Parishioners were present for mass at St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church Wednesday evening to honor Our Lady of Fatima and St. Joseph.
“I think I’m really excited that our community has come together to make this happen once again,” Rev. Fr. Jason Vidrine said. “It has a long history and this town of great history in St. Martinville and I think it will carry on for years to come.”
Vidrine said the church’s May Day Procession began in 1949 and stopped in 2011.
Deacon Adam Conque said it stopped after the community decided it was too difficult to continue, and credits the revival to many “new great families” who joined the church.
“For this May Day Procession we have mass, followed by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament through town stopping at several alters,” Vidrine said.
“We’ll arrive at the festival grounds and eat and and then we’ll have a production of the Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.”
Mary Frances Floody is a parishioner at the church, who served on the May Day planning committee.
She said she’s most excited to see the reenactment of the story of Our Lady of Fatima told by the children of the church.
“I’m excited to see the children really bring it together, they’ve been working hard and to share the message with a community they’ve been doing it, you know, for their parents at practices and for me,” Floody said.
“And now they’re gonna have a crowd here and they get to share the message that Our Lady of Fatima asked us to share.”
Floody, who had never seen the procession and pageant at the church, said she’s excited for a new traditional beginning.
“Everyone’s excited it sounds like,” Floody said.
“All the people who saw it in the past are like ‘really?’ You know? ‘It’s coming back?’ So, I’m just honored to be apart of that. And like Father was saying too, to see a new beginning, you know something that’s old to bring it back and have a newness about it. Keeping all the wonder of the history of it but making it new again.”
Stops along the Eucahristic Procession included Maris Stella Classical Academy, Evangeline Oak, City Hall and the Community of Jesus Crucified.
