Rosary and scapular

Pious tradition maintains that both the rosary and the brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel were given by the Virgin Mary to Dominic and Simon Stock respectively during the 13th century.

[4] This article reviews the history, Mariology and the development of the rosary and the scapular as important expressions of popular piety in the Roman Catholic Church.

[6][7] Carmelite tradition holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock in Cambridge, England in 1251 in answer to his appeal for help for his oppressed order, and recommended the Brown Scapular to him.

[8] Originally, the scapular was a broad band of cloth over the shoulders, serving as an apron, still worn as part of the religious habit by a number of orders of monks and friars.

[11] The approval of the "Confraternity of the Scapular" for every diocese helped the spread of that devotion, reaching its culmination in 1726 via the extension of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16) to the universal church.

The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima was formed in 1946 in the United States and through "Scapular Magazine" helped enroll one million Americans to pray the rosary based on the Fátima messages regarding the consecration of Russia.

[22] Pope John Paul II stated that: "The scapular is essentially a habit which evokes the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary in this life and in the passage to the fullness of eternal glory.

"[23] He further stated that he received his own first Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel at age ten when his Marian devotion was taking shape, and he continued to wear it into his papacy.

Alphonsus Liguori of the Redemptorists and John Bosco of the Salesians were especially devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and were both buried wearing their Brown Scapulars.

Montfort developed specific methods of praying the rosary to help the meditative process and emphasized the need for purity of intention, attention and reverence in prayers.