ADVENT! Adveniat regnum tuum! What a classic time in the Liturgical Year. We celebrate liturgically what we do so often each day of our lives…We wait! We wait! We wait! “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Orchard Street number 97 was one step of this journey; The Tenement Museum! Sitting in one of the kitchens of the apartments [having lived in a N.Y.C. tenement apartment] many memories stirred; flooded my conscious mind…reverence, idealism, innocence filled my memory bytes.

Then of course on to the gift shop! Grazing the meadow of the shop I came upon a colorfully decorated book cover called: THE MADONNA OF 115TH STREET, La Madonna del Carmine. Again a shower of memories poured into my mind and heart; cultural, colorful, continuous images of La Madonna! Processions, Panegyrics, Provolone, Gambling, Papier Mache, Pizza, Pasta, Candles, Scapulars, Banners, Decorations!

Women dressed in black; hair pulled back into a bun; barefooted with candles as tall as they were and ME trailing along. The magnificent Gothic Church [built by the people themselves] filled to overflowing capacity eying the men removing La Mama from her high throne above the “high” altar. I can still hear the joyful gasp that rose from the throats of the people: “La Madonna will walk with us in our streets”; money pinned to her quite ornate clothing: A ‘Fellini-esque’ epoch cinema possibility equaling the spaghetti dinner on the streets of Rome.

This “sitz en leben” opportunity opened my mind to the original goodness graciously offered by my Creator. IMAGINE!!

Here is this demure lady of Nazareth…full of God’s grace; gentle lady whose only jewel she ever bore was her first and only born son, Jesus the Christ. Worthy of all crowns! On 115th Street she wore a tiara made from the offerings of the poor women of East Harlem; real hair covered her plaster head; carried atop a giglio with everyone singing, praying and honoring the Mother of their Savior. In the procession were Fiorello La Guardia, Vito Marcantonio [a socialist catholic], the Faranga brothers; each born in that neighborhood.

This spectacle opened the souls of the poor waiting for their deliverance. Mary was, for them, a new Moses. Simply by raising his hands he parted the Red Sea bringing liberation to the slaves of the Egyptians. Miriam, by her YES; parted the clouds and the dew of our Freedom became flesh. A woman, a hero for the people of East Harlem, who believed women, belonged at home! Mary, in this exaggerated image, becomes the source of strength for her people while they waited. Her YES; resounding on the street, in the homes. Could there be a greater honor?

La Madonna del Carmine brought to her people innocence and passion; idealism and realism; reverence and sophistication. And the people called out with one voice: “VIVA LA MADONNA!”

Is her YES also asked of us this Advent of expectation? Maria, llena de gratia!

Philip Fabiano, O.F.M. Cap.  

“Let the clouds rain down the Just One and the earth bring

forth the Son!

Drop down ye dew from the Heavens!”

[Liturgy of the Hours]

  The Dance Continues The Dance of the Giglio Feast in East Harlem was one of the original Giglio feasts held in the United States back in the early 1900's. The roots of this feast differ somewhat from their brethren feasts in the United States in that the descendants of this feast originated from the town of Brusciano, Italy which is located several miles from Nola, Italy.

In the town of Brusciano, six Gigli are danced each year in honor of San Antonio, the town's patron saint. As the story goes, in 1875 a gentleman named Francisco Vivolo made a vow to San Antonio to erect and dance a Giglio in his honor like they do each year in Nola, if his deathly ill son miraculously recovered. Needless to say, Francisco's prayers were answered and the Dance of the Giglio was born in Brusciano, still carrying on today.

Descendants of Francesco Vivolo and others from the town of Brusciano settled in East Harlem shortly after the turn of the 1900’s and started a Dance of the Giglio feast annually in honor of San Antonio. This tradition took place on 106th Street until 1955. In 1957, the feast was moved to 108th Street where it remained until 1971.

From 1971 through 1999, no Dance of the Giglio Feast took place in East Harlem. Then in 2000, the Dance of the Giglio feast returned and was held on 115th Street in cooperation with the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. A Giglio was erected and danced on Sunday 16 July 2000 for the first time in 29 years that a Giglio was danced in East Harlem. Building on the success of the previous year, 2001 saw the return of the Dance of the Giglio in East Harlem.

The 2002 Our Lady of Mt Carmel feast was truly a spectacular event. The feast was lengthened to 12 days from Wednesday, 10 July 2002 through Giglio Sunday, 21 July 2002. The Dance of the Giglio in East Harlem was held the last day of the feast on 115th Street between 1st and Pleasant Avenues.

The Madonna of 115th Street Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950

Awarded the Alpha Sigma Nu National Book Prize for outstanding book in the humanities sponsored by Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States Winner of the 1986 John Gilmary Shea Prize given by the American Catholic Historical Association.

In a masterful evocation of Italian Harlem and the men and women who lived there, Robert Orsi examines how the annual Festa of the Madonna of 115th Street both influenced and reflected the lives of the celebrants. His prize-winning book offers a new perspective on lived religion, the place of religion in the everyday lives of men, women, and children, the experiences of immigration and community formation, and American Catholicism. This edition includes a new introduction by the author that outlines both the changes that Italian Harlem has undergone in recent years and significant shifts in the field of religious history.