Confraternities and archconfraternities
Confraternity of Our Lady of Ransom (Mercedarian)
Our Lady of Mercy · Nuestra Senora de la Merced · White Scapular of Our Lady of Ransom · Mercedarians
St Peter Nolasco founded the Mercedarians
Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives (Mercedarian Friars). US vicariate at orderofmercy.org. A Mercedarian Third Order also exists.
Scapulars · SacramentalsThe white scapular of Our Lady of Ransom.
Worth some persistence
In person, with a priest. Free apart from buying the white scapular.
How to be enrolledBuy a white Ransom scapular, then ask any priest to use the blessing and investiture rite in the traditional Roman Ritual (Titulus IX, Caput 11, 21); for anything beyond that, contact the Mercedarian Friars USA directly, since no lay enrollment page exists.
Members have a portal to sign in to.
The Mercedarians were founded to buy back Christians held as slaves, and their friars took a fourth vow to give themselves up as hostages if that was what it took. Today they describe their work as freeing people from modern captivities such as addiction and exploitation. Lay people associate themselves with that work by being clothed in the white Scapular of Our Lady of Ransom, in a short ceremony from the traditional Roman Ritual in which the priest hands over 'the habit of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom'. The honest position is that the scapular is easy to receive and the practical route to a formal lay membership is less clear, because the order's own sites do not publish a lay confraternity enrollment page.
Where it comes from
The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy was founded in 1218 by St Peter Nolasco. The feast of Our Lady of Ransom is 24 September.
What you promise
No published rule of life for scapular wearers was found. The Mercedarian Third Order has its own formation and commitments, which were not available from a live Mercedarian page when this record was read.
What the Church attaches
Association with the work and spiritual prerogatives of the Order of Mercy. The rite's own words say that having been so enrolled, the recipient may have 'the grace of the Holy Ghost in this life, and everlasting glory, the reward of the elect, in the life to come'. No specific indulgence was found published by the order, so none should be claimed.
Something physical is involved
A white scapular, blessed and imposed by a priest while the recipient kneels.
Enrollment checked 2026-10-22. Details change without notice and parish practice varies. Confirm before relying on this sheet.