Dear Tony:

It is true that we do not have any verifiable historical evidence that St. Simon Stock had the vision where Our Blessed Mother gave him the scapular. This tradition is a pious fiction. There are other theories that it was another Carmelite that had the vision. But, in the end we really do not know.

The first Carmelite hermit, who lived at Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land in the 12th Century probably wore a belted tunic and striped mantle. Later, in the 13th Century when the Carmelites moved to Europe and became a mendicant order, they adopted a new habit, which was brown belted tunic, brown scapular, a hood called a capuche, and white mantle.

Thus, it was in the mid-13th Century that the Carmelites adopted the brown scapular. You can read more about this in the article, Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The tradition of the origin of the Brown Scapular is not spurious. The word spurious implies that something is fraudulent. The pious fiction of the origins of the Brown Scapular is not fraudulent, it is rather a story that was thought to be true told over the centuries that became tradition. There is no harm in it. It might be true, for all we know, it is just we cannot find historical evidence for it. Besides, the Brown Scapular does exist regardless of its origins and is a symbol of consecration to our Blessed Mother.

There are many Saints of which we are not sure existed, but devotion to them is still efficacious and an element of faith. St. Christopher, patron of travellors, an example. We do not know for sure he existed, or whether he was a historical man of a different name. Even with Saints that we know existed there can be many legends about them that cannot be verified.

The patron of our apologetic apostolate the Irish Saint, Dallán Forgaill. St. Dallán was beheaded by pirates in 598. Legend has it that he reattached his head. This miracle is a legend with no historical evidence whatsoever, but the story means something to us. In the depiction of St. Dallán in the picture to the right, you will notice that his head is not attached. This refers to his beheading, but also could refer to the legend as well.

 In doing apologetics of the Catholic Church in this world makes many enemies. I, personally, have been slandered so many times that I cannot remember. I have even had my life threaten more than once.

Thus, the legend of St. Dallán has meaning for us in that we metaphorically get our heads cut off almost daily and have to reattach our heads and keep on testifying to the truth of the Catholic Church. It is a harmless, but meaningful, legend to us.

But, in the case of the Brown Scapular, it is a real item of clothing worn by the Carmelites, and the postage stamp scapular is a real sacramental worn by the laity. It is the Scapular, not the story of its origins that we adopt as a symbol of our consecration.

I hope this helps.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary