Wear the Large Brown Scapular at Burial

Q - In the Provincial Statutes it states that we are allowed to wear the Large Brown Scapular when we are buried. Are we still allowed to wear the religious habit of the nuns or friars?

A - The Statutes made specific mention of the large brown scapular as the appropriate garment for burial because that is the Secular Carmelite habit.

The scapular is the prime habit of all three branches of the Order.

The religious wear what is appropriate to their consecrated life - the scapular and the uniform clothing that signifies their branches of the Order.

Seculars wear the large scapular because it signifies their place in the Order as lay members of the Order and the Church. It is no longer deemed appropriate for Seculars to wear at burial what they never wore while living.

Wearing the large brown scapular at burial is a clear sign to all that the person was professed in the Order and lived in the world as a Carmelite in every sense of the word.