In 1891, Michele Notary and Giacomo DiGiacomo organized the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society, the forerunner of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.i The first Italian Catholic organization in Denver, this group helped Mount Carmel’s first priest, Rev. Felice “Felix” Mariano Lepore, buy land for the first church. Before the church was built, the society met in a building that had a dry goods store and shoe repair shop with rented apartments on the second floor. Over time, as membership in the organization increased, the society converted the first floor into one large hall and later acquired the entire building. In 1967, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church purchased it from the society.ii The church still uses the hall for parish activities such as the Mount Carmel Altar and Rosary Society’s craft and bake sale, the cultural reception for La Prima Domenica, and the Saint Joseph’s Day Table—a Sicilian feast day celebration. By: Alisa DiGiacomo
i “Residents of Denver Organized into Six Italian Societies,” The Denver Times, N 17, 1901, 24.
iiMount Carmel History,1975, 54.
