Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
Saint Simon Stock, Saint Angelus of Jerusalem,
Saint Mary Magdalene de’Pazzi, Saint Teresa of Avila.
Date: 1641.
Collection: Museo Diocesano di Palermo
Source/Photographer:
(Wikimedia Commons)
Prayer To Our Lady Of Mount Carmel.
Thou, who, with special mercy,
look upon those clothed in thy beloved Habit,
cast a glance of pity upon me.
Fortify my weakness with thy strength;
enlighten the darkness
of my mind with thy wisdom;
increase my Faith, Hope and Charity.
Assist me during life,
console me by thy presence at my death,
and present me to The August Trinity
as thy devoted child,
that I may Bless thee
for all Eternity in Paradise.
Amen.
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Commemoration: The Blessed Virgin Mary Of Mount Carmel.
Feast Day 16 July.
Greater-Double.
White Vestments.
They were called: Brethren of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel (Collect). These Religious came to Europe in the 13th-Century and, in 1245, Pope Innocent IV gave his approbation to their Rule under the Generalship of Simon Stock, an English Saint.
On 16 July 1251, Mary appeared to this fervent servant [Simon Stock] and placed in his hands the Habit which was to be their distinctive sign. Pope Innocent IV blessed this Habit and attached to it many privileges, not only for The Members of The Order, but also for those who entered The Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
By wearing the Scapular, which is in smaller form than that of The Carmelite Fathers, they participate in all their merits and may hope to obtain through The Virgin a prompt delivery from Purgatory, if they have Faithfully observed Abstinence, Chastity (according to their state), and said the Prayers prescribed by Pope John XXII, in The Sabbatine Bull, published on 3 March 1322.
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, at first Celebrated only in the Churches of the Order, was extended to all Christendom by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726.
Mass: Gaudeámus omnes.
Creed: Is said.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. “Et te in Commemoratióne”.
I was reminded by a history of the saint that S. Simon Stock originated from Kent, whence a certain blogger originates also, in fact Aylesford being situated on the River Medway. From Butler’s “Lives:” “[S. Simon Stock] retired to a wood, his dwelling a great hollow oak tree; whence the surname of Stock was given him. Whilst he here mortified his flesh with fasting and other severities he nourished his soul with spiritual dainties in continual prayer. His drink was only water; and he never touched any other food but herbs, roots, and wild apples. Whilst he led this course of life, he was invited by a divine revelation to embrace the rule of certain religious men who were coming from Palestine into England. Albert, the holy patriarch of Jerusalem, having given a written rule to the Carmelite friars about the year 1205, some brothers of this Order were soon after brought over from Mount Carmel by John Lord Vescy and Richard Lord Gray of Codnor, when they returned from the Holy Land. These noblemen some time after settled them, the latter in the wood of Aylesford, near Rochester in Kent, the former in the forest of Holme, near Alnewick in Northumberland.” -Part 1, Note by Dante P.
ReplyDelete(Part 2): The whole history of the Carmelite order and the veneration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, likely well known to fellow Kent denizen Zephyrinus, but forgotten or unknown to this writer, is so quite mysterious and quite ancient. Although S. Albert of Jerusalem, codified the order in writing ca. 1205, who noted that hermits had lived on the mountain in Israel from very ancient times, following the inspiration of the prophet Elijah, and devoting themselves especially to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin. Dom Butler notes that the retiring mystic S. Simon Stock was to have little time for contemplation however: A series of controversies due to challenges by other religious orders and ordinaries forced the saint to travel to Rome in 1226 to obtain approval and confirmation of the Rule from P. Honorius III; In 1229, he had to do so again, this time from P. Gregory IX. From 1229-1237, S. Simon in the Holy Land, at Mount Carmel; He then was made Vicar General of the order; but in 1251, he yet had to travel to Rome again to achieve another confirmation of the order and its Rule from P. Innocent IV. (cont.) Note by Dante P
ReplyDelete(Part III:) During the final 25 or so years of his life, S. Simon Stock traveled all over England and Europe, establishing monasteries of the order especially in France and Spain, so many too numerous to list. He wrote hymns and versicles for the Carmelite Office and numerous other writings. Finally traveling to the Monastery of the Carmelites at Bordeaux France, in 1265, he passed away in his 100th year. He was buried in the Bordeaux cathedral which still retains his relics, and which somehow survived the French Revolution. Some of his relics were shared with the Carmelite monastery at Bordeaux at their chapel sometime in the 19th or 20th century. Finally on the 700th anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady, in July 1951,the skull of the saint was placed in a reliquary and returned to Aylesford England where is venerated.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing life, and an amazing Marian devotion- -Note by Dante P