Today, May 16, is the memorial of Saint Simon Stock.
Visionary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Brown Scapular.
Simon Stock was born in 1165 in England. It is stated that at age 12, Simon began to live as a hermit in a hollow oak tree; the name Stock is believed derived from the old English for tree trunk.
He was a traveling preacher and pilgrim to the Holy Lands. When the Muslims invaded the place, he left and joined the Order of Carmelites soon after its arrival in England.
Simon lived and studied for several years in Rome, Italy and Mount Carmel.
At a rather advanced age of 82, Simon was elected the sixth Prior General of the Carmelites. His efforts made the Carmelites visible in England, as well as in southern and western Europe. He founded communities in England, France, and Italy. He revised the Rule of the Order to make them mendicant friars instead of hermits.
Regardless of these successes, the Order was oppressed on all sides, including by the clergy and other orders. The friars turned to their patroness, the Virgin Mary, for help.
Tradition says that in answer, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Simon, bringing him the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel. “This shall be the privilege for you and for all the Carmelites,” she told him, “that anyone dying in this habit shall not suffer eternal fire.”
In 1252, the Carmelite Order received a letter of protection from Pope Innocent IV, protecting them from harassment.
Simon died of natural causes in 1265.