not mention nor seem to imply a tradition about the Blessed Virgin giving the Scapular to the Carmelites, nor do the notable Carmelite writers of the 14th century, such as John Baconthorpe, mention the scapular. History even records an instance in 1375 when an English Carmelite named Nicholas Hornby engaged in a public debate with a Dominican friar in which Hornby ridiculed Dominican claims to have received their habit from the Blessed Virgin—this was a claim common to several different orders in the Middle Ages. Hornby showed no sign of being aware of any similar claim that had been made by a fellow English Carmelite in the preceding century.

Amidst confusing evidence, it has been suggested that some other Carmelite than Saint Simon Stock had a mystical vision, the story of which was later associated with him. A Dominican history compiled by Gerard of Frachet in 1259-1260 tells of the 1237 drowning death of a holy Dominican, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, off the coast of Acre, Israel (near Mount Carmel), and mentions "a certain brother of the Order of Carmel" who was tempted to abandon his vocation because God had permitted this to happen to so holy a man; Bl. Jordan was said to have appeared then to the brother in a vision, reassuring him that "all who serve the Lord Jesus Christ to the end will be saved." Gerard concludes: "the brother himself, and the prior of the same Order, brother Simon, a religious and truthful man, have related these things to our friars." This story which bears a notable similarity to the traditional story of the scapular vision and promise of salvation, with obvious differences, is one of very few known references to Saint Simon Stock written during his lifetime.

It has also been pointed out that in the Middle Ages, careful history of the kind we expect today was an exception to the rule, and it was very common to clothe spiritual and theological beliefs in the form of a story.

Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, writes that "from a scholar's historical point of view, we must admit that there is a lack of documentary evidence that would demonstrate irrefutably the truth or historicity of the apparition. At the same time, there exists no cogent reason for denouncing the apparition as false and definitively denying its truth." The Carmelite Order (O.Carm) states on their website that even if the apparition is not historical, "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."

One reason to believe the apparitions were historical is Our Lady of Mt. Carmel's appearance during the miracle of the sun to the seer Lucia dos Santos. The apparition to Lucia dos Santos is approved by their bishop in Fatima and by the Vatican.