Tag Archives: Maria SS Lauretana

This past Labor Day weekend, the 125th Annual Feast of Maria SS. Lauretana returned to Niles for a milestone celebration. Over three days, record-breaking crowds filled the festival grounds. Visitors from throughout the country, travelers from Italy and countless Chicagoland families came together to honor a devotion that has endured for more than a century. What began at St. Philip Benizi Parish in Chicago’s Little Sicily has grown into one of the Midwest’s most cherished Italian festivals. When Sicilian immigrants from Altavilla Milicia first celebrated their devotion to Maria SS. Lauretana, they sought not only to honor their Blessed Mother …

I’m ceaselessly amazed by the ingenuity and tenacity we show in the face of adversity. A half year ago, the coronavirus had us against the ropes, sending us scurrying for shelter and forcing us to cancel every blessed event we were so blithely planning. Yet here we are today, with COVID-19 still bearing down on us, back in the middle of the ring bobbing and weaving as we find ways to celebrate community and culture while keeping the pandemic at bay. For the past 16 years, a cavalcade of authors and scores of enthusiasts have gathered in the Florentine Room …