Chiesa del Carmine (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel), Messina, Sicily, Italy

Chiesa del Carmine. Photo: Stadio93/Wikimedia Commons

The "Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel", better known as Carmine Church, is a Roman Catholic church, located near the Cathedral in Messina, in Sicily. It replaces the former church, which was razed by the 1908 Messina earthquake. Located before the Courthouse, the Carmine Church was rebuilt in the eighteenth century Baroque or Rococo style. Designed by the architect Cesare Bazzani, the church was reconsecrated 15 July 1931.

The interior, in the shape of a Greek cross with side chapels, is decorated with polychrome marble and pink marble columns topped with carved capitals. The dome of the church, octagonal, has a circular window on each side and is surmounted by a square lantern. The central compartment has an octagonal shape and is covered by a dome that is in line with Via Nicola Fabrizi and Corso Cavour, to whom all the building, seen from a distance, gives the impression of a terminal point.

The church has seven chapels. On the main altar is an eighteenth-century statue depicting the Madonna of Carmel, with the Infant Jesus in her arms, in the act of turning the holy scapular to St. Simon Stock.

• Chapel of St. Heart: it is located in the crossing of the church on the left of the main altar. The niche contains a statue of St. Heart.

• Chapel of St. Crucifix: it depicts Mount Calvary, the cross on which Jesus stands against a background of dark clouds that hint of darkness that have arisen time of his death. Sitting at the foot is the Mother of Sorrows with his chest pierced by a sword.

• Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes: it is from right beside the main altar. In a cave that seems to remember that French is the wooden statue of Our Lady of Lourdes natural high that comes from the ancient church-cabin (after the earthquake stood at Via La Farina). At his feet there is a small Bernadet.

• Chapel of St. Anne: the wooden statue of St. Anne holds an open book with the biblical passage "Rorate coeli et desuper nubes pluvant iustum" (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above the clouds rain down the Just). The Santa was, along with St. Lawrence, until 1988, co-owner of the parish that, on that occasion, changed its name to "Santa Maria del Carmine."

• Chapel of St. Albert of the Abbots: the wooden statue of Albert of Trapani, one of the patrons of Messina, natural height, holding in her arms the Divine Little Child on the right, with the symbolic lily and a book on the left: the symbols of his candor and scrupulous observance of the Rule. It lies on a wooden base, on which is a fluttering ribbon with the inscription "Civitas Messana Gaude", which invites the city of Messina to enjoy having such a wonderful protector. Behind the saint's feet you can see the stern and the bow of the historic "Vascelluzzo", a vessel that commemorates the liberation of the city of Messina by a severe famine, and that is carried in procession every year on the day of Corpus Domini.

• Chapel of Saint Lucy: it recalls the church "Santa Lucia all'Uccellatore" which stood near the present sanctuary. Great is the devotion of Messina people for Saint Lucy and they particularly celebrate it in her feast day, 13 December.

Built by the famous company Tamburini of Crema and tested on January 30, 1954, church organ is the most practical and perfect that could be offered at that time. It has two manuals of 61 keys, a fine console, beyond the radially concave pedalboard with 32 pedals brackets, adjusted every twenty registers, 17 of which are real mechanical. It has a complex of 1,400 rods which, placed on both sides of the loft, forms a complex rich sounds.

Source

• www.wikipedia.org

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