The Banner of the Truth in Ireland.

POPULAR POPERY.

No. III.

AUDENS gaudebo, quia induit me vestimentis salutis"Joyfully will I exult, because I have been clothed with the garments of salvation," Isa. Ixi. 10. So opens the dedication to the English of a little work on the Scapular,* recommended in a larger work having the imprimatur of Cardinal Wiseman.†

In the Douay version, the passage is rendered, "I will greatly rejoice IN THE LORD, and my soul shall be joyful in my God, for HE hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and in the robe of justice hath He covered me."

The Church of Rome, you perceive, has her own peculiar use of Holy Scripture, which she admits, but allows none to interpret otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.-(Creed of Pius IV.)

Now, in the days of the Fathers, there existed no scapular, and, consequently, in their interpretations there is no mention of it; accordingly, in the Latin, the Carmelite author puts a where he omitted "in

Domino" (in the Lord), and in the translation of "induit me," has altered the text from "He has clothed me," into "I have been clothed,” so as to give the semblance of Scriptural support to his application of the passage to the scapular-" It is Mary who presents it to us, saying, 'Come to me that I may clothe you with the garment prepared for my servants;' this garment is the garment of salvation, it will draw down upon you the fulness of my mercy" (p. 8).

To so facile a distorter of Scripture, it is but a little thing to suggest that which his own book and all others on the same subject admit, that no such garment as the scapular ever clothed an individual—even of the canonized saints of Rome—until the beginning of the thirteenth century; after that, John of Matha had seen, in the forest of Meaux, a stag approaching him, bearing, between his horns, a red and blue * Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, revised and approved by a Prelate of the Carmelite order.

† “Manual concerning Scapulars," etc., by Labis. Imprimatur, N. Cardinal Wiseman.

1864.

D

crown-a vision, no doubt, quite as real as that of an angel which he had previously seen at the altar-which being afterwards seen by Pope Innocent III., determined him to originate the scapular.*

Since its first invention, however, in the dark ages, not only has its use become almost universal among Romish devotees; but the species has likewise multiplied-there being now five principal scapulars-one (scarlet) originating so lately as June 25, 1847. Of the five, ONE (red and blue on white cloth) is worn in honour of the Blessed Trinity, one (scarlet) for the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary; while the Blessed Virgin, besides her partnership in this, has three others dedicated to her, under the titles of "Our Lady of Dolours" (black); "The Immaculate Conception" (blue and white); and chiefly that of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" (brown).

For the benefit of the unlearned, we may explain that the word scapular is derived from the Latin word scapulce, shoulders, aud simply means two bits of woollen stuff attached together by a pair of strings, so that one part bangs on the breast and the other on the back; this is essential, as we are informed that it will not do to wear it pinned to the dress, nor in the pocket, nor on a girdle, etc. It is also requisite that the wearer should have had one scapular blessed by a priest duly authorized; but afterwards, in case of loss or wear, or of a fancy for another, unblessed ones may be put on without prejudice to the charm.

The scapular is, in theory, a miniature of the habit or livery of the confraternity, in which the wearer is enrolled, and by virtue of which he is, on certain conditions, entitled to all the advantages attaching to that order, including all the merits, prayers, fastings, mortifications, etc., of all its members, and all the indulgences which have been so lavishly granted them by successive Popes. So much virtue is attached to it that in some countries there is a custom highly commended by Cardinal Wiseman, of "giving them to young children, and allowing them to show their colours externally; by this dress they are placed under the special protection of the Mother of God, and, without any doubt, it shields them from many dangers, corporal as well as spiritual."

The lavish indulgences attached to any one of the five, if indulgences were of any real value, would certainly be powerful advocates for its use; but they may easily be multiplied, by the ingenious device of wearing all the five at once, for whose facility we find one pair of strings shall suffice. "The obligations which they impose are almost identical, and the facility of fulfilling them has introduced a very general and excellent custom of uniting them, and wearing all together; by this

means we are able to participate in a greater number of indulgences without aggravating our burden."*

But the glory of the remaining four, undoubtedly, pales before the superior lustre of the habit of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is that represented in our illustration; and when the scapular is spoken of in a popular way, without designating the order, it is that of Carmel that is always meant; moreover, "the Mission Book" (imprimatur Dr. Cullen) mentions no other. Of this, besides its endless indulgences, partial and plenary, and the participation of the prayers, penances, suffrages, alms, watchings, masses, offices, and other spiritual duties which are performed day and night in every part of the world by all the religious of the holy order of Mount Carmel,+ "this humble habit will be to them a shield, not only from the peril of the soul, from temptations, from the lusts of the flesh, and the contagion of bad example, but also a defence against bodily danger; nor is this all, it is a PASSPORT TO HEAVEN, AND PRESERVES FROM EVERLASTING DAMNATION." And, as

if all this were but a trifle, Pope John XXII., in the Bull Sabbatina, A.D. 1322, confirms to the members of this scapular the privilege offered by the Virgin, that if any of them were condemned to the flames of purgatory she would herself descend and deliver them, on the Saturday next after their death, and introduce them into the realms of eternal bliss.

In the Romish picture, of which we give an engraving, the Blessed Virgin is represented in the act of this descent, and of taking the scapulars, like so many pass tickets, from each delivered soul.

Now this privilege of the Sabbatine Bull differs from those other advantages in this-that there are certain conditions prescribed for its attainment, such as reciting the little office, or abstaining from meat instead; but for the rest-" there is no condition, her words are precise, whoever shall die wearing this habit, shall not suffer eternal fire.Ӥ Indeed, the people are cautioned not to be deterred by the idea that the little office, or abstinence, or anything else, is required beyond "simply wearing the scapular,"|| unless they aspire to the privileges of the Sabbatine Bull; and the Prelate of the Carmelite order, pressed with the case of a scapularian persisting in his sin and dying impenitent, admits it to be possible, but adds, "he will not die wearing the scapular he himself will cast off this holy habit, rather than

* Ibid., p. 11.

+ Formula of reception.

"Manual concerning Scapulars," etc., by Labis, pp. 41, 42.

§ Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, p. 43.

that any person wearing it should die a reprobate-whoever shall die wearing the habit, shall not suffer eternal fire."*

From the order which imagines so much virtue in two bits of brown cloth, we cannot look for much veneration for the pure Word of God. In the life of St. Theresa (Duffy, p. 37), the founder of the Reformation of the Barefooted Carmelites, we find the following extraordinary sentence, whose circulation in a cheap form among the people, can have but one obvious tendency :-" At Toledo, a young woman, who had gained a reputation of virtue, petitioned to be admitted to the habit, but added, 'I will bring with me my Bible.', 'What?' said the saint, your Bible! Do not come to us; we are poor women who know nothing but how to spin, and to do what we are bid.' By that word, she discovered in the postulant an inclination to vanity, and dangerous curiosity and wrangling."

We have seen in the opening paragraph how unscrupulously they can use the Scripture when it serves their purpose; but the lying legends upon which the order itself as well as its habit depends, outdo all that could have been supposed possible of distortion and dishonesty.

The order of Mount Carmel, it appears, was founded by Elijah the Prophet, by command of the Blessed Virgin herself, who appeared to him 900 years before she was born. Chapter and verse are given as proof (3 Kings xviii. 44, 1 Kings, in authorized version), where we read of a little cloud which soon spread so as to wrap the whole heavens in darkness, and flood the earth with long-intermitted rain. The little cloud was the Virgin Mary; query, Who was the great cloud? and who the rain?

During his lifetime, Elias saw convents erected in Bethel, Jericho, Gilgal, and Samaria (chapter and verse again, 4 Kings ii.); his disciples and successors were called “ sons of the prophets," had for the general of their order afterwards, Elisha, in whose time becoming numerous, they went to Jordan to erect a new and larger house (4 Kings vi.). Their next general was either Jonas the prophet, son of the widow of Sarepta, or Jonadab, the son of Rechab, from whose name the Carmelites were sometimes called Rechabites.

They continued under various appellations-such as Assidui, Esseni, etc. St. John the Baptist joined them, and induced many of them to embrace Christianity, for the "brothers of the Blessed Virgin" were not Christians, "nor did a general conversion take place among them until the day of Pentecost" (Acts ii.); the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, etc., being no other than the Carmelites, who had two convents in Jerusalem, to which they used to come at the feast, from Carmel.+

* Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, p. 66.

For the whole of this grave account, see "Short Treatise on Scapulars,"