Louisiana Town Doused With 100 Gallons Of Holy Water By Plane For Christmas

The city of Cow Island, Louisiana, got an unexpected Christmas surprise from a local church on Saturday. Organized by the Roman Catholic St. Anne Church and its parishioners, a crop-duster plane was employed to dust the community with 100 gallons of holy water as a holiday blessing on a massive scale.

“Fr. Matthew Barzare and parishioners of St. Anne Church in Cow Island enlisted the help of a cropduster pilot to bless their community,” the Diocese of Lafayette explained in a Facebook post. “… A happy and blessed Christmas to everyone from St. Anne Church and parishioners!”

The water was loaded into the plane and spread across the town as well as the nearby farm. Members of the church also brought holy water from their own homes to be anointed on the airstrip by Fr. Barzare. Parishioners traveled to the airstrip to witness the blessing after Saturday mass.

“I blessed it there, and we waited for the pilot to take off,” Fr. Barzare explained to NPR. “I've blessed some buckets for people and such, but never that much water.”

The blessing was the idea of Cow-Island-native L’Eryn Detraz. Detraz is a missionary for the church currently stationed in Ohio.

“We can bless more area in a shorter amount of time,” Barzare said.

Barzare claims that since the blessing took place, he has heard from other churches that would like to do the same.