Fourth Sunday in July
Madonna Tal-Karmnu, Zurrieq, Malta
Devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel was strong in Zurrieq by 1653, when a
painting of her was installed in the rebuilt parish church of St. Catherine
(established in 1436). In 1800, when Maltese defenders were resisting
Napoleon's occupation of their capital Valletta, a devotee of the Madonna
of Carmel, Giovanni Maria Borg, took refuge in Zurrieq on the south coast.
The following year, he established the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel there with 90 charter members, including the mayor. In 1842, the
Confraternity commissioned a polychrome wood processional statue from a
leading sculptor, Salvu Psaila.
The Confraternity supports Our Lady's elaborate festivities in late July, together with the Carmelite Society and the Queen Victoria Band Club, which runs the Mt. Carmel Fireworks Factory. Although the festa of the Madonna Tal-Karmnu in Zurrieq is especially spectacular, it is also typical of Maltese religious celebrations. Almost everything, from the processional statuary to the hymns and fireworks, has been locally and lovingly created. Starting on the third Sunday, the streets are decorated with lights, banners, and images of saints and angels. The flat roofs around the town square support a forest of poles hung with flags by day and lights by night. All week prayers, matins, vespers, and masses are said, culminating on the fourth Sunday with a solemn high mass and panegyric in praise of the Madonna, with choir and orchestra. After Sunday vespers, fireworks announce the start of a long procession, which wends through the streets to the square for more fireworks and the singing of special hymns with band accompaniment, after which the procession returns to the church for final benediction and sung antiphon.
Sources:
 | www.carmelitesocietyzurrieq.com (Google cache) |
| Għaqda Karmelitana Banda Queen Victoria, Żurrieq, www.talkarmnuzurrieq.tk |
| www.zurrieq.gov.mt (photo) |
Also celebrated this date:
| Notre-Dame de Bréac-Ellis, Brennilis, Finistère, Brittany, France. Pardon. |
| Madonna dell'Angelo, Piovene Rochette, Vicenzo, Veneto, Italy. Festa del voto (1631 plague). Reenactment pageant first Sunday in July. |
| Nostra Signora delle Grazie, Santo Stefano di Magra, La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. Festa commemorates apparition July 10, 1657. |
| Madonna di Loreto, Fontana Liri, Frosinone, Latium, Italy (penultimate weekend). Emigrant's Day: mass, procession, fireworks. |
| Madonna della Sanità, Vallecorsa, Frosinone, Latium, Italy. Festa. |
| Maria Santissima Consolatrice del Carpinello, Visciano, Napoli, Campania, Italy (penultimate Sunday). Festa: mass, procession. |
| Nossa Senhora da Penha de França, Alcanena e Vila Moreira, Alcanena, Santarém, Centro, Portugal, Gouxaria district. Mass, procession, fair, dance. |
| El Carmen, Villapresente, Reocín, Saja-Nansa, Cantabria, Spain. Mass and procession. |