Location: 32 Warren Avenue, Haverstraw

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This site is municipally owned but closed to the public except on days of celebration.

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The Societa Maria ss di Monteverginia was started by the brothers Angelo and Charles DeGiso, who lived on Warren Avenue. They were born in Naples and would travel to Avilino, to a shrine dedicated to Our Blessed Lady for her birthday, September 8. This pilgrimage was a family tradition for many years. The DeGisos had a sister who organized a festa in honor of the Blessed Mother in Paterson, New Jersey, which they attended faithfully.

 

As a direct result, they were inspired to start a similar festa in Haverstraw. They began collecting donations around 1927. In 1929, the first little festa was held on the porch of Angelo’s home. Around that time, their neighbor Rose Barricano constructed a float containing the icon of the Blessed Mother, with flowers, angels, and other religious figures. The float was carried through the Village by four young girls: Elizabeth Martello (Cacioppo), Helen Gallo (Mercury), Loretta Gallo (De Groat), and Gwen DeGiso. The festa was then moved to a shed owned by Batista Rundel at 27 Warren Avenue and held there for several years. In 1936, the Chapel was built by Nicholas Sansonetti on a small plot of land provided by the owner of the Archer Brickyards.

 

The festa was held over Labor Day weekend and drew pilgrims from the tristate area. Hundreds of buses would come. The festa also drew large numbers of vendors who sold religious articles, as well as Italian food and candy, similar to the vendors who participate in the San Gennaro Feast. Spectacular fireworks were held on Saturday and Sunday nights. An outdoor mass was celebrated at the Chapel by Bishop Joseph Maria Pericone from Yonkers.

 

As the festa grew, it was moved to the Erie property (which later became the Annex building for the Haverstraw High School). When the festa needed even more space, it was moved to Peck’s property in West Haverstraw.

 

Toward the end of the 1950s, however, Peck’s property was sold to Orange & Rockland Utilities, and the festa moved back to Warren Avenue. Today, the festa consists of a nine-day Rosary Novena, a mass at St. Peter’s Church on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, and an outdoor mass at the Chapel on or near the Blessed Mother’s birthday.