History of the Purple Scapular
Divine Protection for Your Family
In 1878, in a small town in the northwest corner of France, Our Lady and Jesus himself appeared to the approved mystic and stigmatist, Marie-Julie Jahenny. They showed her the truly astounding Scapular of Benediction and Protection, more commonly known simply as the Purple Scapular.
Our Lady promised Marie-Julie that those who possess this scapular “will see their family and home protected… from fires, chastisements, storms, and darkness. They will have light as if it were plain day.” Crucially, it is “like a lightning rod beneath which the blows of divine wrath will not strike.” Jesus also revealed that those who reverently use it “will be spared the troubles of the soul” and “will be sheltered from danger as if they already possess heaven.”
The following video, which is very brief and beautifully produced, is the best introduction to the history, meaning, and promises of the Purple Scapular because it relies upon the very words which Jesus and Mary themselves spoke to Marie-Julie. Watching this video will help you understand the profound theological meaning heaven wishes to convey regarding the specific images embedded within the overall scenes or related symbols on the Purple Scapular pictured above:
Ever since it was first revealed to Marie-Julie over 140 years ago (including its explosion in popularity among devout Catholics in the U.S. and Canada since 2020), families all over the world have displayed this divine insurance policy in their homes and have received the consolations of knowing that God will protect them from natural and supernatural dangers.
There are many witnesses to the supernaturally protective value of the Purple Scapular. As just one example, a few years ago, Christine Watkins of California, the well-known Catholic author, hung this extraordinary divine insurance policy on a wall in her home and prayed the brief Purple Scapular prayers.
Just two days later, one of the most massive wildfires in California history began racing toward her neighborhood, led by a scorching 100-foot tall wall of flames! Fire came from all sides. Entire homes and properties were quickly engulfed in the enormous furnace of destruction. Houses were burning to the ground in minutes.
Christine’s home, however, was left completely unscathed. Not only did the wall of fire spare her house with zero damage, but it actually passed around her entire property, leaving even her fruit trees untouched.
The divine promises of the Purple Scapular are real; this is because its protections are founded upon a loving, all-powerful God who cares about your family’s safety. All you need is the simple act of faith of placing it on a wall in your home. The founder of this website, Bud Macfarlane, based upon his personal experience of having Purple Scapular near the entrance of his own home, believes one of the most profound spiritual benefits of the Purple Scapular is the deeply peaceful grace of consolation he receives every time he gazes upon it as he comes and goes, day after day.
This is why the Purple Scapular spreads by word-of-mouth and when visitors see it for the first time in the homes of friends and relatives. Can you imagine it adorning a wall in your home?
Offered at cost by the Mary Foundation as a “tool for evangelization,” your beautiful, soft, and durable all-woven wool Purple Scapular will arrive in a lovely gift box with a card featuring the official Purple Scapular Prayers and an explanation of its divine promises. Each one comes with the blessing of a Catholic priest, is sprinkled with Lourdes water, and is touched to Bud’s first-class saint relics as a free service to help with your gift-giving.
In large part because of their complexity and the exacting material requirements specified by Our Lady, it was extremely difficult to find an authentic Purple Scapular before the Mary Foundation made its premium-quality version available. Our Lady herself described it as “unknown,” to Marie-Julie Jahenny, so perhaps there is a providential reason why you are finding out about it today.
When you order yours today, please consider getting extras for your family members, your local priest, and your close friends.
Please Note: The comprehensive Purple Scapular FAQ page that follows includes helpful advice on where to place it your home.
Order Purple Scapulars Only $20
Why Display a Purple Scapular?
Mary and Jesus Reveal and Explain
the Purple Scapular to the WorldFrom the mystical vision given to Marie-Julie Jahenny, August 23, 1878. Editor's notes are in parenthesis.
(Marie-Julie Jahenny) This is what the Holy Virgin shows me on her Immaculate Heart. It is a large scapular, larger than ordinary scapulars. It is a little larger than the palm of the hand.
It is a pretty violet (purple), nearly the color of a violet.
Here is what is on top. In the middle are the three nails which crucified Our Lord on the Cross. They are placed above each other, not quite in the shape of the Cross, and at the point of each nail, there is a drop of purple blood.
Above the heads of the nails, there is a kind of large sponge which has pieces of bark that stand out; it is a little like bales of oats.
The three drops of blood join to fall into a small chalice painted red, and the chalice is surrounded by a crown of thorns. There are three little Crosses engraved on the front of the chalice. That is the side of the scapular which is on the middle cloak of the Holy Virgin.
I notice that this scapular is held with two violet ties which go over each shoulder. There are three knots on the left shoulder and two on the right.
The other side of the scapular represents the Holy Virgin Mary sitting, holding her adorable son in her arms, the mouth and the head of Our Lord rest on the heart of the Holy Virgin.
At the bottom of the scapular, and nearly at the feet of Our Lord, is an angel dressed in white, with curly hair. He has on his head a white crown. His belt is red. He holds in his hands a white cloth with which he wipes the feet of Our Lord.
Next to the angel, on the right side of the scapular, there is an engraved ladder.
Behind Our Lord, on the left, is the reed of the Passion painted red, but there is no sponge.
The tears of the Holy Virgin flow onto her breast, to the right, and fall to the feet of the angel.
The scapular is edged with a red band and the cords are made of wool.
(Our Lady then speaks to Marie-Julie Jahenny)
"Let me now, my dear child,” the Virgin Mother said to me, “give you the explanation of this scapular. I am addressing you, my victim and my servant."
(This servant likely refers to Jahenny's spiritual director.)
"My children of the Cross, for a long time my son and I have wished to make known this scapular of benediction. This scapular, my children, is modeled on my heart, because my heart is the emblem of simplicity and humility, which explains the color of violet."
"The nails which have pierced the feet and the hands of my son are barely venerated and are venerable. That is why my son, in his divine wisdom, has had three nails painted on the front of the scapular."
"Those three drops of blood and the chalice represent the generous hearts gathering the blood of my divine son. The red sponge will represent my divine drinking, in a certain sense, the sins of his children, but which his adorable mouth refuses."
"I wish that the background black of the scapular should be violet, but I wish that the nails, the chalice, the sponge and the crown should be on a dark red piece of flannel (wool)."
"This first appearance of this scapular will be a new protection for the times of the chastisements, the calamities and the famines. All those who will wear it will be able to go through storms, tempests and darkness, they will have light as in broad daylight. Such is the power of this unknown scapular."
(Jesus then speaks to Marie-Julie Jahenny)
The Holy Virgin presents the scapular to Our Lord who, in His turn says: "I address you my victim and also my victims and my servant, my children of the Cross. I wish to and I come to give you an idea and a profound idea: When taking me down from the Cross, I was given to My Mother. That descent, that idea—that devotion (to my descent) is little known. I wish that by the reproduction of this scapular, it should enter the hearts of my children of the Cross, and that they hail me by these three greetings:
I hail Thee, Jesus crucified, for granting me life.
I hail thee with all the joy of the angels and saints during your descent from the Cross.
I hail thee with the sadness of your mother while you rested on her Immaculate heart and lap.
(Jesus continues.) "My children, very few souls think of wiping the adorable wounds on my feet when the blood flows and I wish this representation to be known. Little thought is also given to the tears shed by my mother during my passion. Those tears are at the feet of the angel who wipes my sacred feet. By this scapular, I wish you to think about that ladder, that reed, and those nails of my passion."
"My children, any soul, any person who will possess this scapular, will see his family protected, his house will also be protected, firstly from conflagrations (fires), which will never penetrate it."
"This scapular will crush the ungrateful who will blaspheme My Name in the house where it will be exposed. If an impious enters, he will be so struck that his conversion will occur. All those who will wear it will be protected from thunder, sudden death and accidents. During the chastisements they will be protected."
"Whoever places it in the Holy Temple will drive out the impious and the profanations."
Our Lord also adds that by reminding an obstinate soul about this scapular at the time of death, it will reawaken in it faith and conviction, that all those who will think about it and love it will be spared the pains of the soul, that those who will wear it will be sheltered from all danger as if they possessed Heaven, and finally, that this scapular will be like a lightning conductor beneath which the blows of just Divine Wrath will not strike.
Our Lord also says: "Any priest will be able to bless this scapular. You, My victim, will be able to make the model... While wearing this scapular the 'Crux Ave' may be said five or seven times and meditate for one to three minutes on My Passion... I will grant great graces to those who will wish to wear this holy Habit."
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