Second Sunday after Easter
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel
Mount Carmel is a 1500' limestone ridge overlooking
Haifa and the Mediterranean Sea in northern Israel, sacred as the home of
the prophet Elijah and the place of origin of the Carmelite
Order of Catholic monks and nuns, which has maintained a presence on
the mountain subject to interruption by the repeated conflicts in the
region. During the Napoleonic invasion of 1799, the Stella Maris monastery
of Carmelite Friars there was badly damaged, and in 1816 Italian brother
Giovanni Battista Casini went to oversee its restoration. During a return
to Genoa in 1820, he commissioned a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
from sculptor Giovanni Battista Garaventa. The cedarwood image was
solemnly crowned at the Vatican in 1823 and remained in Rome until 1835,
when it finally reached Mount Carmel. On June 10, 1836, the restored
church was blessed, Our Lady's statue enthroned, and regular monastic life
resumed at Stella Maris. Garaventa's work was made to be vested in fabric;
only the head and hands were finely carved. In 1933, Roman sculptor
Emanuele Rieda refashioned the body with carved robes.
On the second or occasionally the third Sunday after Easter, the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel traverses Haifa from the Roman Catholic parish to the Stella Maris monastery in a solemn procession with the patriarch, bishops, friars and sisters, musicians, scouts, seminarians, and a crowd of people from many faiths.
(Picture of the statue on the altar of the Stella Maris Basilica from Les Carmélites de Terre Sainte, www.carmelholyland.org. Information also from "Devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel," Spiritual Reflections at, TX US, spiritualreflections.catholicweb.com.)
Also commemorated this date:
 | Madre del Divino Pastor, Capuchin Order (Mother of the Good Shepherd), special liturgy on preceding Saturday. |
| Notre Dame de Pitié, Perros-Guirec, Côtes d'Armor, Brittany, France. Pardon. |
| Notre Dame du Saint Voile, Coupiac, Aveyron, Midi-Pyrénées, France (Our Lady of the Holy Veil). Fête. |
| Notre-Dame-la-Brune, Mazan, Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, France (Our Lady the Brown) |
| Madonna del Popolo, Cesena, Forlì-Cesena, Emilia Romagna, Italy |
| Santissima Annunziata, Brolio, Chianti, Tuscany, Italy |
| Madonna delle Grazie, Monte Soratte, Roma, Latium, Italy |
| Madonna della Indulgenze, S. Elia Fiumerapido, Frosinone, Latium, Italy |
| Madonna di Lassù, Frascineto, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy |
| Nossa Senhora da Saúde, Almaceda, Castelo Branco, Portugal (Our Lady of Health) |
| Nossa Senhora de Mércoles, Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Beira Interior Sul, Centro, Portugal (Our Lady of Wednesday) |
| Nossa Senhora das Cabeças, Toulões, Idanha-a-Nova, Castelo Branco, Beira Interior Sul, Centro, Portugal (Our Lady of the Heads) |
| Nossa Senhora da Piedade-Mãe Soberana, Loulé, Algarve, Portugal (Our Lady of Mercy, Sovereign Mother) |
| Nuestra Señora del Cerro, Acehuche, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. Romería. Fiesta Aug. 15. |
| Nuestra Señora de los Hitos, Alcántara, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. Romería. Fiesta Mar. 25. |
| Nuestra Señora de la Divina Pastora, Eljas, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady the Divine Shepherdess) |
| Nuestra Señora de Bienvenida, Torre de Don Miguel, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady of Welcome) |
| Nuestra Señora de la Peña, Perales del Puerto, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora de Navalonga, Cilleros, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora de Antolinez, Guijo de Galisteo, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora de Valverde, Valdeobispo, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora del Puerto, Plasencia, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady of the Door). Fiesta. Romería 1st Sun. after Easter. |
| Nuestra Señora del Salobral, Jaraíz de la Vera, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. Romería; fiesta Easter Sun. |
| Nuestra Señora de la Luz, Malpartida de Plasencia, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady of the Light). Fiesta: mass, procession from town to rural chapel. |
| Nuestra Señora de Botós, Puebla del Prior, Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. Romería. |
| Nuestra Señora de Belén, Zafra, Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady of Bethlehem) |
| Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, Adeje, Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Rogativa, procession. |