The Italian Catholic community of Manhattan will organize, for Sunday, December 7, a series of initiatives related to Christmas traditions. The Mass in Italian will be celebrated at 12 in the church of Old St. Patrick, in Nolita, while for children the last meeting of catechism before Christmas at 10.40 in the parish premises of Prince Street is scheduled. During the function will be carried out the blessing of the “children”, a practice widespread in the Italian parishes near the Advent, in which families bring home the statue of the crib that represents Jesus child to receive a blessing before placing in the Christmas scene. The rite was introduced in Rome in the 1970s and is also present in many Italian Catholic communities abroad.
Immediately after Mass, a short community moment is planned outside the church, organized to involve children in particular, to whom small statues of the nativity scene already blessed in the Vatican will be distributed. Such initiatives are frequent in parishes serving specific language communities: For example, in New York St. Brigid Church in East Village hosts similar activities for Filipino faithful, while Holy Cross Church in Midtown organizes celebrations dedicated to Hispanophone groups during the Christmas period. In the early afternoon, at 2 pm, at the Fiasconaro pastry shop, not far from the church, will instead be offered a slice of panettone and will hold a symbolic blessing of dessert.
L’articolo A Old St. Patrick Sunday Mass in Italian and the rite of the little girls proviene da IlNewyorkese.
