We’ve had new fun for your coloring kids (and you!) for all through May!
Our series of “Our Lady’s Color-by-Number” Apparition Activity Pages!
We hope you and your children learned more about Our Lady’s messages in many of her apparitions and the importance of each of her outfits. She always dressed beautifully, but she never wore the same outfit twice!
Want to get all 6 at once? You can download the entire book below!
Onward! Here’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel (and she brought someone else from Heaven with her!):
The story of Our Lady of Mount Carmel begins thousands of years ago in the time of the Old Testament. Mt. Carmel is the name of a high mountain that is mentioned in the Bible as a place associated with the prophet Elijah. It looks over Israel and the beautiful Mediterranean coast. Later, a group of religious hermits settled on Mt. Carmel and dedicated themselves to praying for the arrival of the Blessed Virgin who would give birth to the Savior.
During the Middle Ages, hundreds of years after the birth and death of Christ, Mt. Carmel was still home to religious holy men — now called monks — who still had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This beautiful devotion spread from the Israeli mountain all the way into Europe where the Carmelite Order began to grow. In the mid 13th century, an English Carmelite friar named Simon Stock visited Mt. Carmel and spent several years living with the monks in the Holy Land.
Although Simon was an old man of nearly 80 when he arrived, he listened and learned to deepen his understanding of his faith. Moved by how the monks spoke of their Lady as a knight might honor his queen, he resolved to spread the devotion of his order and pursue it more fervently.
In the year 1247, he returned to Aylesford, England and set to work on spreading the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel throughout Europe. He made great progress, but the Carmelites were scorned, oppressed, and persecuted by both laypeople and members of the European clergy who didn’t understand or accept the devotion Simon was teaching.
On July 16th, 1251, Simon knelt down to pray for guidance and the intercession of his Lady. The Virgin appeared standing in the chapel before him dressed in the familiar Carmelite robes of brown under a cream cape and a white veil. In one arm she held the Christ-Child and in the other she held a cloth object called a scapular which was meant to be worn around the neck with one side down the front and the other down the back.
Smiling at Simon — who was now 86 years old — she gave him the scapular said, “Receive, my son, this habit of thy order: this shall be to thee and to all Carmelites a privilege, that whoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire. It shall be a sign of Salvation, a protection in danger, and a pledge of peace.”
Taking the gift from the Mother of God, Simon watched in wonder as she disappeared.
Simon began to have scapulars like the one given to him created for all Carmelites to share in the protection and devotion they represented. Simon knew it would be a constant reminder and assurance of Our Lady’s intercession for those that seek it.
Devotion to the Lady of Mount Carmel and the scapular included wearing it always, daily prayer (especially the rosary), living chastely in one’s role in life, and keeping close to Christ and His Mother through Holy Mass and the sacraments.
Six months later, Pope Innocent IV wrote a letter of protection for the Carmelites and afterwards they suffered less persecution.
Simon Stock died in 1265 at the age of 100 after many years of peaceful and loving dedication to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He passed away during the month of May, the month dedicated to Our Lady, and he is recognized as a saint today.
But Our Lady of Mount Carmel didn’t just appear to St. Simon Stock!
She also appeared to Pope John XXII in 1322 and spoke to him about the scapular she had given to Simon.
“I, the Mother of Grace,” she promised, “shall descend on the Saturday after the death of whoever wears this habit and whosoever I find in Purgatory, I shall free, so that I may lead them to the holy mountain of life everlasting.”
So you see: Our Lady came to Earth not once, but twice to advocate pious devotion through the use of her scapular! Like any good mother, she repeats herself about the things that are very important!
When Our Lady comes to visit, she is always attentive to how she will appear to the person she will visit. When Mary got dressed to visit St. Simon, the Carmelite, she knew he had devoted his life to her as well as living simply and humbly. She put aside all her radiant clothes and dressed in the simple browns and whites that the Carmelites wore.
However, she also wore a gold crown because she is the Queen of Heaven, and she knew that St. Simon thought of her as his queen.
When she spoke to St. Simon, she spoke as his queen, friend, intercessor, and mother. Imagine how shocked 86-year-old Simon must have been at hearing the young, beautiful Mother of God calling him her son!
Did you know that the scapular likely given to St. Simon Stock and the ones most lay Catholics know and wear today look very different? There are also many different types of scapulars with their own unique devotions to Mary! You can read more about them here.
Audrey works at Escape Artist Greenville, SC, as a creative jack-of-all-trades. Passionate about writing and storytelling, she free-lances as a writer and editor with several academic publications under her belt. She has an Associates degree, but hopes to further her studies and specialize in historic conservation.
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I really like these so much! How many will there be and can I get them all at once??
We are not currently working on adding any more to the collection and instead are focusing on creating a book with the current 6! It will be available on the website soon.