Scapular

Scapular (Lat. scapula, 'the shoulder'), a portion of the monastic habit, so called from its being worn upon the shoulders. It consists of a long strip of serge or stuff, the centre of which passes over the head, one flap hanging down in front, the other upon the back. The colour differs for different religious orders or congregations. Besides the scapular worn by the members of religious orders strictly so called, there exists also in the Roman Catholic Church a religious association or confraternity, the members of which, while living in the world and mixing in the ordinary life, wear, under the ordinary garb, two little pieces of cloth, connected by strings passing over the shoulders. The chief duties of this confraternity consist in the recitation of certain prayers, or the observance of certain religious or ascetical exercises in devotion to the Blessed Virgin. This pious association was founded in the first half of the 13th century by an English Carmelite friar named Simon Stock, and was said to have originated in a vision; but this story is now discredited even by Catholics, while they hold that the observance itself is an aid to piety.