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| Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Most Precious Blood Church Photos by New York Scugnizzo |
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a name associated with devotion to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Her veneration under this title is very widespread among the Italians of Southern Italy and Sicily. Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel was brought by Italian immigrants to the United States. Many churches are dedicated to her honor, and there is hardly an Italian Catholic church that does not bear her image.
History of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Tradition suggests that a community of Jewish hermits lived at the top of Mount Carmel near Haifa in Israel, from the time of the Prophet Elijah (Elias) who according to the Scriptures, lived in a cave there. In the thirteenth century, the Christian order of the Carmelites was founded on Mount Carmel (although legend has it that the Prophet Elijah himself founded the order). The Prophet Elijah is considered the Patron Saint of the Carmelites, and a statue of Elijah defeating the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18) was erected near the monastery. Another tradition states that the order was founded by San Bertoldo of Calabria.
Prefixed to the Carmelite Constitution of 1281 was the claim that from the time when Elijah and Elisha had dwelt devoutly on Mount Carmel, priests and prophets, both Jewish and Christian, had lived praiseworthy lives in holy penitence adjacent to the site of the fountain of Elisha, in an uninterrupted succession.
Various problems with the invading Muslims made the Carmelite brothers unable to live on Mt. Carmel in prayerful solitude. From about 1238, they began to move to Europe. Some went to Sicily, some to Naples. St. Louis, King of France, a Crusader, welcomed the Brothers of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to his country. In 1242 the Carmelites arrived in England under the sponsorship of Richard De Grey and Richard of Cornwall.
The Origin of the Scapular
On July 16, 1251, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to an English Carmelite monk Simon Stock, and gave him the brown garment known today as the scapular, which has become associated with the Carmelite order.
Byzantine Tradition
The Byzantine icon of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, venerated at the monastery in Israel, was brought to Naples and enshrined in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine by the Carmelites who left the mountain. This icon is called in Italian “La Bruna” (the Dark One) because the smoke from years of devotional candles and incense darkened the features of the Madonna and Child. Thousands of Italian emigrants made vows to the Virgin of Mount Carmel to ensure safe passage from the Port of Naples to the New World at this basilica.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel in New York
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| Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem |
The Southern Italian immigrants, brought their devotion to the Virgin of Mount Carmel with them to the New World, especially to New York, where many of them contributed to the building of a shrine in her honor. In 1881 a beautiful church was dedicated to her on 115th St. in East Harlem, together with a traditional statue of the Madonna made in Italy and donated by a devotee from Salerno.
Papal Coronation
In 1904, Pope St. Pius X conferred the special privilege of solemn papal coronation upon the miraculous image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a rare privilege granted only three times before in North America: Guadalupe, Mexico; Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Canada; and Prompt Succor, New Orleans, Louisiana. Pope St. Pius X contributed a large emerald of his own to the crowns of the Madonna and Child in New York.
Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Most Precious Blood Church, NYC
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| Document from church archives |
In 1975, another Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was founded by Brother Matthew Morreale under the pastorship of Father Marion Cascino. In October 1976, however, by general consensus of the Franciscan friary and Parochial Chapter, Most Precious Blood Church broke connections with the second Society.
By 1977, the Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was housed in a basement apartment at 174 Elizabeth Street (near Spring St.), and from July 13 to July 16, 1978, sponsored its first annual Procession and Bazaar at Most Precious Blood Church under the pastorship of Rev. Adolph Giorda.
There had always been a connection with the parishioners of Most Precious Blood Church and the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem. Groups of devoted women made vows to the Virgin for various intentions. They would walk barefoot from Little Italy to the Shrine on 115th Street, following traditional Italian devotional custom, on her feast day July 16, to fulfill their vows.
Shrine Church of Most Precious Blood 113 Baxter Street, New York, NY 10013
www.oldcathedral.org
