BATON ROUGE, La. — The air was already steamy at 8 a.m. on an August morning, the sidewalk radiating heat waves as a crowd filtered into St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Baton Rouge. Hundreds filed into the church, adorned in veils and athleisure wear, white robes and tennis shoes.
They were among thousands of Catholics who converged on the Mississippi River Aug. 14 and 15 for the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi. The two-day boat procession traveled down the river from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Its star attraction is a 14-foot-tall golden sculpture called a monstrance, which is used in Catholicism to house the spirit of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
The Fête’s concept of a blessing from God bestowed upon a fleet of ships and those who come out to witness it has deep roots in Louisiana tradition. Vessels setting out on shrimping voyages garnered blessings from Catholic priests as far back as the early 1900s. Shrimping was — and still is — a prominent industry in Louisiana and used to be a lot more dangerous. Drownings, accidents involving hooks and pulleys and frequent engine explosions on board were common enough for shrimpers to seek divine intervention in order to feel safe.
Elise Plunk
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Louisiana Illuminator
This blessing, usually held on Bayou Teche in the Atchafalaya Basin, represents an intersection of Catholic and Louisiana tradition. Having the pilgrimage on the water rather than on land, “recalls our rich Acadian history and, in a way, re-enacts the journey made by the Acadians 250 years ago,” according to the Fête-Dieu du Teche website.
“The Mississippi River is known around the world,” said Aimee Dawes, an attendee from Baton Rouge. “To put Jesus on the boat with the crucifix to travel down the river, so many more people get to witness him.”
The procession started with a Mass on Aug. 14 at Baton Rouge’s oldest church, the gothic building filled to the brim with people from all across the southeastern United States. Inside, the church boomed with sound as the orchestra and choir played and sang in grand unison. Great mahogany arches towered over the parishioners as sweat stained the backs of shirt collars. Paper programs gained a second life as fans to swirl around the still, hot air.
“Let the blessings of our Lord and Our Lady of the Palm Sunday be upon us this hurricane season,” Father Michael Champagne said from the pulpit.
“Lord, hear our prayers,” the crowd responded.
Elise Plunk
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Louisiana Illuminator
The procession, a pilgrimage organized by Champagne and the Community of Jesus Crucified in St. Martinville, carried at its center the 14-foot-tall golden monstrance, central to the tradition of the Eucharist. Deacons and volunteers, red-faced from the heat, pushed the glittering structure from St. Joseph Cathedral to the Baton Rouge boat dock on the river using a rolling metal cart adorned with boxes of pink, red and white carnations.
The 130-mile voyage down the Mississippi River took place against the backdrop of a nationwide Eucharistic Revival, sponsored by U.S. bishops with the goal, according to the National Eucharistic Revival’s website, to “be united once again around the source and summit of our faith in the celebration of the Eucharist.”
The Eucharist is a Catholic ceremony commemorating the Last Supper, in which Jesus ate bread and wine with his apostles the night before his crucifixion. At the core of this ceremony is the idea that the bread and the wine are not just symbols but become “the real body and blood of Jesus” after undergoing a process called transubstantiation.
According to the Pew Research Center, in a 2019 survey, 69% of self-described Catholics believe the bread and the wine used in communion are symbolic representations, deviating from official church doctrine that says the bread and wine aren’t symbols, but truly are the presence of Christ.
Greg LaRose
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Louisiana Illuminator
The movement to drum up support for stronger Catholic belief in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist began in 2022. It rolled out with a three-year action plan culminating in a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this past July and pilgrimages like the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi happening across the country.
The Fête was held on the Mississippi River this year rather than Bayou Teche to match a central idea in the Eucharistic Revival: Go big.
Downriver in St. Charles Parish, hundreds of faithful gathered Aug. 15 for the second day of the Fête under the Hale Boggs Bridge in Luling. The event coincided with the Feast of the Assumption, a holy day for Catholics that marks the death of Jesus’ mother, Mary, and her ascension into heaven.
Three busloads of students from St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School in nearby Destrehan were among the participants who lined the riverbank. Their principal, Rachel Hafford, made it a priority to bring the kids to see the flotilla.
“We started [school] last Thursday, so it was quite a task to get a field trip underway and get buses and all that,” Hafford said. “But … being such an instrumental part of our faith, there's no way … that we would miss this opportunity.”
Greg LaRose
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Louisiana Illuminator
A few nearby tugboats maneuvered to flank the Eucharistic procession, mirroring people on the riverside who kneeled as the giant golden sculpture floated by under the bridge.
The celebration included a solemn moment in remembrance of those who died in the George Prince ferry disaster almost 48 years ago. St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell placed a wreath on the riverside to mark the occasion.
As the vessel carrying the Eucharist passed along the river, Ann Roshto of Baton Rouge joined many others on their knees and wept. Her tears were brought on by the significance of the moment and the river to her life and the state, she said.
Elise Plunk
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Louisiana Illuminator
“The river is important to Louisiana. It’s just a blessing.” she said. “And for Jesus to travel down the river, to allow us to come here and to give him praise and worship, He deserves all the glory.”
The journey down the river ends with another Mass in St. Louis cathedral and celebration in Jackson Square in New Orleans. Onlookers gather around the outside of the church as faithful enter through the arched central doorway. A boy sits on a man’s shoulders and cups his hands over his eyes, peering past the wrought iron fences and French Quarter lanterns in Jackson Square, curious.
Greg LaRose contributed to this report from Luling. This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.
