SHREVEPORT, La. Holy Trinity Catholic Church held a special mass Sunday for the last of the five “Shreveport Martyrs,” priests remembered for their service to the sick and dying
Shreveport Times
Five Roman Catholic priests who died in Shreveport during the yellow fever epidemic of 1873 have been recognized as Servants of God, the first step in the process toward being recognized as a saint.
The Vatican s Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has reviewed their stories and has granted the Diocese of Shreveport permission to begin the process of gathering evidence of the sanctity of the lives and the cult of devotion to Father Jean Pierre, Father Isidore A. Quemerais, Father Jean-Marie Biler, Father Louis Gergaud and Father Francois LeVezouet.
There has never been any sainthood cause from northern Louisiana.
Bishop Francis I. Malone of Shreveport, La., signs a decree of recognition Dec. 8, 2020, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in downtown Shreveport, officially opening a sainthood cause for five priests who died ministering to people during the yellow fever epidemic of 1873. (CNS/Courtesy Diocese of Shreveport/Kierstin Richter)
SHREVEPORT, La. The sacrifice of five Catholic priests who gave their lives ministering to people in Shreveport during the 1873 yellow fever epidemic is memorialized in stained glass at Holy Trinity Church in downtown.
Their stories have been regularly recounted across nearly 150 years of news reports and histories of Shreveport. The city s Pierre Avenue is named in honor of one of them, Fr. Jean Pierre, the first pastor of Holy Trinity.