Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title under which the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored as the patroness of the Carmelite order. The name recalls Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, where, according to the tradition of the order, a group of hermits gathered in the twelfth century near the fountain of the prophet Elijah to live a life of prayer under the protection of the Mother of God, becoming the first Carmelites, who took her as their patroness and mother.

The title is closely bound to the devotion of the brown scapular, associated with a cherished tradition that the Virgin appeared to the English Carmelite St. Simon Stock in 1251 and gave him the scapular as a sign of her protection, promising her special aid to those who wear it faithfully and die in her friendship. Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and to her scapular spread widely through the Church as a pledge of Mary's maternal care. The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is kept on 16 July.