Confraternities and archconfraternities
The Lesser Scapular Confraternities
Blue Scapular of the Immaculate Conception (Theatine) · Red Scapular of the Passion (Vincentian / Lazarist) · Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours (Servite) · the lesser scapulars
Venerable Ursula Benincasa received the blue scapular
Theatine Fathers (Blue), Congregation of the Mission or Vincentians, also called Lazarists (Red), and the Order of Servants of Mary or Servites (Black). All three are counted among the five scapulars that make up the Fivefold Scapular.
Scapulars · SacramentalsThe blue, red or black scapular, according to which you are enrolled in.
The long way round
In person, with a priest. The price of the scapular. No enrollment fee was found for any of the three.
How to be enrolledFor the Blue Scapular the real first step is finding a priest or deacon willing to be delegated by the Marian Fathers and then using the Marians' application; for the Red and Black there is no public intake desk, so you must write to the Vincentians or the Servites and ask for a priest with the faculty.
Members have a portal to sign in to.
A scapular is two small squares of blessed wool joined by cords and worn over the shoulders under your clothes, as a miniature version of a religious habit. Apart from the well-known brown Carmelite one, there are several lesser scapulars, and the three asked about here are the blue of the Immaculate Conception, the red of the Passion and the black of Mary's Seven Sorrows. These are filed as one record because the practical answer is the same for all three: you cannot simply buy one and start wearing it as a member. For each, enrollment is the act of a priest who holds a specific permission, called a faculty, granted by the head of the relevant religious order, and for the blue and the black your name also has to go into a confraternity register. Where they differ is how easy that priest is to find today, and on that point the blue is by far the most reachable, because the Marian Fathers hold a standing permission and run an application process you can actually use.
Where it comes from
Blue Scapular: from a vision of Venerable Ursula Benincasa (1547-1618), foundress of the Theatine Nuns, in Naples in 1617; the blessing and investing was approved by Pope Clement X in January 1671; the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception was erected at the Theatine church of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome in 1894 and later became an archconfraternity, though the official Blue Scapular handbook dates a first establishment to 26 June 1734. Red Scapular: sanctioned by Pope Pius IX by Rescript of 25 June 1847. Black Scapular: indulgenced by Pope Paul V in 1611, given definitive canonical form by Pope Innocent X in 1645, indulgences confirmed again in 1888.
What you promise
Blue Scapular: wear the blue scapular and observe chastity according to your state in life; the modern Marian Fathers' confraternity attaches a fuller rule set out in its own record in this file. Red Scapular: wear the red scapular with devotion to the Passion of Christ and to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; the 1913 encyclopedia does not make confraternity enrollment a condition of wearing it. Black Scapular: wear the black scapular and pray daily for the Servite Order and the Church, with the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows recommended.
What the Church attaches
Each scapular carries indulgences granted by the popes named above and a share in the prayers and good works of the sponsoring order. For the Blue Scapular, the Marian Fathers publish a plenary indulgence on the day of admission to the confraternity and conferral of the scapular, plus further listed feasts. For the Red and Black no current itemised indulgence list from the sponsoring order was found, so the historic grants should be described as historic and no specific indulgence should be quoted.
Something physical is involved
The relevant wool scapular (blue, red or black), which must be blessed and imposed on you by a priest holding the proper faculty. For the Blue Scapular, the chaplet of the Immaculate Conception is also presented at admission.
The Fivefold Scapular
Five scapulars sewn into one set and worn together. Each of the five is still its own enrollment, and the records below show that each needs its own faculty or delegation, so one ceremony covers the set only when the priest holds all of them. That is worth asking about plainly when you write: many priests hold one or two.
- Brown of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Brown Scapular)Who can impose it: A Carmelite priest, or one with the Carmelite faculty.
- Black of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows (Servite Black Scapular)Who can impose it: A priest holding the Servite faculty, which parish priests do not have automatically.
- Blue of the Immaculate Conception. Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception (Marian Fathers, Blue Scapular)Who can impose it: A priest or deacon delegated by the Marian Fathers.
- White of the Most Holy Trinity. Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinitarian)Who can impose it: A Trinitarian priest, or one using the rite in the Roman Ritual.
- Red of the Passion. you are reading this one (no confraternity of its own in this directory: it is reached through that composite record)Who can impose it: A priest with the Vincentian faculty, also called Lazarist.
Enrollment checked 2026-10-22. Details change without notice and parish practice varies. Confirm before relying on this sheet.