SW News: During the upcoming Cannes World Film Festival in France, the sacred will rub shoulders with the secular as an American documentary about five  French Catholic priests who died while taking care of the sick during an epidemic has been selected to be screened at the global event.

According to a report by cruxnow.com, the documentary entitled “The Five Priests” directed by Chris Charles Scott is about the five priests who tended the sick during the 1873 yellow fever epidemic in Shreveport, Louisiana. It details the heroic sacrifices of the priests so that it gives a fillip to their cause for canonization. Fathers Jean Pierre, Isidore A. Quémerais, Jean-Marie Biler, Louis Gergaud and François Le Vézouët died of yellow fever while caring for the sick. The mosquito-borne ailment is characterized by fever, nausea, muscle pains and kidney failure.

Although people started fleeing Shreveport, Fr Pierre and Quémerais chose to remain there to care for the sick. Fr Biler, who was the chaplain of a convent, also opted to stay there. Both Fr Pierre and Quemerais contracted the fever and died soon afterwards. When Fr Biler was infected, he sent for Fr Gergaud from the nearby town. He arrived in time to give the last anointing to Fr Biler.

Unfortunately, Fr Gergaud too fell ill and died. After hearing about the situation in Shreveport, Fr Le Vezouet left Natchitoches and came to the town to assist the sick and the dying. But he too quickly fell prey to the virus.

The documentary is the culmination of the efforts of Cheryl White, professor of history at Louisiana State University Shreveport, who researched extensively on the five priests along with Fr Peter Mangum, the rector of the cathedral of St John Berchmans in Shreveport, and historian Ryan Smith.

Hailing from Brittany in France, the five priests came to the US upon the invitation of Bishop Auguste Marie Martin, who founded the diocese of Shreveport. On January 5, White received word from Cannes that the documentary had been selected for screening at the event. The festival will be held in May. The documentary also bagged the Best Documentary Feature award in the Europe Film Festival. It also reached the finals in the Texas Film Festival.
The documentary also features Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Bishop Francis Malone of Shreveport, and Fr Mangum. It was in December 2020 that the five priests were declared Servants of God, the first step on the path to sainthood.