In the year 1241, the Baron de Grey of England was returning from the Crusades in Palestine: he brought back with him a group of religious from the holy mountain of Carmel. Upon arrival, the baron generously presented the monks with a manor house in the town of Ayesford. Ten years later, in that very place, there occurred the now famous apparition of Our Lady to Saint Simon Stock, the Prior General of the Carmelite Order. St. Simon had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In the apparition, Mary gave him a gift from heaven: the scapular to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As the Holy Virgin handed St. Simon the Scapular, She spoke these words: “Receive this Scapular as a sign of my sodality, and of the privilege which I have obtained for you and for all who shall be devoutly vested with the scapular. They will escape the eternal flames of hell. It is a sign of salvation, a preservative against dangers, and the pledge of a special peace and protection till the end of time.” The Blessed Virgin Mary promised St. Simon Stock that those who wear the scapular faithfully, live good lives, and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary as their spiritual mother, will be delivered from the pains of purgatory on the first Saturday after their death, which is known as the Sabbatine Privilege.

This stain-glass window of Our Lady of Mount Carmel serves as a living reminder to us of her presence in the Marianas. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patroness for the village of Agat in which the church was dedicated in her name on September 1937. The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception in Malojloj serves as a living reminder of the promises made by the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Simon Stock.

On November 8, 1984, the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa was created. Two months later, on January 13, 1985, Monsignor Thomas Camacho was ordained and installed as its first Bishop. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church became its cathedral and patroness of the diocese.