Our Lady of Mount Carmel of East Harlem

Marian devotion of New York (New York)

La advocación de Our Lady of Mount Carmel of East Harlem is linked to the presence of Italian immigrants in the East Harlem district of Manhattan, and to the development of the parish and the popular piety around the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The local tradition also knows it as the “Madonna del 115”, for its roots in the area of 129th Street of Italian Harlem, where devotion became especially visible around the Italian-American community.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of Mount Carmel of East Harlem is linked to the presence of Italian immigrants in the East Harlem district of Manhattan, and to the development of the parish and the popular piety around the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The local tradition also knows it as the “Madonna del 115”, for its roots in the area of 129th Street of Italian Harlem, where devotion became especially visible around the Italian-American community.

As for the documented historythe great public manifestation of this devotion is the Fiesta de Our Lady of Mount Carmel, held in East Harlem from 1881. The documentation published by the parish itself and the Catholic press presents this feast as one of the oldest and most significant expressions of Italian-American religiosity in New York. It does not contain, in the sources consulted, a unique foundational account or a local Marian apparition; the verifiable is the historical growth of parochial and festive devotion around the image of the Virgin of Carmen.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image is a representation of the Virgin of Carmen in the Latin-Catholic context: Mary appears as Our Lady of Mount Carmelo, advocation associated with the Carmelite scapular and the spirituality of Carmel. In the sources consulted, the material of the image or a complete technical iconographic sheet; therefore, these details should be given as no consta if maximum documentary accuracy is required.

The sanctuary / temple where it is venerated is the parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel en East Harlem, Nueva York. The sources consulted present it as the center of annual celebration and local devotion, but no consta in those sources having the title of minor basilica, National sanctuary o diocesan sanctuary. In the case of editorial prudence, it is clear that this is a Catholic parish of Latin rite with strong devotional and popular projection.

Sponsorship and coronation

Documented patronage is mainly parish and community: the advocation is linked to the Italian-American community of East Harlem and the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There is no official patronage of the city, municipality, diocese or nation for this specific advocation in New York.

As for the canonical coronation, does not contain a documented canonical coronation in the verified sources for this invocation of East Harlem.

Party and devotion

La main party se celebra el 16 July, the traditional date of Our Lady of Carmen. In East Harlem, this celebration has become one of the best known Italian-American parties in the United States, with the procession through the streets of Italian Harlem as a central act.

The popular devotion is characterized by the solemn processionthe participation of neighbours and descendants of Italian immigrants, and the strong sense of community memory. The journalistic and parish sources place this feast as a celebration of great historical arraigo from 1881, with the presence of music, religious acts and expressions of popular piety that are typical of the New York district parties. There is no precisely confirmed flow figure here; therefore, quantitative data should be given as no consta.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted do not contain an exclusive or unique link of this advocation with the prayer of the Rosary beyond the general Marian spirituality of the Church and the Carmelite tradition. However, devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is well understood within the Catholic Marian piety, in which the Rosary accompanies the contemplation of Christ with Mary and strengthens the meditative dimension of Marian asvocations. In a devotional sheet, therefore, it can be noted with certainty that the Rosary is a prayer very consistent with this advocation, although no consta a distinctive rosarian practice of East Harlem in the verified sources.