The celebration of the Annual Anniversary Mass for Servant of God “Nonco” Pelafigue will be held Sunday, June 7, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Francis Regis Catholic Church in Arnaudville. The Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will begin at 10:00 a.m. The Sacred Heart statue that Nonco used in all of his plays will be on display.
Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel, Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, will be the main celebrant and Fr. Travis Abadie, will be the Concelebrant as prayer for “Nonco’s” canonization cause continues.
His Cause for Canonization has now moved into the Roman Phase and he is one step closer to being named a saint. There will be an update at the reception following the mass.
A reception and spaghetti dinner will follow in the Little Flower Auditorium. Everyone is invited to attend.
The Auguste “Nonco” Pelafigue story begins in 1889, when Auguste Pelafigue, who was not yet two years old, and his family, travelled by ship from France to the United States and settled in Arnaudville.
As Auguste grew older, he was given the nickname, “Nonco” derived from “Nonc,” the French word for uncle, and the first syllable of his name which is pronounced “oh”. Nonco was an appropriate name, too, because Nonco was considered everybody’s uncle.
Nonco is best known as an organizer and promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer League of the Sacred Heart, now known as the Pope’s Prayer Network, with some 1200 members and 100 promoters who helped him distribute the monthly leaflets in their communities. Nonco traveled on foot to deliver the leaflets and to visit the sick and the grieving. He was referred to, by his pastor, as another priest in his parish as Nonco assisted at Mass daily, on Sundays, and on Holy Days of Obligation. For more than 24 years until his death in 1977 at age 89, Nonco continuously spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and promoted the intentions of six popes – for a total of 68 years until the day he died in the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
