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Our Lady of the Green Scapular

bookhighlights

Here are some highlights from a book I recently read. I found these parts interesting while reading, though they may not make the most sense in isolation. These are put here to aide my recall of the book and to give you the barest of encouragements to read it too.

Our Lady of the Green Scapular by Nico Fassino, 2024.

5

Two months after entering the convent, during a retreat held in the presence of an ancient and miraculous statue of the Madonna, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Justine [Bisqueyburu], holding in her hand here Immaculate Heart, pierced by a sword, and surrounded with flames. Our Lady continued to visit Justine throughout the year, and on 8 September 1840, the Blessed Virgin Mary now appeared holding a green medallion of cloth on a loop of green cord. The medallion featured two illustrations: on the front, an image of the Virgin as she appeared to Justine, and on the back an image of her Immaculate Heart 'all burning with rays more brilliant than the sun, and as transparent as crystal; this heart, surmounted by a cross, was pierced with a sword, and around it were the words: "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death"'.

7

By 1846, with Fr. Aladel's blessing, the scapular began to be distributed widely, and it first received approval from Vatican officials in 1863. As the devotion spread, it came to be known primarily for obtaining numerous and dramatic conversions to the faith, but physical healings and other favors were also obtained.

9

In the second battle of the Argonne, one of the deadlies of U.S. military history [Fr. William] O'Connnor suffered a poison gas attack that left him unable to walk or speak. Refusing to be sent home, he nevertheless remained with his troops for months, even after the armistice. His recovery was slow; he continued to need crutches to walk, and his voice was still so damaged that his physicians believed he would never preach again. In early 1919 a confessor in Paris recommended that O'Connor travel to Lourdes, a site well-famed for miracles of physical healing. .. All told, about eight or nine thousand pilgrims and several bishops and archbishops were present. But the priest assigned to give the homily was injured in an automobile accident en route. The American army chaplains gathered to decide on a replacement and appointed Father O'Connor, who of course was not present and well on his way to Lourdes. When he arrived, O'Connor was notified of this unexpected preaching duty about an hour before mass. He turned to Our Lady, who on that very day sixty-one years earlier had announced herself as the 'Immaculate' to young Bernadette Soubirous, and he made a request: if Mary would intercede to strengthen and preserve his voice, he promised 'to use it as often as possible in the service of Her Divine Son.' With the clock ticking, Father O'Connor recounted how he readied himself for the sermon: 'I smoked a cigarette and then said a rosary and that was my preparation.' His voice was healed, and those present in Lourdes that day often said that O'Connor had preached the best sermon they ever heard. .. In 1946 the Diocese of Madison was erected and William O'Connor was appointed its first bishop. .. To address the rapid growth, Bishop O'Connor established the first new parish of the diocese in 1950, and he dedicated it to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

14

With the favor of the Carmelites, the Portuguese sculptor José Ferreira Thedim agreed to carve a special statue in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for [Fr. Jerome] Mersberger's parish. Thedim himself had witnessed the Miracle of the Sun, and carving the statue under the very direction of Sister Lúcia, he portrayed Our Lady as she appeared to the Fatima children during the second apparition. When the statue was finished, Lúcia remarked, 'it is the nearest representation that I have ever seen of the apparition of Mary'. To be sure, the statue was already somewhat famous by the time it left the artist's workshop and Catholics in many countries wished to see it. A European tour was planned, and from Casa Thedim studios in Porto, Portugal, the statue embarked upon an 8,000-mile journey for Father Mersberger's Chicken Coop Church.

15

Soon after the statue's installation, Bishop O'Connor gave a handful of Green Scapulars to Father Mersberger and said, 'These will help you get the parish started'. He called the scapulars 'badges of the Immaculate Heart of Mary' and encouraged Mersberger to use them to build up love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

31

Marian devotion, along with a good many unfashionable practices, began to diminish even by the early 1960s, and it was especially common for younger priests, and priests with savoir faire, to downplay Marain devotions as outdated and irrelevant. This current was so strong that many of the laity during these years sincerely thought that the Church had changed her teaching. .. 'There is not a rosary bead or an old fashioned prayer book in the shop', was the boast of St. Benet's bookshop in downtown Chicago. .. Such was the cultural and devotional maelstrom of change which had formed during these years. It was into these waters that Father Mersberger sailed as he finished completion of the Green Scapular Shrine church and prepared to expand his Marian apostolate.

36

For by now [October 1967] there was open conflict at Immaculate Heart of Mary. Though a considerable number of parishioners remained loyal to Mersberger and devoted to the shrine, yet there were those who had become weary of the shrine's unique demands, some who wanted the laity to control the direction of the parish, and even others who reckoned the famous shrine statue and green scapulars nothing more than antiquated and embarrassing artifacts of a former age. .. To make matters worse, Father Mersberger had little to no rapport with the new bishop [Cletus O'Donnell]. .. A popular bishop of national repute and a paragon of progressive, post-conciliar ideals, O'Donnell had broad support from the priests and laity of the diocese. .. In fine, O'Donnell was the face of a new age, and Mersberger represented an older order in clear decline.

38

And now in early 1968, with the parish wracked by factionalism and mutinous claims about Mersberger's management and conduct, the situation looked rather grim. Bishop O'Donnell delivered an ultimatum: Mersberger had to relinquish command of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, or else give up control of the Green Scapular Shrine. The new parish chosen by O'Donnell was the church of St. Mary in the tiny farm town of Palmyra... Although it meant leaving behind the largest and most populous parish in the diocese, the parish he had built up from twenty-seven families and a dilapidated chicken coop, Mersberger accepted the new arrangement. He believed in the importance of the Green Scapular above all else, was ready to do whatever it took to continue the mission, and trusted Our Lady would assist him.

41

While O'Donnell had permitted Mersberger to continue his Green Scapular activities in Palmyra, there was still an open question about the famous statue of Our Lady. ...the statue had been given as a gift and belonged to Immaculate Heart, and if the parish did not consent to its removal there would be no chance for the shrine to continue. .. At this contentious meeting...One man eventually stood up in frustration and said: 'Just let it go! It will be nothing but divisive for us if we try to keep it. We don't need it!'. .. Over the next few months Mersberger completed the transfer of the statue, shrine property, gift shop items, and correspondence to Palmyra.

52

In 1996 Father Mersberger was compelled by age and failing health to leave the shrine and enter a senior living facility. He died on 2 December 1998, at the age of 81.

53

In November of 200, the legal transfer of the [Palymyra] building to Shoenstatt was complete and...the contents of the shrine center were saved and transported to [the University of Dayton's Marian Library]. The shrine museum's valuable collection of more than 450 unique Marian statues...were carefully packed and brought to the Marian Library. The original famous statue of Our Lady, on the other hand, was almost left behind. .. Eventually...it was cut down and packed with the rest.

53

...the library was contacted by an enigmatic priest of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota, who had a familial connection to the Schonestatt order. ...would the library consider releasing the statue into his personal posession? [Director Rev. Johann] Roten, believing that the statue was taking up too much space, granted the request. After this the trail of the statue grows cold. The priest who acquired it from the Marian Library has refused to disclose its location to the [Immaculate Heart of Mary] parish and no longer responds to any attempt at communication.

73

Mersberger's strident refusal to allow the newly-mandated lay parish council to control parish finances or have actual decision-making authority also created an immense strain on the parish. Mersberger was a clear product of an former age of priestly formation and governance: the pastor ran the parish in totality, with all legal and canonical authority and with no other recourse or input.

74

...other city [of Madison] monsignors were eager to see Mersberger...replaced for a number of reasons, but especially because [he was] slow to implement the liturgical and ideological policies that were becoming so popular across the Catholic world. It ought to be noted that Mersberger was no arch-conservative or intransigent traditionalist. He...happily celebrated the new liturgy following the Second Vatican Council, and regularly concelbrated with other priests. But he certainly did not permit any of the more radical innovations or abuses which sprang up during this time, in vogue throughout the rest of the city.

84

With the parish unable to recover the original statue from Rev. David Belland, it was decided that a new statue of Our Lady of the Green Scapular should be commissioned for Immaculate Heart of Mary parish. Using scanned photographs and descriptions of the original, a new statue was created whcih paid homage to the original without being an exact replica. The new statue is considerably taller than the original, which was only three feet tall, and differs in several small elements and details of design, while generally conveying the look and impression of the original. The new statue was donated by the family of lifelong IHM parishioner Rita Noble.