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.