St. Mary Magdalen in Vermilion this week

By Chris Rosa

She may have been a little late, but for those who were at St. Therese Catholic Church in Abbeville since 9 a.m., the wait was worth it.

The relic of St. Mary Magdalen arrived around 11:15 a.m., or about 80 minutes behind schedule. When she and the people in charge of transporting her around Louisiana arrived, there was not a sad face on the grounds of the church.

“This is amazing,” said Bonnie Hebert, who drove from New Iberia to see it. “This is St. Mary Magdalen, the person who knew Jesus. I think I am about to cry.”

Her remains have been kept in Europe since the second century and they have been on display in France for the last 730 years. It will tour the United States for the next six weeks.

The relic, which is a piece of the saint’s leg bone, was carried into St. Therese Church Monday morning, just in time for an All-Saints Day noon Mass said by the Rev. Kenneth Mayne. The relic is sealed in a glass tube inside a glass case. During the Mass, the case was in front of the altar.

Mayne said relics bring Catholics closer to their religion. By having the relic of St. Mary Magdalen in the Abbeville church, it brings Catholics closer to Jesus.

“Relics make it possible for us be there with Jesus. Go to her with whatever your problems are. She stood at the cross. She is the saint for all sinners.”

After the Mass, people lined up in order to go kneel and pray to her, and some touched the glass case. Others took pictures of the relic with cell phones.

One person who was patiently waiting to say a prayer to St. Mary Magdalen was Sister Jeanette Benhardt. She sat in the back pew and waited to the line to get shorter.

“It is a great honor to have the relic of St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville,” Benhardt said.

The relic was in New Orleans over the weekend and was greeted by thousands of people.

The relic, which remained at St. Therese until 6:30 p.m., will be in Kaplan at Maltrait Memorial School, starting at 10 a.m on Tuesday. It will be in the school gym until 4:30 p.m. At 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., there will be a lecture and veneration. At 5:30 p.m., a Holy Mass will take place.

On Wednesday, the relic will be back in Abbeville in the Vermilion Catholic gym, starting at 8 a.m. A Holy Mass will be said shortly after it arrives.

The relic will move to the St. Mary Magdelen lower chapel, which seats 100 people, at 9:30 a.m. There will be a lecture at 10 a.m. The relic will remain in the church until around 11:30 a.m.

On Thursday, it will move to UL-L’s Our Lady of Wisdom Church in Lafayette from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.