The Pontifical shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

church under the authority of the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...

, located in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, United States. The church's formal address is 448 East 116th Street, although the entrance to the church building is on East 115th Street, just off Pleasant Avenue. The parish enshrines a vested statue of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

under the title of

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order, particularly within the Catholic Church. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Ca ...

, widely venerated by its devotees.

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

granted the image a Pontifical decree of

Canonical Coronation A canonical coronation ( la, Coronatio Canonica) is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or Josep ...

on 12 May 1903.

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

carried over the Pontifical decree and donated a

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...

for the crown to which the rite of coronation was executed on 10 July 1904.

History

The church itself was constructed in 1884 by Reverend Emil Kirner of the Order of the Pallottines. At the time, the parishioners held mass at East 111th street until the completion of the shrine in 1885. The church at the time cost US$40,000 though did not formally open until 7 August 1887. The former shrine became populated with incoming Italian and Bohemian congregants and Our Lady of Mount Carmel was the second Italian parish in New York City and the first Southern Italian parish. Since the first feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on 16 July 1881, its annual feast has been a major event in East Harlem, at one time attended by more than 100,000. The church cornerstone was laid on 20 September 1884. A new school and gymnasium were added to the church on 1 September 1965. The parish shrine of the Virgin Mary was crowned by in the name of the Pope on 10 July 1904.

Marian cult and devotion

The parish church enshrines an image of the

venerated under the title of

, brought by an Italian immigrant and saloon owner, Antonio Petrucci from Polla, in

Salerno, Italy Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

. The statue replaces a poster image used by

Italian immigrants The Italian diaspora is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, Unification of Italy, and ended in the ...

devotees who first settled in the area. The image, garnering devotion gained petition from Father Scipione Tofini (1836—1921) of the

Pallotine The Pallottines officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate ( la, Societas Apostolatus Catholici), abbreviated SAC is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman C ...

Order and was authorised to crown by

by a pontifical decree dated 12 May 1903.

approved the

Canonical coronation A canonical coronation ( la, Coronatio Canonica) is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or Josep ...

under his pontificate by granting an

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

gemstone on 10 July 1904 via Archbishop

John Murphy Farley John Murphy Farley (April 20, 1842 – September 17, 1918) was an Irish-American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1902 until his death in 1918, and became a cardinal in 1911. Early life and education ...

, which was held in

Thomas Jefferson Park Thomas Jefferson Park is a public park in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The park is on First Avenue between 111th and 114th Streets. It contains a playground as well as facilities for baseball, basketball, footba ...

to accommodate the large number of pilgrims. The image is widely venerated by its faithful, who sometimes refer to the image as the ''Madonna of East Harlem''.

Today

Every year on the second weekend of August, the

Giglio Society of East Harlem Giglio Society of East Harlem is a non profit Italian-American society located in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, that sponsors an annual feast honoring their patron saint, Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony. History 20th century Southern I ...

holds an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

festival on the streets around the Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church. The festival or "feast" includes the Society performing the "Dancing Giglio". The dancing of the Giglio is an Italian tradition which began over 125 years ago on the streets of East Harlem. In 2013, the parish was placed under the care of the Polish Pallottine fathers. The church currently offers masses in English, Spanish, Polish, Haitian Creole, and Latin. Since 2015 the pastor of the parish is Rev. Marian Wierzchowski.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 40, 47, 41.38, N, 73, 56, 2.53, W, region:US, display=title Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan East Harlem Shrines to the Virgin Mary Catholic pilgrimage sites Italian-American culture in New York City Pallottines