The Mass was in the open-air, but the celebrant still wore a mask as a health precaution
By Irish Echo Staff
The Carmelites celebrated an open-air Mass on Monday, August 17, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock on the grounds of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, New York.
Fr. James R. Sidoti, O. Carm. was the celebrant.
According to a release from the order, the Carmelites’ love and devotion to the Blessed Mother knows no bounds.
"Those bonds were further strengthened when the Blessed Mother appeared with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist in the little town of Knock, Ireland in 1879.
"Pilgrims from all over the world flocked to the site to pray at what was to become the Irish Shrine of Our Lady of Knock."
In 1948, according to the release, the Irish Carmelites in New York worked diligently to elevate the shrine to the level of the shrines at Lourdes and Fatima. Their success spawned the birth of a number of shrines to Our Lady of Knock around the world.
The Carmelite’s Shrine of Our Lady of Knock has a long history. Although the shrine in Middletown was dedicated in 1991,its first home was at the Carmelite’s Our Lady of the Scapular church on 28th Street in Manhattan.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Knock remained at OLS until the church added a parish center in the late 1970s, at which time the statues were placed in the care of the Irish Christian Brothers at Iona College.
When the Carmelite property at Brandsma Priory in Purchase, New York, was redesigned, the Our Lady of Knock statues were installed there. When the priory was closed, the statues found a new home at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Stated the release: "Credit to the Our Lady of Knock Shrine in Middletown was due to the efforts of three Irish religious, Fr. Brendan Hourihan, O. Carm., Fr. Emanuel Hourihan, O. Carm, and Msgr. James Hourihan.
