[StBernard] EARLIER TIMES--- St. Bernard Blessing of the Fleet to be held Saturday, July 31 at Delacroix and Yscloskey

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Blessing of the Fleet to be held Saturday, July 31 at Delacroix
and Yscloskey

Blessing at 10 a.m. in Delacroix to be followed by one at 11:30 a.m. in
Yscloskey

 

The 63nd annual blessing of the boats in St. Bernard Parish will take place
on Saturday, July 31. The first blessing will begin in Delacroix Island at
10 a.m. followed by a blessing in the Yscloskey area that is tentatively set
to begin at Shell Beach at 11:30 a.m. This event which has been held
annually since 1947 is for the benefit of St. Bernard Catholic Church.  All
boats, particularly commercial fishermen especially from St. Bernard Parish,
are urged to participate.  

 

The Los Islenos Society as well as the St. Bernard Parish Historical Society
will assist in the event.  Father John Arnone, pastor of St. Bernard
Catholic Church and Our Lady of Lourdes Church, noted that this event has
religious, cultural and historical significance.  He said this is one of the
oldest celebrations in St. Bernard Parish and indeed the metropolitan area.
Father John also said the primary purpose is to bless the boats asking God's
mercy to protect the vessels and the people aboard them.  Father John will
be in a skiff and travel down the bayou, blessing each boat by their own
wharves with St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro Jr. at his side.

>From Shell Beach, Father John will travel down the bayou to Hopedale.


 

"At a time when our commercial fleet and fishermen are both victims and
responders to the world's largest oil spill disaster, calling on formal
blessings is as important a response as anything else we are doing," Taffaro
said.

 

Parish Council Chairman Wayne Landry agreed. 

 

"This year the blessing of the fleet will take on an additional meaning,"
Landry said. "This year not only will vessel safety and an abundant harvest
be prayed for, the protection and preservation of future fisheries will also
be prayed for in light of the catastrophic events of the current oil spill."

 

Councilman Fred Everhardt, who represents District E, asked for everyone to
keep those affected by the spill in their prayers.

 

"It is an especially important time for us to go ahead and proceed with our
blessings of the fleet," Everhardt said. "Our hearts and prayers are with
the residents who are affected by the oil spill. The blessing will be for
their safety now and for the future harvests to come." 

 

St. Bernard Parish Historian William deMarigny Hyland said the important
Catholic tradition dates to the days of St. Peter the Fisherman, the founder
of the Catholic Church. Father Clemens Schneider, pastor of Our Lady of
Lourdes in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, started the blessings in St. Bernard.

 

For more information, contact Cecile "Celie" Robin at 504-682-9124.

 

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