Our Lady of Mount Carmel

JULY 16
> OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
>
> Mount Carmel is a mountain overlooking the plain of Galilee. It became
> famous when the prophet Elijah, who lived before Our Lord, was born. Elijah
> worked a miracle there. Chapter 18 of the Bible's First Book of Kings tells
> how Elijah stood up to the 450 prophets of the false god Baal. Through his
> prayers, Elijah obtained a miracle from God to prove that Elijah's God was
> the true God.
> Centuries later, in the 1200s, a group of European monks began to live on
> Mount Carmel. They honored Mary the Mother of God as Our Lady of Mount
> Carmel. For this reason the people began to call them friars of the Blessed
> Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. This was the way the Carmelite order began.
> Pope Honorius III approved the order's rule in 1226. Simon Stock, an
> Englishman, became the superior of all the Carmelites in 1247. He helped
> the
> order expand and adapt to the times. He patterned the order on the
> Dominicans and Franciscans.
> On July 16, 1251, Mary appeared to St. Simon and gave him the brown
> scapular. She promised her protection to all those who would wear the
> blessed habit. Many miracles proved her words. St. Pius X was pope from
> 1903
> until 1914. He said that people could have the same blessings if they would
> wear the scapular medal. This medal has a picture of Our Lady of the
> Scapular on one side and the Sacred Heart on the other. Simon Stock died in
> Bordeaux, France, in 1265.
>
> "Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart." (Luke 2:19)