What is the relationship of the Carmelite Order to the Brown Scapular?
The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the habit of the Carmelite Order. For the religious members of the Order it takes the form of two long, undecorated panels of brown cloth joined at the shoulders and falling, one to the front and one to the back. For the laity it takes the form of a two smaller pieces of brown or dark cloth, preferably plain, joined over the shoulder by ribbons, and falling, one to the back, the other to the front. As the Order’s habit, the scapular signifies some degree of affiliation to the Carmelites. Six practical ways of affiliation are recognized by the Carmelite Order: • the religious men and women of the Order and aggregated institutes • the Secular/Lay Order (Third Order) • members of public associations and confraternities of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, such as active communities of the Scapular Confraternity. • Those who have been invested in the scapular, practice the Order’s spirituality, and have been granted some association with the Order.
