Fête-Dieu du Vermilion Eucharistic Procession

Come and Celebrate the Centennial of the Diocese of Lafayette! Fȇte-Dieu du Vermilion, Eucharistic Boat Procession up the Vermilion River, will take place on the Feast of the Assumption, Wednesday, August 15.

All are invited to a Mass in French at 8am at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Abbeville to begin the day. Bishop Glen Provost of the Lake Charles Diocese will preside and give the homily. At the end of Mass there will be a procession from Church with the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of Mary across the draw bridge to Riverfront Restaurant (503 W. Port St.). At 10:00 am 121 boats will embark in procession (one for each parish of the Diocese) and make their way up Bayou Vermilion to Lafayette. The boat procession will stop in Milton at Wawee’s at 11:35 am for recitation of the rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The flotilla will re-commence at 12:35 pm and continue upstream, arriving at Ruffino’s in River Ranch at 1:40 pm for Rosary and Benediction. The boat procession will embark once again at 2:40 pm and arrive at Beaver Park at about 3:20 pm.

Persons interested in making the “100-Year Walk” to the Cathedral can gather at Vermilionville at 3PM and use the bike path under the Thruway to muster at the boat landing. At 3:45 pm a foot procession with the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary will leave the landing and process up University Avenue in Lafayette all the way to the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Solemn Vespers will be prayed at 5:00 pm and Holy Mass will follow at 5:30 pm with Bishop Douglas Deshotel to conclude the historic day. Buses will be available to shuttle walkers back to Vermilionville as needed. Confessions will be heard in mobile units at each of the stops along the way.

Don’t miss this “once in a hundred years’ event!” Information for this event including boat registration forms are available at www.fetedieuduteche.org. For more information email at [email protected] or call (337) 394-6550.