For nearly two years, Father Daniel Steiner Ebert has traveled across Denmark at the request of the faithful to teach about the Brown Scapular, a devotion that marked his life since adolescence. In an interview with the National Catholic Register, the priest of the Diocese of Copenhagen shared his conversion testimony: “In my youth, I was anything but Catholic. I went to church, but I did many bad things. When I was a teenager, I got into fights to release my sadness, anger, and frustration. I met many girls, used drugs, and was arrested for vehicle theft.”
However, everything changed at age 16 during a praise and worship service. “Suddenly I felt overwhelmed by a sense of evil. I ran out, grabbed my rosary, and shouted: ‘I choose Jesus Christ.’ Then I saw thousands of bright spheres approaching. The light grew stronger, and the nearest sphere slowly formed a face: the face of Jesus, like that of the Shroud of Turin, but without wounds or pain. God clearly told me: ‘You are going to be mine,’” Father Ebert recounted.
A Path of Faith and Vocation
After a year of rehabilitation abroad, Father Ebert returned to Denmark, resumed his studies, and worked as a schoolteacher. He made his first communion and received confirmation. With the guidance of Carmelite Father Wilfrid Stinissen and the Carmelite brothers of Norraby Kloster in Sweden, he discerned his priestly vocation. “I entered the seminary at age 25 and was ordained eight years later, on the feast of the Transfiguration,” he recalled.
Father Ebert comes from a Carmelite family: his father has been master of novices of the Third Order of Carmelites in Denmark for 14 years, his aunt was a Carmelite sister, and his younger brother Jonathan is a Carmelite brother in the United States. “And then there is me, chaplain of Copenhagen Cathedral and now preacher of the scapular,” he added.
The Origin of the Scapular Fraternity
In 2022, Father Ebert founded Skapularets Fællesskab (the Scapular Fraternity), although he attributes its origin to the Virgin Mary. “It all began before my ordination, when my spiritual director sent me to Fatima for a retreat. On the second-to-last day, while praying, I heard the Virgin asking me to give the brown scapular to a woman I knew in Denmark. I listened and obeyed. I called her, explained, and invested her with the Scapular,” he narrated.
Soon, about 50 people began asking about the scapular. The woman contacted Father Ebert to give a catechesis in her parish, where he invested about 50 faithful. “This is huge for Denmark, where there are only about 50,000 registered Catholics. Denmark caught fire,” he stated. Since then, he has traveled from parish to parish, enrolling and investing about 300 people. “Everyone comes because of the Virgin. Pastors are reluctant, but Mary keeps coming to the parishes, and when she comes, people come to her,” he explained.
The Marian Heritage of Carmel
According to tradition, the Virgin appeared to the English priest Simon Stock in 1251 to give him the Brown Scapular, with the promise: “Whoever dies wearing this scapular will not suffer the fire of hell.” The devotion spread through popular piety and was recognized by the universal Church. Pope Benedict XIII extended the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to the entire Latin Church in 1726.
The Directory on Popular Piety notes that the scapular is “an external sign of the filial relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the faithful who entrust themselves to her protection.” Pope Saint John Paul II, in 2001, highlighted that this devotion has become “a treasure for
Original source: portaluz.org (published August 9, 2024)
Photo: Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
