“It doesn’t get any better than this for Cajun Catholics”

As the last of about 60 boats left Leonville on Bayou Teche for a daylong procession to St. Martinville excitement seemed to linger among those left behind about a Saturday morning that began with a Mass led by Bishop Glen John Provost of the Diocese of Lafayette.
Elaine Trahan of Lafayette may have summed the up Fete Dieu du Teche best.
“It doesn’t get any better than this for Cajun Catholics,” she said on the La. 347 bridge overlooking the last of the boats leaving an Eucharistic Procession down Bayou Teche in observance of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians.
Don Cormier of Parks said, “This event is twofold. One, it is the Feast Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother and, second, it is to commemorate the 250 years of Acadians who came down the same trek of bayou to settle at St. Martinville.”
Cormier’s wife, Linda, “This is our heritage you know. Oh, it is just wonderful. Words can’t describe it.”
Don Cormier added, “American by birth, Cajun by the grace of God.”
The day’s events were a sign of the faith of the Cajun people, said the Rev. Samuel Fontana, associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rayne.
“Sometimes you need a big celebration to get excited, to show your faith in a public way,” Fontana said.
Celeste Gomez, St. Landry Parish tourism director, said one attraction to Acadiana is the people live their culture.
“Saturday just epitomized what we mean by that,” she said. “Because even though it had a religious connotation, it was also about our heritage and a very important anniversary in our culture with the arrival of the Acadians.”
Gomez added, “I thought it was just beautiful with people coming together. It brought a focus on the natural beauty of the Bayou Teche and it was just spectacular.”
Whether people were Catholic or not, Gomez said it was a once in lifetime event.
Conni Castille, executive director of The Teche Project, said, “I thought it was a beautiful use of Bayou Teche to bring back this historic event. It was so well done, executed and organized. I hope it becomes an annual event. I know it was for the 250th anniversary of the Acadian arrival, but I hope they do it every anniversary.”
Even arriving at Leonville may have involved some faith for some.
Renee Lane of Lafayette, said, “I followed the cars that had the Catholic bumper stickers on them. That’s how I knew how to get here ...”
By the hundreds people found Leonville, the boat landing and St. Leo the Great Church where Provost delivered a homily touching on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Acadian anniversary.
“Today we see Mary not visiting her cousin Elizabeth, or holding the child Jesus in the manger of Bethlehem, or presenting the first-born son to God in the Temple, or prompting the first miracle of Cana in Galilee, or at the foot of the cross, or present for the birth of the Church at Pentecost,” he said “All these are her Scriptural appearances, but her final act is to be other-worldly, an assumption into heaven, taken body and soul, to be crowned by her Son in glory.”
Provost said the gathering was also to remember the exile and arrival of the Acadians.
The Acadians were guilty of two “flaws” that led to their exile — they were French and Catholic, he said.
“And this Catholic faith nurtured in the hands of Cajun mothers praying their rosaries, bringing their children to Mass and the other sacraments, where is she today?” he said.
Provost said Catholics cannot forget Mary and, “The Cajuns dare not.”
Provost added, “No child forgets his mother, and no Acadian should forget the soil from which he sprang, a soil watered with the blood of martyrs, outcasts, and exiles.”
Following the Mass at St. Leo, the bishop led a procession to the Leonville boat landing.
From Leonville the procession bearing the Blessed Sacrament stopped at Arnaudville, Cecilia, Breaux Bridge, Parks and ended at St. Martinville.
The day included a blessing from Pope Francis upon Saint Martin de Tours on the 250th anniversary of the erection of the parish and arrival of the Acadian people to the region. The pope also granted a plenary indulgence to participants.
The Rev. Michael Champagne, of Our Lady of Sorrows Retreat Center in St. Martinville and organizer of the event, estimated said there were about 1,000 people at the Mass and hundreds more on the 35-mile trip on Bayou Teche.
“That was actually the same path the Acadians came,” he said.
“I don’t know of anything of a religious festival like that,” he said. “The last time something like that happened was when the Acadians came down bringing the faith.”
Champagne said the procession may be repeated.
“This was, I think, a great rejuvenation,” he said. “People responded to that, the public manifestation was honoring the Acadian people who suffered much — life, family, property for their faith and they made us what we are. And, we have to keep that strong if we are going to be able to pass it on ...”