A focal point of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian festival in Verplanck for the past 103 years is the Sunday afternoon procession of the five-and-a-half foot tall Virgin of Mt. Carmel statue from the Mt. Carmel Society’s Hall on 8th Street to St. Patrick’s Church on 11th Street for a celebration of mass in Italian. Members of the Society hoist the statue aloft and process to the church while spectators recite prayers accompanied by a band.  

Last year as the statue was lowered to get into the narrow doors of St. Patrick’s Church the extended arm of baby Jesus broke off. Quick thinking by society members put the arm in safekeeping inside the purse of Antoinette Pio. And a sash was quickly draped over the side where the arm was broken.

At the Society’s meeting after last year’s festival, Joe Cosentino, who has been a member for 40 of his 59 years, said he knew someone who could repair the broken arm. He explained that there were other areas that needed repair; Mary’s wrist was cemented in place and the crown atop her head was also cemented in place.

Peekskill sculptor Wilfredo Morel was asked by Cosentino if he would repair the statue that has been in use in Verplanck since the 1920’s when it arrived from Cambia, Italy.  Morel said he would be honored to make the surgical repairs.

It took Morel, with collaborator Nestor Madalengoitia, about a month of working for an hour and a half a few days a week to make the repairs. They worked in the Peekskill studio of an artist friend of Morel’s.

Six centuries after Teresa of Avila penned the poem Christ Has No Body, where she spells out in detail that the followers of Jesus need to be his feet, eyes, hands in the world today, Verplanck residents saw firsthand how that came to be in the repairing of their statue. “This keeps history alive and gives back to the community. People do not always realize it, but the money raised supports scholarships and assistance for local families,” said Ricky Marino, a member of the Society.