Green Scapular

Devotions

A single green cloth bearing Mary’s Immaculate Heart, tied to a Daughters of Charity sister’s reported 1840 vision and worn without any formal investiture.

The Green Scapular is a Marian sacramental linked to visions reported in 1840 by Sr. Justine Bisqueyburu, a Daughters of Charity novice in Paris, in which Mary is said to have asked that a green cloth scapular be made and spread as an aid to conversion. Unlike most scapulars, it requires no formal investiture by a priest and carries no confraternity membership; it is simply worn, carried, or kept near a person while the prayer “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death” is offered on their behalf. Pope Pius IX approved its manufacture and distribution in 1863 and reaffirmed that approval in 1870.

Quick Facts

Category: Marian Sacramentals — Scapulars and Medals
Origin: Reported 1840 visions of Sr. Justine Bisqueyburu, a novice with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, in Paris and Blangy, France
Feast: Not tied to a separate feast day of its own; devotion follows the Marian calendar generally
Church status: An approved Marian sacramental, with its manufacture and distribution authorized by Pope Pius IX in 1863 and reaffirmed in 1870
Private revelation: Rests on visions reported by Sr. Justine Bisqueyburu in 1840; belief in the visions is not required to derive spiritual benefit from wearing or distributing the scapular

What Is This Devotion?

The Green Scapular is a single small piece of green cloth, unlike most scapulars, which use two panels joined by cords over the shoulders. One side shows an image of Mary with rays streaming from her hands; the reverse shows her heart pierced by a sword and encircled in flames, with the words “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death” printed around it. As a sacramental, it functions the way the Church understands every sacramental to function: as a tangible aid that disposes a person toward grace and conversion, never as an object with power of its own apart from prayer and faith.

Origin and History

Sr. Marie-Justine Bisqueyburu, born November 11, 1817, in Mauleon in the Lower Pyrenees region of France, entered the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul on January 28, 1840. According to her later account, she reported a vision that same day at the community’s motherhouse on the Rue du Bac in Paris, the same house where Sr. Catherine Laboure had reported the visions behind the Miraculous Medal roughly a decade earlier. A fuller vision followed on September 8, 1840, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, while Justine was stationed at Blangy in Seine-Maritime; in it, Mary is said to have shown her the design later used for the scapular and asked that it be made and spread widely as an instrument of conversion, especially for those far from the faith or near death.

Justine disclosed the vision only to her superiors and to her spiritual director, Fr. Jean-Marie Aladel, the same priest who had guided the investigation of the Miraculous Medal. After a period of caution and discernment consistent with how the Church treats any reported private revelation, Pope Pius IX authorized the scapular’s manufacture and distribution in 1863 and reaffirmed that approval in 1870. From the beginning, the Green Scapular has been treated differently from other approved scapulars: it requires no formal investiture ceremony by a priest and creates no confraternity membership, so it may simply be given to another person, worn, or kept nearby while the accompanying prayer is offered, whether or not the person carrying it is even aware of it.

Catholic Theology

The Catechism situates sacramentals as signs that dispose people to receive grace and cooperate with it through the Church’s own prayer, never as devices that operate automatically or apart from faith (CCC section 1667 through 1673). The Green Scapular expresses this teaching with particular clarity: its entire purpose is to accompany intercessory prayer for someone’s conversion, offered in hope and trust in Mary’s intercession, not to act as a charm that changes a person’s heart without their own eventual cooperation with grace.

How to Practice It

Wear, carry, or keep the Green Scapular near yourself or someone you are praying for; no formal investiture by a priest is required, unlike most other scapulars.
Pray the words printed on the scapular, “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death,” with confidence in Mary’s intercession.
Give the scapular to another person as a sign of your prayer for their conversion or for peace at the hour of death, the purpose Mary is reported to have specifically requested.
Treat it as support for sincere prayer, never as a guarantee that operates without the person’s own eventual response to grace.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

The Green Scapular is not tied to a separate feast day of its own; devotion to it is generally practiced alongside the wider Marian calendar and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and it is not on the General Roman Calendar for the universal Church.

Church Status

The Green Scapular is an approved Marian sacramental, formally authorized for manufacture and distribution by Pope Pius IX in 1863 and again in 1870, following the Church’s ordinary process of cautious discernment applied to Sr. Justine Bisqueyburu’s reported 1840 visions. As with every approved private revelation, no Catholic is required to accept the visions themselves with the assent owed to public Revelation in order to benefit from wearing or distributing the scapular with genuine faith; the Church’s approval concerns the sacramental’s soundness and fruitfulness, not an obligation to believe the account behind it.

Common Misconceptions

“The Green Scapular works like a charm, even on someone who never prays or cooperates with it.”

It does not. The scapular is inseparable from the prayer printed on it, asking Mary’s intercession for a person’s conversion; it is meant to accompany someone else’s intercessory prayer, not to act automatically on an unwilling or entirely passive recipient. Its fruit, like that of any sacramental, depends on grace working through prayer and a person’s own eventual response, not on the cloth itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a priest to bless or invest me with the Green Scapular?

No. Unlike most other approved scapulars, the Green Scapular requires no formal investiture ceremony and creates no confraternity membership; it may simply be worn, carried, or given to someone else along with the accompanying prayer.

Can I give a Green Scapular to someone who does not practice the faith?

Yes, and this is close to its original purpose: Mary is reported to have asked that it be spread especially for the conversion of those far from the faith, with the giver praying the accompanying words on that person’s behalf.

What is the exact prayer associated with the Green Scapular?

“Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death,” the words printed around the image of Mary’s heart on the scapular’s reverse side, taken from the account of Sr. Justine Bisqueyburu’s reported 1840 visions.