Fatima; The Legacy of the Scapular

The Scapular of Mary, whichever one you are called, offers more than spiritual benefits but, also, physical benefits.  Adherents to the Scapular have made the devotion very strict and continuous.  It is taught that the Scapular must be worn continuously (therefore also during the night); you can of course remove it to wash it, without ceasing to benefit from the promise. 

Pope Saint Pius X granted the right to replace the Scapular of fabric with a medal, especially because of the rapid corruption of the fabric in hot countries. This concession has since been extended to the whole world. With the Scapular medal, therefore, one can benefit from the three promises of the Blessed Virgin: preservation of the eternal flames, liberation from purgatory (Sabbatine privilege) and protection against the dangers of the soul and the body.

One can wear the Scapular medal around the neck or on oneself in another way. If the medal is changed, it is not necessary that the new medal receives a blessing.

However, it must be emphasized that the Church prefers the cloth Scapular, because it better represents the garment given by the Blessed Virgin to Saint Simon Stock. The granting of the medal is only a dispensation, and the popes Saint Pius X and Benedict XV who granted it added that they wanted the faithful to continue to wear, if possible, the woolen Scapular.

Any priest can now impose the scapular; it is no longer necessary, as in the past, to have special authorization from the Order of Discalced Carmelites. One simply has to use one of the formulas of blessing provided for in the Roman ritual.

We long to be at the service of Our Lady and for this reason many of us have consecrated ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. The scapular is the sign of our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary," Sister Lucia said. So we should consider putting on this habit given by Our Lady; for it is a visible sign of our will to consecrate ourselves to her and to do everything through her and for her.

It must be remembered that Pope Francis has canonized the other children who experienced Mary at Fatima. History was made at the shrine of Fatima at 10:30 a.m. on May 13 when Pope Francis declared that Francisco Marto and his sister Jacinta are saints. Francisco and Jacinta are the first child saints who are not martyrs in the history of the church. Lucas Batista Maeda de Mourao, a ten-year-old Brazilian boy who was miraculously cured through the intercession of Francisco and Jacinta, was here for the canonization. Four years ago, he fell from the window of his grandfather’s home and suffered such serious brain damage. As his distraught father picked him up off the sidewalk to take him to the hospital, he invoked the intercession of Our Lady, Francisco, and Jacinta. That same night he and a local community of Carmelite nuns prayed to the two young seers to intercede with God to cure the boy. Some days later, to the amazement of the doctors, the young boy got up and walked home completely cured. Last February, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints concluded unanimously that his cure could not be scientifically explained. Francis recognized his cure as the miracle that opened the door to their canonization. The pope embraced and kissed Lucas tenderly when he brought up the offertory gifts.

In Fatima, Pope Francis said that “we have gathered here to give thanks to God for the countless graces bestowed over these past hundred years” starting here in Portugal and extending to “the four corners of the earth.”

He reminded those gathered that Our Lady introduced Sts. Francisco and Jacinta “into the immense ocean of God’s light and taught to adore him” and that this was “the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering."  The Scapular was art of this light and strength.