Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

What is the link between Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of the Mount Carmel, since she appeared wearing the Carmelite habit in one of the apparitions? You know that at the Fatima apparitions Our Lady normally wore a white habit with a gold trim and a blue belt at her waist. But during an apparition to the children when the miracle of the sun occurred, she appeared wearing the Carmelite habit representing the glorious mysteries of the Rosary.

Our Lady does not do anything by chance, so the first question leads to another: What is the relation among Our Lady of the Carmel, the glorious mysteries and Our Lady of Fatima?

The invocation of Our Lady of the Carmel originates from Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, where hermits used to live at the time of the Old Covenant praying and waiting for a Virgin-Mother who would come and bring salvation for the whole human race. They were following the example of Elias, the Prophet, who was at the Mount Carmel praying for the salvation of the Israel, which was passing through a terrible drought, when he saw a little cloud in the distant horizon. He hoped that it would bring the much-needed rain to Israel. The small cloud grew in size and covered the whole sky, and finally the hoped-for rain came to save the people.

Elias understood that this cloud was a symbol of the Virgin to come, relating it to prophecies of Isaiah that spoke of Our Lady. Those who followed his example also prayed for the coming of the Virgin who would be the Mother of the Messiah. In Old Covenant times, therefore, the hermits of the Mount Carmel had the spiritual mission of foreseeing the coming of Our Lady and praying for it. They were persecuted by evil people, and also by members of the decadent Synagogue; notwithstanding, the hermits of Mount Carmel remained faithful.

Finally Our Lady came, and she received the greatest glorification of any living creature: in her the Divine Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was made flesh. She became the spouse of the Holy Ghost. Since she was without original sin, she was not subject to death. But she chose to die, to imitate Our Lord. So, she had a very easy death, which the Church with her incomparable language called the dormitio, the sleep of Our Lady. It was an actual death that entailed the separation of body and soul, but as smooth as possible. Afterward, she was resurrected by Our Lord and carried to Heaven by the Angels. This ensemble of privileges constitutes the greatest glorification a creature had ever had. It is because of this that Our Lady of the Assumption is also called Our Lady of the Glory.

Therefore, the Old Testament history of the Order of Carmel closes with an extraordinary glorification and the fulfillment of its expectations. Through centuries of silence, isolation, and persecution, the followers of Elias advanced step by step to the victory and glory.

The history of the Order of the Carmel begins again in the New Covenant. St. John the Baptist was also a follower of Elias, as were many of his disciples, St. John, St. James and others. They had the joy to see and know Our Lady while she was alive. They venerated the same Virgin-Mother who had been anticipated by all their ancestors. One can easily imagine that at times she would speak to them as Carmelites and confirm their vocation and reward them for being her first devotees in history.

One also can imagine the pious and mysterious relations between Our Lady and Elias, who is still alive, as you know. It seems reasonable to think that the devotion of Holy Servitude (Holy Slavery) to Our Lady, developed by St. Louis Grignon de Montfort, was somehow known and practiced by those first sons of Our Lady, the Carmelites.

The Carmelite Order continued to exist in the Holy Land, but the Christendom of that time did not take the advantage it should have from its presence. That Christendom entered into decadence, and as punishment received the invasion of the Saracens, which destroyed it. At the time of the Crusades, the Carmelites came to the West as an almost unknown religious order, waning and without supporters.

On this shriveling trunk Our Lady made a vibrant flower bloom – St. Simon Stock. After he was elected General of the Order in 1247, he asked for her protection for the Order. She appeared to him and gave him the scapular, that is, the promise of eternal life to those who would enter the Order and die in it. The Order bloomed again, and a new period of glory came to it. Among the glories of the Carmelites, its greatest is to always have had devotion to Our Lady.

It also had the glory of having a St. Teresa de Avila, and more recently the glory of having St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, who could be our contemporary if she would not have died so young.

Today Christendom is again in decadence. Our Lady came to Fatima to announce this fall, the chastisement, and the victory with the famous phrase: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” In that same set of apparitions in which she announced her victory, she desired to appear in the habit of the Carmelite Order, as a way to confirm her age-old predilection for it and to indicate that this Order will be a part of her glorious Reign. With the habit, she symbolically made a synthesis of the past and the future, at the very moment that she announced the end of an era and the beginning of another.

The feast day of Our Lady of the Mount Carmel is a very dear feast to us, followers of Elias the Prophet, the first devotee of Our Lady in History.

Let us glorify her and ask her to prepare us, who are Carmelites in spirit, to pass by the chastisement and to be living stones in the Reign of Mary.

In these turbulent times, we need all the blessings we can get. Fear not for our Dear Lord Jesus and His Beloved Mother will never abandon us in our trials. Days like these are fertile soil for saints and martyrs. Remember that during the Arian heresy, the Lord raised up Saint Athanasius, and when the Albigensians were destroying souls with their false religion, Saints Francis and Dominic were given to the Church to help keep the Faith alive. Today too we can thank Our Lady for providing us with some fervent traditionalist priests to continue to cater for a select few souls. Our conversion to the traditional Faith is a great grace - and one that's not given to all Catholics. Graces are not necessarily given to the deserving, and just because we're traditionalists doesn't make us any more likely to get to heaven. To whom much is given, much is expected.

But during an apparition to the children when the miracle of the sun occurred, she appeared wearing the Carmelite habit representing the glorious mysteries of the Rosary.

Interesting point.

Having made a pilgrimage to another famous apparition site, namely Lourdes, did you ever wonder what the link to Fatima might be?

The last apparition (of 18) at Lourdes occurred on July 16th - feast day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel! The last act of a play directed by Our Lady called - The Holy Rosary!

Well, this is the best I could find on the internet .... but it tells the hidden message of Lourdes well!

Go to the bottom for the last two apparitions and see the connection.

Additionally, I'd point out that Mary appeared to St. Bernadette at her death in the Convent at Nevers. Could that have been the Salve Regina?

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Optional Memorial
July 16th

The Virgin of Carmel
Moretto da Brescia
c. 1522
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was first instituted in the late 14th century in commemoration of the approval of the rule of the Carmelite Order a hundred years earlier. According to legend, a religious community was established even before the time of Christ on Mount Carmel. This is the mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on which the prophet Elijah successfully challenged the priests of Baal and won the people to the true God. The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel entered the Calendar of the universal Church in the early 18th century.
Although there is no historical evidence for the pre-Christian Carmelite community, references in the 12th century record a community of monks on the holy mountain. Despite continual difficulties, the community built a monastery and church dedicated to the Virgin Mary on Mount Carmel in 1263. Saint Louis, King of France, had visited Mount Carmel in 1254, and brought back six French hermits for whom he built a convent near Paris. Mount Carmel was taken by the Saracens in 1291, and the brothers were killed and the convent burned. The spread of the Carmelites in Europe is largely attributable to the work of Saint Simon Stock (1247-65). The Carmelite Order was formally approved in 1274 at the Council of Lyon.
Among the best known Carmelites today are two women: Saint Theresa of Jesus (Theresa of Avila - 1515-1582) who despite many difficulties reformed the Carmelite Order (the Discalced Carmelites); and Saint Edith Stein (Theresa Benedicta of the Cross - 1891-1942), a Jewish convert and philosophy professor, who was killed at Auschwitz, canonized in 1998, and proclaimed "co-patroness" of Europe in 1999.
Collect:
Father, May the prayers of the Virgin Mary protect us
and help us to reach Christ her Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Reading:
Zechariah 2:14-17 (RSV Zechariah 2:10-13)
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Gospel Reading:
Matthew 12:46-50
While He was still speaking to the people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood outside, asking to speak to Him. But He replied to the man who told Him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?" And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Here are my mother and my brethren! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

“But during an apparition to the children when the miracle of the sun occurred, she appeared wearing the Carmelite habit representing the glorious mysteries of the Rosary”

In the October apparition, She appeared as OLMC holding Jesus who was offing us the Scapular. The spiritual yoke we are to wear over our shoulders.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

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