Sabbatine Privilege

In Roman Catholicism, the Sabbatine Privilege refers to a belief in the early liberation of souls from Purgatory, on the first Saturday after death, through the special intercession and petition of the Virgin Mary. The Privilege is based on an apocryphal Papal Bull Sacratissimo uti culmine, dated 3 March 1322 and attributed to Pope John XXII. The Bull is universally regarded by scholars as inauthentic.^[1]

In this bull, the Pope was said to have declared that the Mother of God had appeared to him, most urgently recommended to him the Carmelite Order and its members, revealed the Sabbatine privilege, and asked that he reveal and ratify it before the world.^[1]

Officially, the Carmelite Orders merely encourage a belief of Mary's aid and prayerful assistance for wearers of the Brown Scapular that live and die in the state of grace, observe chastity according to their state in life, and live a life of prayer and penitence, and commend devotion to Mary especially on Saturdays. They explicitly state in official catechetical materials that they do not promulgate the Sabbatine privilege, and are in line with official Church teachings on the matter.