Simon Stock, OCarm was an English Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

who lived in the 13th century and was an early

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of the

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

Order. The

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

is traditionally said to have appeared to him and given him the Brown Scapular. Popular devotion to Saint Simon Stock is usually associated with devotion to

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is a Roman Catholic Titles of Mary, title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated as patron saint, patroness of the Carmelites, Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on M ...

Life

The Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel had their origins as a hermit community in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

; with the fall of the Crusader Kingdoms and the resumption of Muslim rule, in the early 13th century the members moved to Europe where they became

mendicant A mendicant (from , "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, Mendicant orders, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many i ...

friars A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendic ...

. Simon was born in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and was perhaps elected to be Prior General at a London chapter meeting in 1254. Historical evidence about Simon's life is very scarce; he is mentioned in two necrologies from the 14th century. They attest to his reputation for holiness and a trip made to Jerusalem. There is no evidence for him having lived for a time in a hollow tree. He is believed to have lived at

Aylesford Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, England, northwest of Maidstone. Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. Two pubs, a villa ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, a place that hosted in 1247 the first general chapter of the Carmelite Order held outside the Holy Land, and where there is still a monastery of Carmelite friars. The earliest extant liturgical office in Simon Stock's honour was composed in Bordeaux in France, and dates from 1435.Hilgers, Joseph. "St. Simon Stock." ''The Catholic Encyclopedia.'' Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 28 Jun. 2013
/ref> Liturgies are first known to have been celebrated in Ireland and England in 1458, and throughout the Carmelite Order in 1564. His feast day, an optional memorial, is May 16. Simon Stock is the patron saint of the English province of

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbreviation, abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catho ...

.Bede Edwards, OCDS. "St. Simon Stock – The Scapular Vision & the Brown Scapular Devotion." ''Carmel Clarion'' Volume XXI, pp 17–22, July–August 2005, Discalced Carmelite Secular Order, Washington Province.

Brown Scapular

The earliest surviving accounts of Simon's life do not mention him having a vision. The first known reference dates from the late 14th century, over 100 years after 16 July, 1251, the date when tradition says the vision occurred. The Virgin was said to have appeared to him holding the

Scapular A scapular () is a Western Christian garment suspended from the shoulders. There are two types of scapulars, the monastic and devotional scapular; both forms may simply be referred to as "scapular". As an object of popular piety, a scapular ...

in her hand, saying: "whoever dies clothed in this habit shall not suffer the fires of hell."Petrisko, Thomas.''Inside Heaven and Hell'', St. Andrews Press, 2000, page 105 Beginning in the 16th century, the Carmelites began giving the Brown Scapular to lay people who wanted to be more closely affiliated with them. It soon became popular as a religious article. Scholarly investigation into historical sources has raised questions about whether Simon Stock's vision actually happened. Several religious orders in the Middle Ages told stories of Mary giving them their habit or promising protection. The great Carmelite authors of the 14th century do not mention the

scapular A scapular () is a Western Christian garment suspended from the shoulders. There are two types of scapulars, the monastic and devotional scapular; both forms may simply be referred to as "scapular". As an object of popular piety, a scapular ...

at all. Challenges to the historicity of the scapular vision (and passionate defenses of it) are not a new phenomenon; a notable challenge came in 1653, from a scholar at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, Jean de Launoy. In response, a Carmelite named John Cheron published a fragment of a letter which he purported to be an account by Simon Stock's secretary Peter Swanington (or Swanyngton), giving details of Simon's life, and the scapular vision. It is a fabrication. Devotion to the Brown Scapular remains widespread and is recommended by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The Carmelites continue to find meaning in the traditional story and use it as a spiritual means of deepening their filial relationship with Mary. When

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

addressed the Carmelite family in 2001 on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the bestowal of the scapular, he said that this devotion was "a treasure for the whole Church," noting that the devotion was "so deeply and widely accepted by the People of God that it came to be expressed in the memorial of 16 July," the Feast of

. The pope himself was known to wear the scapular.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stock, Simon Carmelites Priors General of the Order of Carmelites Carmelite saints Medieval Kent People from Aylesford Marian visionaries Our Lady of Mount Carmel 13th-century Christian saints Medieval English saints 1265 deaths English Roman Catholic saints English saints Year of birth unknown English hermits 13th-century English people

Life

Brown Scapular

See also

Notes

External links