Martyr of the Brown Scapular

 

Meet Blessed Isidore Bakanja, a convert to Catholicism, back when missionaries work to preach the Gospel and bring people to the One True Faith.

He was baptized at the age of 18.  He worked for the white colonizers as an assistant mason. He never forgot the lessons taught him by the Trappist missionaries;  a Christian must be recognized by the rosary and scapular (Mary's habit, as it was rendered in Isidore's native tongue).

And this he kept all his life.

He found employment in a Belgian company that controlled the rubber plantations in the region as a house boy. Many of the agents were Christian-hating atheists.  The missionaries' defense of the natives' rights and their denouncing of injustices perpetrated against them earned the ire of these atheists.

Isidore soon experienced this hatred. He was told to stop teaching his fellow workers how to pray: "You'll have the whole village praying and no one will want to work", one agent shouted at him.

Isidore was also ordered to take away his scapular. When he did not, he was twice flogged. The second time, the agent tore the scapular from around Isidore's neck and threw him to the ground. He had two servant boys hold Isidore by his hands and feet and a third one flogged him. The whip was made of elephant hide with nails protruding at the end.

Isidore asked for mercy. "My God, I'm dying".  Isidore bore all the blows patiently.

After the beatings, the bones on Isidore's back were exposed.  After the scourging, his legs were chained, and he was thrown into into a hut for processing rubber.   He was severely beaten he could barely move.

When an inspector was about to visit the plant, Isidore was moved to another village. Unable to walk, he fell by the wayside and hid in the forest.

When he heard the inspector, he dragged himself before the inspector.

The inspector himself left a written account of his impression: "I saw a man come from the forest with his back torn apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted by flies. He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me -he wasn't walking; he was dragging himself".

The agent, responsible for the beating, appeared on the scene and tried to kill "that animal". He was restrained by the inspector.

He took Isidore to his own settlement, hoping to help him heal.  But the beating was so severe, that the wounds have become infected.  Isidore felt death nearing.

He told someone who had pity on him: "if you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet the priest, tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian".

Two missionaries spent several days with him and gave him the last sacraments.

He told them the reason for his beating: "The white man did not like Christians.... He did not want me to wear the scapular.... He yelled at me when I said my prayers".

The missionaries urged Isidore to forgive the agent.  Isidore assured the missionaries that he had already forgiven them, that he nursed no hatred for him. The missionaries urged Isidore to pray for the agent. "Certainly I shall pray for him. When I am in heaven, I shall pray for him very much". His agony - more painful than the actual flogging - lasted six months. He died on either 8 or 15 august 1909, rosary in hand and the scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel around his neck.

He was a convert for two and a half years but lived his life since his Baptism like he was a Christian all his life.

He was beatified by St. John Paul II in April 24, 1994 along with St. Gianna Beretta Molla and St. Elisabeth Canori Mora

His feastday is celebrated in his native country and in the Carmelite community every August 15.

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May we follow his example of boldly proclaiming the Faith.

May the Christian martyrs of the Middle East bring about the fall of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and all jihadists and Muslim extremists.

May the blood of the martyrs bring these people towards conversion.

Amen.!

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

I always wear my Brown Scapular.

Are you?

Look who always wore them!  :)

I have blogged about this wonderful sacramental so many times in the past.

Click here and here and here to read them.

Ave Maria!  Ora pro nobis!



PS:  The RH Law suffered another blow on this very day.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.

Your obligations once you are invested with the Brown Scapular

The Brown Scapular, like any other scapular, is not just a devotional or a sacramental, but it is an identifying garb used by orders of monks and nuns to uniquely identify them from other religious orders.

That is why the Carmelite Family is identified with the Brown Scapular.

So the laity, who wears the Brown Scapular, either as a tertiary Carmelite or not, has a responsibility to do.

I wrote this back in Jul;y 17, 2009:

There is a decree issued by Pope Paul V in 1613 stating the importance of wearing this scapular:  "It is permitted to preach that the Blessed Virgin will help by her continued assistance and her merits, particularly on Saturdays, the souls of the members of the Scapular Confraternity who have died in the grace of God, if in life they had worn the scapular, observed chastity according with their state of life, and recited the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The imposition is done with a scapular of wool. Afterwards, a scapular medal could be worn. The requirements of this devotion are:

To receive the imposition of the scapular and to wear it habitually. To guard one's chastity. To pray daily the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. It could be substituted by praying three Hail Marys; or seven Our Fathers with Hail Mary and Glory Be; or the Divine Office.

The Confraternity of the Brown Scapular lists the following:

The members of the Confraternity must at all times devoutly wear the Scapular (or the medal), as a visible sign of their belonging to Mary in the brotherhood of Carmel. But above all the members are bound to set aside regular time to be with God in prayer, frequent participation in the Eucharist and the sacrament of Confession, daily recitation of one of the Hours of the Liturgy or of some Psalms or the rosary.

You can also read from the blog how you can become a member of the Confraternity.

Members of the Apostleship of Prayer, kiss the Brown Scapular they are wearing (yes, they too must wear it) when during their daily morning habit of praying the Morning Offering, the mention of the words "O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers..."

This is in fact one of the obligations a member of the Apostleship of Prayer must fulfill....daily!

You just not wear this scapular and do nothing.  You just don't wear this scapular so you can walk around the church during a Traditional Latin Mass, or a religious procession, wearing this and do nothing afterwards!

You think you just wear the Blessed Scapular and.........uhm, do nothing?

Pray and live chastely according to your state of life.

You may also want to read the reasons WHY YOU MUST WEAR the Brown Scapular by clicking here and here.

Brown Scapular "responsibilities"

Did you know to  that you have an obligation to fulfill once you are imposed with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel?

Answers tomorrow.

You may chime in your guesses.  :)

Why you MUST WEAR your Brown Cloth Scapular all the time!

Father John Higgins shares a true story about the power of the Brown Cloth Scapular.

Who doesn’t enjoy a good BBQ with friends? When I was asked to a young couple’s home for a Young Adult Ministry Home Mass and BBQ I packed my Mass kit and off I went. I arrived about 6:00 pm with a hearty appetite and was greeted by about 15 young people. Then the phone rang and everything changed. I had to drive about 10 miles to a hospital where there was an emergency call.

I drove quickly, thinking that the nurse in charge of the ER, Anne, would be waiting for me. I knew her and her husband and children from the parish. When I walked in I could see paramedics at the foot of the only occupied gurney there, so I hurried and walked in. “Sorry, Fr. John, you’re too late. He’s gone.” Anne said, smiling. She had a lot of compassion, but also understood that I’d come as fast as I could. They were removing wires from an older man. I noticed that he was wearing a Brown Scapular, one of the old cloth ones. I reached and said “He’s wearing an old fashioned Scapular”. When I touched it there was a beep from a monitor, then another. The nurse, Anne, said “What did you do?” I said “Nothing!” She and another nurse jumped to work, reconnecting wires and calling for help. The Paramedics stood with their jaws dropped. The patient opened his eyes and said (in an Irish accent) “Oh, good, Father. I’ve been waiting for you. I want to go to Confession.” I nearly fell over. I’d done nothing but seen and touched his Scapular. The next thing I knew they were working on him. He didn’t get to go to Confession, but I gave him an emergency absolution as they worked. One of the Paramedics asked if I was OK and sat me in a chair.

A couple of weeks later the man came to me for Confession and told me that the doctor couldn’t figure out what happened and had to tear up the Death Certificate he’d already started to fill out. The Paramedics had come to see him in the hospital and shown him their notes. At the bottom of the page they’d written the time and place of his death and then in big bold letters had added “BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE BY GOD”.

Miracles still happen. And no, I didn’t do it. It just happened according to God’s will. Why does He intervene in some cases and not in others? I really don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet. But I do know that God has worked miracles in my life, the most important for me not being what He did for someone else, but what He has done over and over to bring me back from sin and death, through the Sacraments into His Covenant Relationship.


That man still had to die a natural death to be raised from the dead into eternal life. The resurrection Jesus offers all of us is eternal too. And that’s what we look forward to at Easter.

Father Higgins

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That is why I personally prefer the cloth scapular rather than the brown plastic ones and even the Scapular medal.

Look who is also wearing his.

I read once that up until he died in 2005, he was wearing his Brown Scapular. When he was being operated upon by the doctors after he was shot in St. Peter's Square, he asked his doctors not to remove the scapular.

Make sure that you are properly imposed with it ok, using the approved ritual and formula.

By the way, Fr. Higgins has his own Facebook account. :)

I really pity the Bible-totting "Christians" who do not have anything on their hands like these powerful sacramentals that Holy Mother Church has given us.

They are channels of God's blessings, indeed.

And our Blessed Mother has made her promise also.

Wear yours, ALWAYS!

"Wrap your mantle around us dear Mother!"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, JULY 17, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI today noted that the scapular is a "particular sign of union with Jesus and Mary."

The Pope commented on the use of this devotion when he addressed Polish-speaking pilgrims gathered at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo to pray the midday Angelus.

Saturday was the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the feast to which the scapular is linked. Simon Stock, general superior of the Carmelite Order, received the scapular in 1251, during an apparition of the Virgin, when she promised special assistance in life and in death to all those who wear it with devotion.  [You would never hear liberals talk about this when they celebrate this Feast.  IF they celebrate it since it is an Optional Memorial in the Calendar!]

The word scapular originally referred to a form of clothing, which monks wore when they were working. [An apron used by the cloistered religious.] The scapular came to symbolize Carmelite devotion to Mary; the devotion developed over time so that today, the scapular has various forms.

Benedict XVI referred to wearing the scapular as a "particular sign of union with Jesus and Mary."

"For those who wear it, it is a sign of filial abandonment to the protection of the Immaculate Virgin," he said. "In our battle against evil, may Mary our Mother wrap us in her mantle."  [How beautiful!]

The Holy Father's praise of the scapular while he was greeting the Polish pilgrims brings to mind his predecessor's own devotion to the scapular.

Blessed John Paul II spoke about the sign on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 2003. The Polish Pontiff said: "Even I, from my youngest days, have worn around my neck the scapular of Our Lady and I take refuge with trust under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus."  [Blessed John Paul wore the scapular even under his clothing while he was pope.  He even insisted to the surgeons operating on him after the failed assasination attempt, that he be operated while the scapular was on him.  He does not want it off!]


***

Remember our past posts about the Brown Scapular in the life of Blessed John Paul II and an actual miracle of a man who was saved by the Brown Scapular.