Feast of St. Simon Stock, Carmelite



Scapular Apparition Statue, Aylesford Priory.



Simon, an Englishman, was elected as one of the early Priors General of the Order and served during the difficult days of transition between the Carmelites being hermits to their becoming mendicant friars.

Simon died whilst on visitation of our friary at Bordeaux, France, in the mid-thirteenth century. His mortal remains are venerated in the cathedral of that city to this day.

He has been venerated in the Carmelite Order for his personal holiness and his devotion to Our Lady. A liturgical celebration in his honour was observed locally in the fifteenth century, and later extended to the whole Order. He is credited as the author of the Carmelite antiphon to Mary, Flos Carmeli (Flower of Carmel).

Shortly after the return of the Carmelites to Aylesford Priory in 1949, a major relic of St. Simon was retuned to England by the Archbishop of Bordeaux, and enshrined in a reliquary designed by Adam Kossowski (pictured below).

Let us pray

Father, you called St. Simon Stock to serve you

in the brotherhood of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Through his prayers

help us like him to live in your presence

and to work for the salvation of the human family.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.