Never underestimate the desire of the left to obliterate the influence of Christianity, and particularly that of Our Lady. No battlefield is too small nor tradition too cherished to be a target. For its Revolution to succeed, the left must obliterate any official notice of the Mother of Our Lord.
That is the lesson of “A Cajun Revolution: Erasing Our Lady of the Acadians,” a marvelous piece of scholarship by Michael Lunsford. He tells of the modern attempts to root out references to Our Lady from Cajun culture.
The Symbols of a Thriving Society
Acadiana is located in the southwest third of the State of Louisiana. The area draws its flavor from Catholic French Canadians driven out of modern-day Nova Scotia during the French and Indian War by English Protestants. They were deported en masse on British ships to the Thirteen Colonies, England and France. The Spanish, who shared the French Canadians’ Catholic Faith, later welcomed them in Louisiana. Today, the people who dwell there are often known by a name derived from their Acadian heritage—Cajun.
The controversy Mr. Lunsford describes centers around a flag. Like most flags, that of Acadiana is richly symbolic.
It is composed of three parts, each of great significance to the area’s history and culture. The top contains a blue field containing three fleurs-de-lis, symbols of royal France under whose flag the Acadians sailed to Canada, then known as New France. The lower part of the flag is red and contains a gold castle, the symbol of Castile, and is meant to honor Spain that welcomed these Catholic refugees to what was then Spanish Louisiana.
Radicals Plan to Remove Our Lady
However, for Catholics, the most important symbol is contained in a white triangle on the left-hand side. It is a gold star, honoring Our Lady of the Assumption, Patroness of the Acadians. The radicals want to remove this.
In 2018, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette bemoaned the fact that nothing in the flag reflected the African-American heritage of many of the area’s residents. His solution was to change the white triangle to yellow and substitute a green star for Our Lady’s gold one. The result would have emulated the flags of several African Nations. That proposal sparked some discussion, but went nowhere.
Two years later, in the midst of the nationwide uproar that accompanied George Floyd’s death, an artist from Lafayette proposed a similar idea. He wanted to celebrate black identity by replacing the white triangle with a design made up of “Pan-African colors,” primarily red, black and green. The terrible summer of 2020 saw many unfortunate ideas take root, but, fortunately, not this one.
A Vital and Continuing Tradition
However, Our Lady’s gold star is one tradition that has not lost its spiritual meaning among the area’s people. Every August 15 Patroness of the Acadians on the Feast of the Assumption symbolized on the flag, the Fête-Dieu du Teche (Corpus Christi of the Teche), Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist processes down that historic river. Its watery path traces the journey made up the Bayou Teche by the Acadians 260 years ago. In 2025, this river procession began with an eight a.m. Mass in Leonville before proceeding to Arnaudville, Cecilia, Breaux Bridge and Parks before stopping in Saint Martinville.
The organizers quoted the second Bishop of Lafayette, Maurice Schexnayder (1895-1981), who once predicted, “The waters of the Teche will be drained to the ground before the people of Acadiana lose their Catholic Faith.” Even the current governor of Louisiana draws the obvious connection between the Acadians and the Faith that sustains them, as it comforted their ancestors. “[T]he upcoming Fête-Dieu du Teche… is a wonderful tribute to our Lord and Savior and embraces the continued faith and belief that the Cajun culture stands for!”
The Lasting Importance of Tradition
There are perhaps many who see little importance in such controversies as the issue of a gold star on a flag. They are mistaken.
Mr. Lunsford, who wrote the article that inspired this piece, speaks eloquently of the need to be aware of and promote a solid understanding of both history and tradition. “Above all, here is the need to recognize the role of Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who is also the spiritual Mother of all peoples and nations, which is why people of all backgrounds in Acadiana, are unhappy with the attempt to remove the symbol of Mary from the flag.”
“When heritage is removed, it leaves a void that is often filled with oversimplified or ideologically driven narratives, severing communities from the roots that ground [them]…. This is the hallmark of what critics describe as Marxist “woke” activism…. If a people wish to preserve their heritage intact, they must be alert not only to the dramatic challenges but also to the quiet revisions, for it is often the latter that succeed in remaking history without ever admitting they have done so.”
