ST. MARTINVILLE — St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville will be celebrating a Holy Mass in French this Friday as part of the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The Mass, which takes place at 6 p.m., will be followed by a candlelight procession around St. Martin Square for the feast.

The feast celebrates the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, recalling a series of 18 appearances that the Blessed Virgin Mary made to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, Saint Bernadette Soubirous.

The Marian apparitions began Feb. 11, 1858, ended July 16 that year and received the local bishop’s approval after a four-year inquiry.

Coming soon after the 1854 dogmatic definition of her Immaculate Conception, the Virgin Mary’s appearances at Lourdes turned the town into a popular travel destination. Thousands of people say their medical conditions have been cured through pilgrimage, prayer and the water flowing from a spring to which Bernadette was directed by the Blessed Virgin. Experts have verified 69 cases of miraculous healing at Lourdes since 1862.

St. Martin de Tours has a long history of French Masses. The church is one of the oldest Catholic churches in America and third oldest in Louisiana, and was founded in 1765 by a group of Acadian exiles who arrived as part of the Acadian exile by the British.

The current church structure was constructed in 1836 and dedicated on June 2.

Friday’s event will be held in St. Martin Square and pastored by the Rev. Jason Vidrine.