Hundreds of Romans accompany the Virgin of Carmen in the traditional procession along the Tiber River

The faithful of the Eternal City celebrate the Virgin of Mount Carmel, venerated in Rome as the “Madonna dei Noantri” or the “Madonna Fiumarola”, for about 10 days with different manifestations of popular piety.

After last Saturday, July 20, the traditional procession Through the streets of the emblematic neighborhood of Trastevere, on Sunday afternoon 28 hundreds of Romans and tourists came to the banks of the Tiber River to accompany the boat that transported the Virgin.

This year, the solemn procession included the participation of the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who a few days ago returned from his trip to Ukraine to convey the closeness of Pope Francis to the country at war.

The origin of the “Madonna of Our”

The cult of the Virgin of Carmen in Rome has its origin in 1535, when, according to history, some fishermen found a statue of the Virgin Mary made of cedar wood at the mouth of the river after a strong storm and donated it to the Carmelites who were in the church of San Chrysogonus.

Later, it was moved first to San Giovanni dei Genovesi and then, in the 20th century, to the church of Sant’Agata, where it is currently kept, thus becoming the Patroness of the inhabitants of Trastevere, a Roman neighborhood whose meaning is “behind from the river”.

The Marian statue is transported out of this church only once a year, on the Saturday following the feast of the Blessed Virgin of Carmel, July 16, and returns to the temple after a solemn procession the following Sunday along the Tiber River.

This festival is one of the oldest in Rome and is highly anticipated by its inhabitants throughout the year, especially by those of the Trastevere neighborhood, who use the term “Noantri” (the rest of us) to remember their belonging to Rome. beyond the Tiber River.