Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Melrose Park will celebrate the 133rd anniversary of its devotion to the Blessed Mother on July 19.
Festivities will begin with a 7:30 a.m. Mass in English and a 9 a.m. solemn Mass in Italian, followed by a procession with the statue of the Blessed Mother to a noon field Mass. A procession through the streets of the parish afterward will culminate in a 4 p.m. benediction, followed by a 5 p.m. Mass in Spanish. The Sicilian Band of Chicago and Caliendo’s Banda Napoletana will perform during both processions, and food and beverages will be available for purchase during the day.
A 7:30 p.m. Novena will run from July 10-18. Refreshments will be served each night after the Novena, and a grand raffle drawing will be held on the last night.
Related events include a 7 p.m. banner presentation on July 14, a 6 p.m. rose presentation on July 15, an 8 p.m. Italian feast block party on July 17, and a 3 p.m. Mass in Spanish and a 5:30 p.m. Mass in English on July 18.
The actual feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, will be observed with a 6 p.m. celebration dinner followed by a Mass presided over by Bishop José Maria Garcia Maldonado. Deceased members of the Feast Committee will be memorialized at the Mass, after which Caliendo’s Banda Napoletana will perform in procession through the streets. For more, click here.
