In the year that saw the parish community celebrate the fifth centenary of the presence of the Carmelites in Mesagne, as well as the birth and inauguration of the "Beata Maria Teresa Scrilli" House of the Sisters of the Institute of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Minor Pontifical Basilica of Carmel in Mesagne welcomed, on the occasion of the beginning of the Novena in preparation for the patronal feast, the Prior General of the Order of Carmelites, Irish Father Míċeál O'Neill. In the course of his stay he met with the bishop of the diocese of Brindisi-Ostuni, His Excellency Msgr. Domenico Caliandro, and the mayor of Mesagne Toni Matarrelli.  Father O'Neill presided over the Eucharistic Celebrations of the first two days, Wednesday, July 6 and Thursday, July 7.

In particular, on the evening of July 6, in the presence of the members of the technical-scientific committee promoting the periodic study sessions of a historical, social and cultural nature of the past months and in communion with all the priests of the Messapian city, who were invited to the event, the parish was engaged in the General's welcoming party, enlivened - from 9:30 p.m. onward - by the presence of soprano M° Chiara Marangio and pianist M° Damiano Tamburrino.

On the morning of July 7, at Palazzo Celestini, seat of the Mesagne City Council, the Prior General visited the parish of Our Lady Most Holy of Carmel on the occasion of the beginning of the Novena in preparation for the patronal feast and met with the mayor of the Messapian city, Toni Matarrelli, and the president of the city council, Omar Ture.

Father O'Neill was accompanied by the parish priest, Father Enrico Ronzini, and Father Cosimo Pagliara, prior provincial of the Neapolitan Province, to which the Mesagna basilica belongs.

Matarrelli, who called the General's visit "a great honor for Mesagne and for the parish in which I grew up," expressed words of appreciation and thanks for the industrious presence of the Carmelites in Mesagne since 1521. He paid tribute to the Prior General with a copy of the historian Diego Ferdinando's "Messapography" (edited by Domenico Urgesi and Francesco Scalera) and one of the volumes "Still Appia" (a photographic book capturing images of the Regina Viarum between Rome and Brindisi). He added the philatelic cancellation of the postcard depicting the city of Mesagne on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Commissariato di Pubblica Sicurezza (Public Safety Commissariat).

In turn, the Carmelites made a gift to the city administration of the latest publications published by the Neapolitan Province, especially remembering the figure of St. Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite priest, theologian and journalist executed in the Dachau concentration camp for opposing National Socialist propaganda.

The Prior General, after the evening Eucharistic celebration (followed by a concert by internationally renowned harpist Claudia Lamanna), visited Mesagne in the late evening accompanied by a guide provided by the city administration.