Article — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology
Article II. On Scapulars
Scapulars, which the faithful are accustomed to wear, in their origin and institution are nothing other than the scapulars proper to various religious Orders, reduced to a small form for the greater convenience of the faithful.1 Therefore they are a sign of a certain union with an Order or Congregation. More recent scapulars, however, are mere emblems or signs of a special devotion, for example toward the Sacred Heart, etc.
1 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 12, 1907, to I.
I. Different scapulars. The principal ones are: the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity (of the Order of Trinitarians); of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (of the Carmelites); of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (of the Servites); of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (of the Theatines); and also of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (of the Congregation of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul).
II. Conditions. In order that someone enjoy the privileges of scapulars, these must be duly made, duly blessed and imposed by a priest having the faculty, with due inscription added if the matter concerns a scapular which is the badge of some Confraternity - such as, for example, the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, of the Seven Sorrows, and of the Most Holy Trinity - and finally they must be worn in the due manner.
- They should be duly made, namely from woven wool. Yet nothing prevents the scapular from having ornaments woven in or embroidered with a needle from another material, provided such ornaments are such that the prescribed color predominates.1
White is prescribed for the scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, brown or tawny for the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, black for the scapular of the Seven Sorrows, blue for the scapular of the Immaculate Conception, red for the scapular of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The form should be square or oblong rectangular, but not round, oval, or many-angled.2
The ribbons or cords can be from any material and of any color, except the cords of the red scapular, which must be made from red wool. Several scapulars can be attached to two common cords,3 provided that, if among them there is the Scapular of the Passion, the cords are made from red wool.
Finally, different scapulars must be "distinct, that is, truly several, for example five scapulars, united either by the same number of cords or by only two cords, and in such a way that one part of each scapular hangs from the shoulders and the other from the breast, but not only one scapular on which little pieces of cloth of different color are sewn."4 With these things considered, the little pieces of cloth should not be so joined that only the extremities of each scapular are visible; but it suffices if the individual little pieces are sewn together only at the upper part - for example by two cords - and otherwise hang loose.
- They should be blessed and imposed by a priest having the faculty. Moreover the faculty belongs:
a) To Cardinals, who from their promotion in Consistory enjoy the faculty of blessing, by the sign of the cross alone, scapulars approved by the Apostolic See and of imposing them without the burden of inscription (canon 239, § 1, 5°).
b) To Bishops, even titular ones, who from receiving authentic notice of completed canonical provision can do the same as Cardinals, yet with the rites prescribed by the Church (canon 349, § 1, 1°).
c) To Superiors of the Orders to which the scapular pertains (n. 545).
d) Other priests must receive the faculty from the Holy See or from the Superiors of the Orders; the faculty received, however, is altogether personal, so that it does not belong to a substitute, nor can it be communicated to others, unless that has been expressly signified.5
- They should be duly blessed and imposed;6 concerning this, observe:
a) Of itself, for scapulars of different species, different blessing and imposition are prescribed. I said of itself, since to many an indult has been granted of blessing and imposing at once, that is, under a single formula, four7 or even five8 of the enumerated scapulars. Several scapulars of the same species can be blessed at once (n. 546). The blessing can be done whether the persons to be invested are present or absent.
b) The imposition must be done by the same one by whom the blessing was done.9 An imposition made on only one shoulder and not around the neck is valid.10 If several persons are to be invested, it suffices to impose one and the same blessed scapular upon those several persons in alternate turns, yet in such a way that the first scapular which the enrolled person must afterward wear is blessed.11 It has also been granted to some that each of the faithful may impose the blessed scapular upon himself. If several are concerned, it suffices to pronounce the form of imposition once in the plural number, and this either before or after the imposition of the scapular or scapulars, if there are several.12
- The persons invested should be aggregated to the confraternity, if the imposition of the scapular is connected with the said aggregation (p. 411). Hence the priest continues: I, by authority, etc. But in order that the aggregation or reception be established, inscription in the register of the association must absolutely be made; indeed, since confraternities constitute a moral person (cf. canons 687, 708), inscription is necessary for validity (canon 694, § 2).
Beringer-Steinen rightly judge that the Decree of the Holy Office, April 23, 1914, persists,13 which states: "His Holiness, in the usual audience on April 23, 1914, granted to the Most Reverend Assessor of the Holy Office, after a previous sanation of all defects hitherto admitted in the inscription and transmission of the names of Christ's faithful who have been enrolled in any pious Sodality, declared that, with the obligation in conscience of inscribing and transmitting the names according to decrees and other prescriptions of the Holy See remaining firm, the faithful, by the very fact that they are admitted by one lawfully deputed, are to be considered duly enrolled, only for the effect that they may be able to gain indulgences and become participants in other spiritual graces, even if their names for any reason have not been entered in the register of the Sodality. Anything to the contrary notwithstanding."14 Besides, Cardinals are exempted from the burden of inscription if the matter concerns rosaries, medals, or scapulars with which association to some sodality is attached (canon 239, § 1, 5°).
Note 1. Even upon little children a scapular can validly be imposed, so that when they have attained the use of reason, they can enjoy the indulgences and privileges without a new reception.15 Besides, someone can also impose the scapular upon himself, provided he has received the faculty indiscriminately, and not specifically, for example only for some community of Nuns, etc.16
Note 2. Soldiers can be received into the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, "provided they impose upon themselves the aforesaid scapular, already previously blessed, and also pour out some prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary (for example by reciting the Hail Mary three times while they impose the scapular upon themselves), and thus are placed under the protection of the same Blessed Virgin."17
Note 3. On July 24, 1884, invalid receptions to scapulars and the respective sodalities previously made in good faith were sanated. Besides, receptions into the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel were last sanated on February 4, 1908, and receptions into the Confraternity of the Seven Sorrows on September 12, 1911.18
- They should be duly worn. Moreover:
a) They must be worn day and night, and in such a way that one part hangs from the shoulders and the other from the breast;19 whether immediately upon the body or over clothing is indifferent.20
b) Several scapulars can be worn in the manner of one, namely so that they are suspended by only two cords21 (p. 412).
c) One who has put aside the scapular for a brief time gains the indulgences; if it is put aside for a long time, the indulgences are suspended. If the scapular has been worn out or lost, or if someone has put it aside and even for a long time has not worn it, he is not bound to a new imposition, but it suffices to resume the scapular; nor is it necessary that the scapular which is resumed be blessed.22 Otherwise it must be said if someone put aside the scapular out of contempt or at least with the intention of no longer wearing it.
1 Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 423).
2 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 423); cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 12, 1840 (Decreta authentica, n. 278).
3 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887, to IV.
4 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 22, 1872 (Decreta authentica, n. 306); April 24, 1843 (Decreta authentica, n. 319).
5 Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 18, 1862 (Decreta authentica, n. 394); August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 421); April 27, 1887.
6 Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 421); April 27, 1887.
7 Formerly the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel was always excepted from the indult (Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887).
8 Nouvelle Revue Theologique 1911, p. 430 sq.
9 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 16, 1872 (Decreta authentica, n. 430).
10 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 27, 1887.
11 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 421, to I).
12 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 18, 1891; June 18, 1898, to IV and V.
13 Beringer-Steinen, op. cit., p. 49 sq.
14 A.A.S. VI, p. 307 sq.
15 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 29, 1864 (Decreta authentica, n. 410).
16 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 7, 1840 (Decreta authentica, n. 280).
17 Pius X, January 4 and March 30, 1908.
18 Beringer-Steinen, II, p. 207.
19 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 12, 1840 (Decreta authentica, n. 277).
20 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 12, 1855 (Decreta authentica, n. 367, to II).
21 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 26, 1864 (Decreta authentica, n. 408, to I).
22 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 27, 1857 (Decreta authentica, n. 379).
III. Metal medals to be substituted for scapulars. Although Pius X "earnestly desires that the faithful continue to wear" scapulars, nevertheless he graciously conceded that for a scapular or scapulars, except those which are proper to Third Orders,1 a single metal medal may be substituted, so that, with the laws proper to each scapular preserved, all spiritual favors (not excepting the so-called Sabbatine privilege of the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel) and all indulgences attached to each one can be participated in. Moreover:
On the obverse the medal should bear the image of Our Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ showing his Most Sacred Heart; on the reverse, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.2
The medal must be blessed; moreover, someone can bless several medals at once, whether those which he has before himself, or those "which the faithful have in the church or in some convent, even though these medals are not seen and are not known individually."3 Besides, the medal or medals must be blessed with as many distinct blessings, that is, signs of the cross, as there are scapulars for which they must substitute. But it does not matter whether or not the order of the different scapulars is observed in making the signs of the cross.4 "Yet lest," says Vermeersch, "those five signs of the cross, given confusedly, be valid for no definite scapular, the priest blessing will at least mentally assign his sign to each scapular."5 So also Stein,6 Beyersbergen.7 But it is not contradictory that all and each of the signs of the cross - for example, five - should be valid for each of the five scapulars, determined in the mind of the priest, so that, when five signs have been made, the medal supplies those five determinate scapulars. Since, however, the matter is doubtful, the safer part is to be put into practice. Finally, several medals can also be blessed for indeterminate persons, whether already enrolled in the scapular or to be enrolled afterward: if for those not yet enrolled, the medals will enjoy the favors of the scapulars at the time when the persons will have been enrolled by regular imposition.8 Soldiers, however, even before the scapulars have been imposed, can validly wear a medal in place of scapulars, and by that very fact are enrolled in the Confraternities.9
One who enjoys the faculty of blessing and imposing determinate scapulars can also bless a medal which supplies for them;10 nor is it required that the same one who blessed and imposed, or is going to bless and impose, the scapular, also bless the medal.11
Of one who has put aside the medal, etc., the same must be said as was said of one who has put aside the scapular (p. 414).
1 Holy Office, December 16, 1910; Sacred Congregation of Religious, March 25, 1922. Nevertheless, considering the cited decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, Superiors of the secular Third Order of St. Francis, with respect to their Tertiaries in individual cases, when a just and grave cause is present, can grant permission of substituting a blessed medal for the scapular of the secular Third Order of St. Francis.
2 Holy Office, December 16, 1910.
3 Holy Office, June 5, 1913, to I.
4 Holy Office, June 5, 1913, to II and III.
5 Vermeersch, Periodica VII, p. 224.
6 Stein, op. cit., p. 54.
7 N. K. Stemmen, 1923, p. 17.
8 Secretariat of State, March 22, 1912; Vermeersch, Periodica VII, p. 224.
9 Holy Office, December 16, 1910; June 5, 1913, to I.
10 Holy Office, December 16, 1910.
11 Periodica V, p. 269.
IV. The Sabbatine privilege. Among the favors attached to the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, and likewise to the medal, the so-called Sabbatine privilege deserves special mention; this privilege is reported as having been promulgated by John XXII through a Bull.
Most hold the said Bull to be spurious. There is, however, a Decree of the Holy Office under Paul V, January 20, 1613, which has these words: "The Carmelite Fathers are permitted to preach that the Christian people can piously believe concerning the help of the souls of the brothers and confreres of the sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, namely that the Most Blessed Virgin, by her continual intercessions and pious suffrages and merits and special protection, after their passing, especially on Saturday, which day has been dedicated by the Church to the same Most Blessed Virgin, will help the souls of the brothers and confreres dying in charity, who in life wore the habit, and observed chastity according to their state, and recited the Little Office, or, if they do not know how to recite, observed the fasts of the Church and abstained from flesh meat on Wednesday and Saturday (unless on those days the feast of the Nativity of the Lord should fall)." Moreover:
The Little Office can be said privately in any language. Those who are already bound to it under another title satisfy by a single recitation.
The faculty of commuting either the Office or abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday is conferred together with the faculty of aggregating the faithful to the confraternity, and it can be exercised even outside confession. Finally, by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 14, 1901,1 to any confessor was granted the power of commuting abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday.