Procession Of The Patroness of Mola di Bari, Italy – The Maria SS Addolorata

Brooklyn, NY, September 13, 2015 - 

Italian immigrants to this country not only settled, but established their traditions here as well. Those that emigrated from Mola di Bari in Italy are no exception.

This congregation of Maria SS Addolorata, Our Lady of Sorrows was established in 1948 in Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, New York. 

The Molesi chose the Parish of Sacred Hearts - St. Stephen’s Church in Carroll Gardens. They commissioned an exact replica in the 1940s and it came to Brooklyn by ship from Italy.

The processions occur twice a year - Good Friday and the Feast of the Madonna Addolorata which happens on the second Sunday in September. Immigrants and their descendants march with the statue (which is carried on men’s shoulders) in the hope that their faith and the request for intersession by the Blessed Mother under the title of Addolorata, is successful.

The practice of honoring patron saints was an alien and frowned upon practice by immigrants already

established in this country – to the point where existing Catholic churches viewed it as paganism. However, the opposite is now thought to be true. Devotions are made to those patron saints by those hoping for miracles or a desired outcome of a particular situation.

In years past, it was part of a carnival that was on a smaller scale of today’s San Gennaro feast in Manhattan. Rides and vendors were plentiful and the entire event was coordinated by the organizing group.

In 2008, the Mola Club on 4th Place and Court Street decided to revive the practice to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the annual procession and the 125th anniversary of Sacred Hearts Parish, Brooklyn’s first Italian Parish.

This year’s event was held on September 13th, complete with a marching band, men and women dressed in black and little girls dressed with the Madonna Addolorata as a model. The procession made stops at the 76th Police Precinct, where the National Anthems of Italy and the US are played, Scotto Funeral Home, Frank’s on Smith Street and finally the Mola Club with the conclusion at the Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church at 7pm. After a fireworks display upon arrival, a mass in Italian closes the entire event.