Premier cimetère Acadien

PREMIER CIMETIERE ACADIEN At the Pointe des Doucets, in the Anse aux Belliveau, situated on St. Mary’s Bay, is the first spot of ground, where the Acadians who wandered back from Exile, laid their dead. Here for 10 or 15 years they buried, and ’twas only when the old church and cemetery were opened at Church Point that they finally abandoned this spot. According to reliable tradition, 123 years have passed since the Rev. M. Du Bourg (himself an Acadian) blessed this cemetery, so that a large number of the ancestors of the Acadians living in Digby and Yarmouth counties, are there laid at rest. This venerable spot, through the ravages of time, and somewhat owing to neglect, having been allowed to fall into ruin, the parishioners of St Bernards have determined to save it from further desecration, so they turned out in force last week, erected a new fence, cleaned and arranged the grounds, and planted a lofty cedar cross with a suitable inscription. A chapel with a statue of the Blessed Virgin within it, will also be placed in the Cemetery, and thus once again, under the shelter of the emblem of their faith, the “Martyrs of the Faith” will sleep the sleep of the just. Next Sunday (September lst) at 10 a. m., a Solemn Mass will be celebrated on the ground, and at its close a “Libera” will be sung for the souls of those who repose there. At the Mass, a collection will be taken up as a beginning towards the work of the new Academy, and ’tis hoped that all who will be present will give something towards the good cause. The Mass will be for the spiritual benefit of the dead Acadians—the collection for the spiritual and temporal benefit of their descendants. ALPHA.