Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary/250th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians

Hundreds of people gathered in Leonville Saturday morning to launch a eucharistic procession down Bayou Teche in observance of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians.
“The Assumption is the Feast of the Acadians,” says the Rev. Michael Champagne, CJC, native son of the Diocese of Lafayette. “They sailed under the Acadian flag, which has the star representing Our Lady of the Assumption.”
“His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, declared Our Lady of the Assumption the Patroness of the Acadian peoples,” adds
Bishop Glen John Provost, another native son of the Lafayette Diocese and current bishop of the Diocese of Lake Charles, said, “His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, declared Our Lady of the Assumption the Patroness of the Acadian peoples.”
Provost added, “Bishop Jeanmard [first bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette] recognized this special relationship between our Blessed Mother and the people of the Acadian exile. For a descendant of an Acadian to forget his or her roots and the witness to the Catholic faith of these people is a tragedy. Perhaps Mary can remind us of what some have forgotten, as well as what many faithfully remember.”