The image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in New York – originally a copy of a statue from a village in the vicinity of Naples.
We conclude our coverage of this week’s celebrations of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with a report on the Solemn Mass celebrated today (July21) at the church of the same name in New York City. A number of Traditionalist organizations banded together to organize a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in East Harlem – once one of the most frequented shrines in the United States! The mass was within the octave of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel( which occurs on July 16). it was perhaps the first solemn high mass in Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish since the 1960′s. It seems that the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is beginning to acquire overtones of a Tradionalist celebration – certainly several parishes of that name are associated with the Traditional mass.
It is heartening to see how Traditional Catholics are reaching out to explore the treasures of art and history contained in the old parishes of New York and elsewhere in the tri-state area. For Catholic Traditionalism must go beyond the “merely” liturgical to embrace the entire heritage of Catholic culture. In so doing, Catholics will find that they have a great inheritance of devotions, art and history to rediscover.
I hope this picture doesn’t land on the NLM – I can’t imagine what the commenters there would say…
Fr Christopher Salvatore SAC spoke of the history of this parish, of the Pallotine order and of the Traditional Mass. The spirituality of St. Vincent Pallotti emphasized the role of everyone as a missionary for Christ – including the laity. That vision is fulfilled in the Traditionalist movement today, where the laity take the lead in organizing the many liturgies and activities we are fortunate to have in the New York area. Indeed, we can truly say that active lay participation is greater on the Traditionalist side compared to the liberal…
The celebrant, Canon Jean-Marie Moreau, Priest of the Institute of Christ the King, gave the sermon. He explained the history of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of the scapular, and their mysterious interaction with the apparitions in Lourdes and Fatima.
http://sthughofcluny.org/