SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - The Vatican is considering sainthood for five French priests who traveled to north Louisiana in the late 1800s to help a population suffering from yellow fever.
KTBS-TV reports that the priests - Isidore Quemerais, Jean Pierre, Jean Marie Biler, Louis Gergaud and Francois Le Vezouet - headed to Shreveport in 1873, when nearly 30% of the city’s population had the disease.
The priests’ decision would cost them their lives. All five contracted yellow fever just days apart, and they died in September and October of 1873.
The priests “give their lives for others, largely for a non-Catholic population, so willingly. We don’t see that chain of events elsewhere in history, and that’s why this story is just so unique,” said Shreveport historian Ryan Smith.
The Vatican hasn’t set a timetable on when a decision might be made about whether to grant sainthood.
“Not only do these stories not come around often in history in general, but when you think about local history or regional history, it really is exceptional. God willing, these five men will be on the path to sainthood,” said Cheryl White, a history professor at LSU-Shreveport.
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