Williamsburg Feast Honors O. L. of Mount Carmel, St. Paulinus

By Marie Elenda Giossi

Don’t bother asking Phil Franco what’s happening in the world right now because from now until July 16, his entire focus is on the Festa, that is, the 120th Annual Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Paulinus of Nola.

Photos by Linda Busetti, Marie Elena Giossi, 

Ed Wilkinson and Stefanie Gutierrez 

Franco, the newly appointed diocesan director of faith formation, is one of 300 men lifting the Giglio and la Barca (the boat) this year.

“I’m tired and my shoulder hurts but I’m good,” he said on Monday morning, after dancing the two structures for several hours on Giglio Sunday, July 8.

According to Franco, a lifelong parishioner of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, Williamsburg, where the feast takes place, this is not just a once-a-year event. It’s much “bigger and deeper than that. It’s a very special time for people. It’s a part of our lives.”

The feast commemorates a story about Bishop Paulinus of Nola, who, in around 410 AD, exchanged his life for that of a boy abducted into slavery by North African pirates. Word of his courage spread to a Turkish sultan, who negotiated for the bishop’s freedom. Overjoyed by his safe return, the Nolani people greeted him with lilies (gigli) and his homecoming became an annually observed feast with elaborate displays of lilies.

Above, Father Joseph Fonti, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Willamsburg, and Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Thomas of Philadelphia, enjoy themselves as the Giglio statue is “danced” in the streets of Williamsburg. Other scenes depict the family, food and pageantry that took place Sunday, July 8, at the Feast which honors Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Paulinus. Each year, members of the parish, present and past, renew the tradition which has gone on for 120 years in the Williamsburg parish. Men literally lift the eight-story structure, complete with a band and singers, and “dance” it down the block where it is united with a boat structure, which is carried from another street. The lift will occur again on Sunday, July 15, at 1 p.m. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio will celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel there on Monday,

July 16, at a 10 a.m.

Mass and street procession.

The tradition came to Brooklyn over a century ago, and in the 1950s, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church combined the Festa Del Giglio with the feast honoring Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Franco, whose maternal great grandparents hailed from Naples, near Nola, has been part of the brotherhood of the paranzas (lifters) for about 15 years, since he was around 16 or 17. He had the honor of playing the Turkish sultan in the annual reenactment of the return of St. Paulinus in 2001. For several years as a child he carried the Children’s Giglio until he was old enough to dance with the men.

This year, “there are eight crews of about 40 lifters. A lot of the guys on my crew are my cousins. We began on the Giglio yesterday and then we switched to the boat,” he said.

“It’s in our blood,” he said. “It’s something you imbibe from the time you’re a kid watching your father and your uncle lifting.”

As a youngster, he watched his uncle Louis Franco shoulder the four-ton structure. As an adult, he’s had the honor of marching alongside his uncle, who is an Apprentice Capo this year.

“I hope I can see my son lifting one day,” Franco said of his eight-month-old, Dominic, who watched his daddy lifting the Giglio with mom Tara, who is expecting – perhaps another lifter-to-be.

One day, Franco hopes young Dominic and his little brother or sister will hear the story of how their parents met at the feast and how their father proposed to their mother there in 2001.

But familial tradition and the Italian culture are not all he wants to hand down to his children; he hopes to pass along his faith as well.

Franco, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Italian feast tradition, specifically as a means of socializing young people in the faith and providing catechesis outside of the classroom, explains that there are “many layers” to the festa that outsiders don’t see.

While most people attend the feast for Italian cuisine, music, rides and games of chance, he noted that the observance always begins in church with the Coronation Mass in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He also pointed out that before any activities take place on Questua Saturday, Giglio Sunday and the feast day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the celebration begins first in church with Mass to preserve the centrality of the Eucharist and the Marian spirituality associated with the 12-day festival.

At these Masses, chairmen, lifters, lieutenants, band members, Capos and their families join with parishioners, past and present, and feast-goers from near and far to share the Eucharist together.

“It’s a tremendous expression of our Catholic faith. It’s an experience of Church in the best sense,” he said.

Even those who don’t make it through the church doors are often drawn to the outdoor Shrine to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, where people can pray before the life-like statue, light candles, and obtain scapulars and icons.

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