The Churches of New York XXVI: Top Italian

Our Lady of Mount Carmel
449 East 115th Street

The Italian community – although it later became perhaps the dominant element in New York Catholicism – came relatively late to the city. Thus, it has left surprisingly modest traces in art and architecture in Manhattan. In the early days resources were constrained. By the time the growing size and economic success of the Italians permitted grander building – from the 1920’s onward – the available artistic resources were already starting to flag.

If you ask a Catholic to name an Italian church in Manhattan, the usual answer would be Our Lady of Pompeii – a relatively late construction but well known because its prominent site in the Village. St Anthony of Padua is the oldest Italian parish and one of the largest churches as well – yet it has suffered a drastic house cleaning, giving the interior a highly un-Italian appearance. Our Lady of Peace is perhaps the prettiest – but this is no longer an Italian national parish. But then there is Our Lady of Mount Carmel – one of the earliest Italian parishes in New York and one that, thanks to its out-of-the -way location in “Spanish Harlem,” has preserved its extravagant interior intact.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish was founded in 1884 and the present building finished in 1885. It exterior has the same facing of rough-hewn stone found on several other New York churches of that period. Much of the construction was done as volunteer work by the immigrant men outside of their long working hours. It is surprising to learn that the founding pastor of this quintessentially Italian parish seems to have been German, Fr. Emil Koerner. He was later killed when a wall of the parochial school under construction collapsed on him. Indeed, Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish has been staffed from the beginning by a religious order – the Society of Pious Missions, as it was originally known (the Pallotines). The clergy came from a variety of nationalities – indeed there are claims that the Italians were treated as second class citizens in their own national church! But by 1913, a contemporary chronicler records, this parish had a congregation of “25,000 Italians and 2,000 Americans.” 1)

Now of course the main claim to fame of this church, then and now, is the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, adorned with two solid gold crowns studded with precious stones. The gold came in part from the wedding rings of the immigrants’ wives. The dress of the statue was made in India. The solemn crowning took place in 1904, having been authorized by Poe Leo XIII, who also raised the church to the dignity of a sanctuary – at the time, the only one of Our Lady in North America. 2) Even today this church’s statue is only one of three pontifically crowned images of the Virgin in North America – another is Our Lady of Guadalupe! It is claimed that many miracles have been associated with this shrine. Curiously, the image was only moved to the upper church in 1923! 3)

Tens of thousands used to gather for the Feast and procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In the early days they would process barefoot to the church, carrying huge candles and wax copies of the limbs and other body parts that had been healed. And a huge giglio ( a tower carried in procession) was set up and carried right into the 1960’s. It was one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in North America – on Manhattan Island! Even after most of the Italian population had left the neighborhood, many still returned from all parts of the metropolitan area to celebrate their faith and heritage on the feast day. 4)

That all ended by the close of the 1960’s. As early as the end of World War II the vicinity of the parish started to suffer from the disastrous effects of urban renewal projects which displaced thousands of residents. Then, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, like so many other parishes in Manhattan, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was overwhelmed by crime and drug abuse. The attitudes fostered by the Council towards devotions such as Our Lady of Mount Carmel were certainly also unhelpful. As of 2006, only about 1,000 Italian–Americans still lived within the parish boundaries (probably a generous estimate). The last Italian language mass was celebrated in 2004. 4)

Nowadays the crowds at the festa are far smaller. Our Lady of Mount Carmel seems to have slipped into the same oblivion that has overtaken so many other once famous Manhattan parishes (Most Holy Redeemer, St. Stephen, All Saints ….). It is “Hispanics“ and even more so the Haitians who now make up most of the congregation and have kept the parish and its festival alive.

The interior of Our Lady of Mount Carmel forms a startling contrast to the austere stone façade. The quasi-renaissance architecture is fairly typical of parishes of that era. But the decoration and furnishing are everything one would hope to find in an Italian parish. Every devotion has its statue, window or painting; every inch of the walls and ceilings is covered with art; chandeliers, candles and electric lights superabound. Most impressive of all is the massed bank of candles under the image of Our Lady. The work of decoration obviously went on for many years and was executed by artists of very varying quality. What seems to be the earlier work is of higher artistic merit. The Irish, Central European and German parishes of that time exhibited more discrimination in their selection of artwork, but hardly any other parish exceeds the sheer abundance and variety of the decoration found at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is all extravagantly, barbarically Catholic. The Council has left its mark on the sanctuary – a “people’s altar” – but that is all.

The Sanctuary.

Some fine metalwork is to be found – here, the gate to the fabulous baptistry.

A wax image of a saint – just like in the old country. St. Elena (Helen) of Laurino, of which this church claims a relic, lived as a hermit and died around 530. She is revered especially near Salerno

Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel was fated to play an important role in the revival of the Traditional Mass in New York. For in 1988, along with St. Agnes, this parish reintroduced the Sunday Traditional mass to New York. The pastor at that time, the legendary Fr. Peter J. Rofrano, was an enthusiastic champion of Tradition. It is reported that at his last public Mass, he spoke to a group of high school Latin students attending the Traditional Mass, telling them, “Be strong, remain strong in your faith. After all, as Catholics we have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior here with us at the Mass. What else do we need?” 6)

Later, in other hands, the initial active support waned – but the Sunday Traditional Mass has endured to the present day. Tragically, while St Agnes parish has cultivated a flourishing Traditional community because of its location, the much more magnificent church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel has struggled to maintain its Sunday low mass. But there are signs that situation may be changing – recently several missa cantata have been celebrated. On July 21 of this year the first Solemn mass in many decades was celebrated. We would hope that the fame of Manhattan’s once greatest pilgrimage church will experience a revival if the parish continues to pursue becoming a regional center for the revival of liturgical Tradition.

1. The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Volume 3 at 358-59 (Catholic Editing Company, New York, 1913)
2. Ibid.; Lisa Rocchio, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medny/rocchio.html
3. Gary Potter, Miracle on 115th Street, http://catholicism.org/miracle-on-115th-street.html (2009)(a lengthy and informative account of the history of this shrine and of the early Italian immigrant experience)
4. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine of East Harlem: Celebrating Traditions, http://atjg64.tripod.com/olmc.html (an immense repository of information about Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish over the years – including many contemporary news articles)
5. Sarah Garland, A Reunion of Little Italy in East Harlem, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/nyregion/05festival.html (September 5 2006)
6. RIP Rev. Peter J. Rofrano, comment, http://catholicforum.fisheaters.com/index.php?topic=3290379.0;wap2