Your parish priest can shorten your stay in Purgatory. Our Lady, when she appeared to Saint Simon Stock and gave him the scapular, said: “Those who die wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Beside this stupendous guarantee, there is an additional promise of the Blessed Virgin known as the Sabbatine Privilege, which is found in a Bull of Pope John XXII (†1334). Our Lady appeared to him and promised that, upon the fulfillment of certain conditions, “I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free, so that I may lead them to the holy mountain of life everlasting.” The conditions upon which this promise depends are:
- To wear the Brown Scapular continuously (any priest may enroll you).
- To preserve chastity according to your state in life (religious, married, single).
- To recite daily the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin.
The third condition may be commuted into one of the three following:
- To observe the fasts of the Church, together with abstaining from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays;
- With the permission of a Priest, to say five decades of Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary.
- With permission of a Priest, to substitute some other good work.
There is also a special indulgence (500 days) for kissing your scapular, granted by Pope Benedict XV (1914-1923).
