16 May Optional Memorial (Obligatory Memorial the province of Great Britain)
The general's secretary did not fail to make a note concerning St. Simon Stock. "The body of St. Simon Stock is contained intact in a painted casket, set in an elevated position in a special chapel. This saint is held in the greatest veneration in the city, and his office is said in our convent on May 16. It is true that because of wars and devastation by heretics of the convent, which was built 500 years ago, first outside the city, then transferred to its present location inside the city, as can be most clearly shown, there are no writings or documents concerning this saint who was our general, and the relics are venerated only by tradition. There are still in this province religious of 85 and 90 years of age who testify that the aforementioned relics were always venerated and held to be those of St. Simon Stock. A duplex office was composed in his honor, as can be proved by the very ancient choral books which contain the proper office of St. Simon, all in chant."
By the 1950s, the Order had purchased back the ancient property of Aylesford. In the post war optimism, the Order gave expression to its devotions through impressive public celebrations. The seventh centenary of the granting of the scapular, the first of these celebrations, was held from July 16, 1950, to July 16, 1951. It was commemorated on a grandiose scale, as the general chapter had ordained. Early in 1948, the prior general already announced the proposed celebration. Together with the Discalced Carmelites a program, projecting scientific studies, publicity, local congresses, lectures, and novenas was drawn up. A listing of all scapular confraternities erected from 1604 to 1948 was composed from archival and other sources. From August 5th to the 9th, fifteen thousand devotees met in Rome in an International Marian Congress to initiate the centenary. Pope Pius XII honored the occasion with his letter on the scapular devotion, Neminem profecto latet, February 11, 1950. Similar meetings were held in the provinces, and bishops sent pastoral letters.
The centennial year concluded at Aylesford, July 14-16, 1951, with the solemn return of the relics of St. Simon Stock from Bordeaux. The Discalced Carmelite, Cardinal Adeodato Piazza, presided over the ceremony attended by bishops, civil authorities, including Eamon de Valera, president of Ireland, and 25,000 faithful. This occasion also elicited a letter of Pius XII. The relics of the saint can be venerated in the Relic Chapel at Aylesford in Kent, England.
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