Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Holy Week is central to the spiritual lives of Italians on both sides of the Atlantic. The shrines of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini will play their parts from Palm Sunday (March 29) to Easter Sunday (April 5).
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL (Melrose Park) will celebrate Mass with the distribution of palms at 7:45 a.m. and noon in English and at 10:30 a.m. in Italian on Palm Sunday; Mass of the Last Supper in English and Italian and the washing of feet at 6 p.m. and adoration of the Altar of Repose from 9 p.m. to midnight on Holy Thursday; confessions from 9 a.m. to noon, a Rosary at 6 p.m. and Liturgy at 7 p.m. on Good Friday; an Easter Vigil at 8 p.m. on Holy Saturday; and Mass at 7:45 a.m. and noon in English and at 10:30 a.m. in Italian on Easter Sunday.
Palms will be presented by the Battenti Madonna dell’Arco of Associazione Regionale Campania at the 10:30 a.m. Mass on Palm Sunday, and a Visitation of the Seven Churches will take place on Holy Thursday. (Buses leave at 7 p.m. Bus ticket price to be announced. Seating is limited and reservations are required.)
Members of more than two dozen patron-saint societies will fill the church on Good Friday. After a 6 p.m. Rosary, a procession of banners into the church precedes the Good Friday Liturgy at 7 p.m. A candlelight street procession follows featuring the Sicilian Band of Chicago, society banners and statues of Maria SS. Addolorata, SS. Crocifisso and Gesù Morto. All societies are welcome to participate. (708-344-4140, olmcparish.org)
OUR LADY OF POMPEII (Chicago) will celebrate Mass with the distribution of palms at 8:30 and 11 a.m. on Palm Sunday; Mass of the Lord’s Prayer at 7 p.m. and personal prayer until midnight on Holy Thursday; Stations of the Cross at noon and the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at 7 p.m. on Good Friday; Easter Vigil at 9 p.m. on Holy Saturday; and masses at 8:30 and 11 a.m. on Easter Sunday. (312-421-3757, ourladyofpompeii.org)
FRANCES CABRINI (Chicago) will celebrate a 4 p.m. Vigil Mass the day before Palm Sunday and a 10 a.m. Mass on Palm Sunday, and a 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Mass of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. (cabrininationalshrine.org)
