Our Lady of
Mt. Carmel
Seventh window on the left side of the Church
Certainly this is a title of Our Lady that is very familiar to us. The feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is dear to many Italian parishes both in New York and in New Jersey, and its feast day on July 16th has often been both a religious and ethnic celebration. The top medallion of the window shows an angel bearing the brown scapular, the "sign of salvation".
The center image of the window is Our Lady of Mt Carmel. This depiction of Mary is usually in brown and white, the colors of the scapular that was presented to St. Simon Stock, the founder of the Carmelite Friars in 1251 (the same period when the Dominicans and Franciscans were founded as a new type of religious order in the Church called the mendicant friars, to distinguish them from monks who lived in monasteries). The Scapular devotion and its origin in a vision to St. Simon stock were based on the promise of Our Lady that anyone who was were founded as a new type of religious order in the Church, called the mendicant friars, to distinguish them from monks who lived in monasteries). The scapular devotion and its origin in a vision to St. Simon Stock were based on the promise of Our Lady that anyone who was clothed in the brown scapular would never be lost eternally (one of the reasons why first communicants On the past always received the scapular). In the image, both Mary and the Christ Child hold the scapular, showing us why she is not only called Our Lady of Mt. Carmel but also Our Lady of the Scapular.
The third medallion presents an image of St. Simon Stock, the founder of the Carmelites, while the bottom portion of the window shows three images: a little cloud, a Star of David, and wavy lines representing the sea. These symbols are born of the Carmelite tradition that strove to prove a link between the prophet Elias, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Carmelite Order.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us |
