Brown Scapular Question

[CS937]

Can you wear the Brown Scapular if you're not a member of the Carmelite Order or a practitioner of their spirituality? Say, for example, if you're a Benedictine, Franciscan, or Dominican, can you wear the Brown Scapular? Thank!! I ask because Our Lady of Fatima asked everyone to wear the Brown Scapular. However, it is associated with a particular Order's charism and is not just a 'universal devotion' like the miraculous medal or rosary are. 

[Anastasia]

I do not think it is possible to answer this question abstractly or generally. If someone is a Benedictine, Franciscan, or Dominican the most obvious would be to ask their superiors I think.

The Brown Scapular means different things to different people. For the members of the Carmelite Order it is the most important part of their habit which is laden with meaning (a yoke of Christ, obligations etc). Some people become invested into the Brown Scapular (by a priest) and become members of the Confraternity which is affiliated with Carmel so they should practice its spirit. Yet other people become invested without being a member of Confraternity and for them the Brown Scapular is a sign of Marian devotion, a sacramental. Etc. To me it looks like concentric circles. 

Since I belong to Carmel to me the scapular is the sign of my belonging to the Order. Yet I know the people who wear it as a sacramental.

Perhaps you would like to read the article by Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. Brown Scapular: a Silent Devotion . Besides other things he speaks about how the scapular gradually acquired Marian meaning.

[CS937]

13 hours ago, Anastasia said:

I do not think it is possible to answer this question abstractly or generally. If someone is a Benedictine, Franciscan, or Dominican the most obvious would be to ask their superiors I think.

The Brown Scapular means different things to different people. For the members of the Carmelite Order it is the most important part of their habit which is laden with meaning (a yoke of Christ, obligations etc). Some people become invested into the Brown Scapular (by a priest) and become members of the Confraternity which is affiliated with Carmel so they should practice its spirit. Yet other people become invested without being a member of Confraternity and for them the Brown Scapular is a sign of Marian devotion, a sacramental. Etc. To me it looks like concentric circles. 

Since I belong to Carmel to me the scapular is the sign of my belonging to the Order. Yet I know the people who wear it as a sacramental.

Perhaps you would like to read the article by Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. Brown Scapular: a Silent Devotion . Besides other things he speaks about how the scapular gradually acquired Marian meaning.

Thank you for the article and helpful advice! 

Also, I was unaware that the Carmelite Order allowed Eastern Orthodox Christians to join the order. That's fascinating! 

[Anastasia]

7 hours ago, CS937 said:

Also, I was unaware that the Carmelite Order allowed Eastern Orthodox Christians to join the order.

Generally speaking not. However, there have been some precedents of Russian Eastern Orthodox being allowed into various Third Orders. One of such examples is Russian translator Natalia Trauberg (she is well known for her translations of Chesterton and Lewis). She was brought up in the Soviet Union by her nanny as an Eastern Orthodox (that made her life quite difficult). Then she married a nominal Catholic and moved to Lithuania. Her Eastern Orthodox confessor gave her his blessing to worship with Catholics and receive spiritual advice from the Roman Catholic priests (at that time Russian Orthodox Church allowed Roman Catholics to receive communion in their churches so there was a kind of mixing of two traditions, out of necessity). Eventually she was accepted into the Dominical Third Order (she translated Thomas Aquinas and other prohibited authors, both Catholic and Orthodox theologians for samizdat. She kind of lived in both Churches but has never converted. She  considered the Orthodox and Catholic Churches to be one - although she knew and felt differences very well.

Her being in two Churches was a product of necessity to receive communion and to worship in the church (so as mine). It was not a pseudo-ecumenical indifference to the differences.

Russia experienced much of Roman Catholic influence. Our Saint translated Catholic authors etc. I cannot imagine this happening in Greece or Romania.

[Guest]

I don't know what applies today, but a priest used to be able to enroll one in the brown scapular.  Just did a quick Google and the Carmelite website below can answer all and any questions re the brown scapular and enrollment - and yes, any priest can still enroll any Catholic in the scapular.  The brown scapular is not only a sacramental, it asks formal enrollment.

https://www.sistersofcarmel.com/faqs-the-brown-scapular/#who-may-be-invested (another quick Google and these nuns do seem to be Catholic). 

A particularly beautiful and informative website: https://sistersofcarmel.org/

STOP PRESS............Edit:  Woops!  A bit more Google and I came across the following old thread on Phatmass and whether they are in union with Rome or not might be debatable.

No matter, I am pretty sure their info on the brown scapular is accurate, or it certainly was pre V2.  Best to make enquiries from one's diocesan offices.