The Feast of St. Gerard. Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 to Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. St. Lucy’s Church, 118 Seventh Avenue, Newark, NJ. In the back of St. Lucy’s Church in Newark is a dim chapel where the carved likeness of Gerard Majello is kept. Throughout most of the year, visitors gather here at the foot of the marble altar to ask for blessings.

Last week, nine church members met there to partake in an annual tradition of taking down the wooden statue to redress the saint in new garbs in time for his autumn celebration called the Feast of St. Gerard. “The elders are slowly passing the torch down to us,” said Gerard DiPopolo, 41, who is part of the committee that organizes the festival. “The majority of what we do each year is the same as when it started.”