The day that many people wait for all year finally arrived on Sunday as the annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel procession made its way through the streets of Hammonton. Before the procession began, people filled Saint Joseph’s Church to light special devotional candles to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, go to confession or to sit quietly and pray. Saint Joseph’s Church offered Masses all day in honor of the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

“I have many prayer requests to lay at the feet of the saints,” said Joanmarie Piazza. Piazza, who has been attending the festival since she was a teenager, felt the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the procession of the saints would help ease her burdens. “I have a deep devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the intersession of the saints is very important to me,” she said.