CONTACT:
Karen Turni Bazile, Executive Assistant to the President
St. Bernard Parish
504-278-4280 or 504-874-0980
ST. BERNARD CELEBRATES MEMORIAL DAY AND CANARY ISLANDS DAY AT
HISTORIC ST. BERNARD CHURCH AND CEMETERY
St. Bernard Parish
officials, residents and veterans came together for an annual
celebration commemorating Memorial Day and Canary Islands Day,
which both fall on May 30.
The event at historic St. Bernard Church and Cemetery in St.
Bernard Village on May 25 began with a Mass led by the Rev.
Danny Digal, pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church in
Chalmette. St. Bernard Church has reopened since Hurricane
Katrina as a mission of the Chalmette church.
The event honors both Memorial Day and Canary Islands Day. On
May 30 in 1982, Canary Islanders held their first provincial
elections since the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco in
1936.
The Islands, which are a province of Spain, since 1982 at
four-year intervals, have elected a president of the provincial
government and constituent assembly representing the seven
inhabited islands. Canary Islanders first settled St. Bernard in
the late 1770s.
After Mass, the congregation processed to the cemetery. St.
Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro and Anthony A. Fernandez
Jr., president of St. Bernard Historical Society and former
Chief Deputy for the Sheriff’s Office, presented wreaths in
honor of Canary Island day and in honor of the Canary Island
descendants who have fought in every American war since the
American Revolution. Furthermore, St. Bernard Cemetery is the
only cemetery in St. Bernard with veterans from every war from
the American Revolution to the Gulf War.
Vietnam Veterans also laid wreaths and placed flags on veterans’
tombs.
The annual commemoration is sponsored by the Los Islenos
Heritage and Cultural Society and the Vietnam Veterans
Association.
