The Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

This Saturday, July 16, we honor the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Celebrate this beloved feast at our 9:00 am Mass.

We wish a happy feast day to the Secular Carmelites who meet regularly at our parish. The Scriptures speak of the beauty of Mount Carmel in Galilee where the prophet Elijah defended Israel’s faith in the living God. There, at the beginning of the 13th century, under the title of “St. Mary of Mount Carmel,” the Carmelite Order had its formal beginning. This Memorial has been celebrated liturgically since 1726, commemorating the apparition of Our Lady on this day in 1251 to St. Simon Stock, the first General of the Carmelite Order to whom Our Lady promised special blessings for those who wear her scapular.