Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Youngstown

Marian Advocation of Youngstown (Ohio)

La devoción a Our Lady of Mount Carmelo in Youngstown is linked to the arrival of Italian immigrants, especially from southern Italy and Sicily, in the late 19th and early 20th century. These communities brought with them their strong Marian piety and, in particular, the love of the Virgin of Carmen and the scapular.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of Mount Carmelo in Youngstown is linked to the arrival of Italian immigrants, especially from southern Italy and Sicily, in the late 19th and early 20th century. These communities brought with them their strong Marian piety and, in particular, the love of the Virgin of Carmen and the scapular.

In 1908 the Italian parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Youngstown, in the then working-class neighborhood of Brier Hill, to attend pastoral to the growing Italian-American community. The present church was built in Italian-Romanesque style and consecrated in 1913, eventually becoming one of the spiritual and identity centers of Catholics of Italian origin in the city.

It does not contain a local tradition of Marian apparitions or a miraculous finding of the image in Youngstown; the advocation is part of the great Carmelite devotion extended by the Latin Church since the Middle Ages, which vents the Virgin as Lady of Mount Carmel and Mother of the Scapular. No local legends have been found with a foundational value similar to those of other Marian shrines; therefore, the history of the sanctuary is essentially that of an ethnic parish that evolves in devotional sanctuary of the Italian-American community.

The image and the sanctuary

The title image venerated in the parish-sanctuary Our Lady of Mount Carmel de Youngstown representa a la Virgin of Carmen with the Child Jesus and the evapulario, according to the usual Carmelitan iconography. However, the material (wood, plaster, etc.) and the author of the sculpture are not clearly recorded in the sources consulted; these specific data are not.

The temple is known as Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basílica – Shrine after its elevation to minor basilica by the Holy See in 2014. It belongs to the Diócesis de Youngstown and is located in the historic Brier Hill district of Youngstown, Ohio, United States. The church has an italoRomanesque style with rich interior decoration, vitrals and artistic elements linked to Italian tradition, and is recognized as a Marian sanctuary especially linked to the local italoamerican community.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica - Shrine is closely linked to spiritual patronage of the Italian-American community of Youngstownwhich recognizes it as the main identity and religious centre. There is no decree declaring it a civil patron of the city or state of Ohio; the advocation is venerated within the ordinary framework of the Marian cult of the diocese.

In the sources consulted does not contain a documented canonical coronation of the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Youngstown by the Holy See or a Pontifical delegate.

Party and devotion

La main party of the advocation is, according to the Roman calendar, the 16 July, memory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In Youngstown, devotion is expressed in a special way through the famous Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian Festival, a great parish and community party that is held annually around that date, becoming one of the oldest and most known Italian festivities in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.

During the feast, liturgical celebrations are held in Latin rite (solemn Mass, novies, Marian prayers) and various religious and cultural acts of the Italian-American tradition: procession with the image, music, gastronomy and community activities. The parish - sanctuary throughout the year maintains a constant devotion to the Virgin of Carmen, especially through the devotion to the scapular of Carmen, a very prominent element of this advocation. Accurate and recent data of inflow in the number of pilgrims or participants do not accurately reflect the available sources, although it is described as a widely attended celebration in the region.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted do not contain a specific and own tradition which uniquely links Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Youngstown to the prayer of the Rosary (for example, the co-fraternity of the Rosary itself or official title related to the Rosary). However, the Carmelite devotion, focused on the evapulario and in the life of prayer, is deeply linked to the Marian spirituality of the Church, in which the Rosary occupying a privileged lugar.

In pastoral and spiritual practice, the advocation of the Virgin of Carmen is often accompanied by the prayer of the Rosary both in preparation for the feast of July 16 and in the daily life of the faithful, because the Rosary helps to contemplate, together with Mary, the mysteries of Christ, of which the Virgin of Carmel is a living memory and model of contemplation. Thus, even if unique features are not documented in Youngstown, the Marian piety of the sanctuary is naturally integrated into the great tradition of the Rosary of the Latin Church.

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General annex on Marian advocacy (concept and feast of Our Lady of Carmen). Information about Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica - Shrine, Youngstown, as an ancient Italian-American parish, its location, elevation to lower basilica and general description of the shrine and its festival.