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Jean Marie Biler | |
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 Biler as depicted on a holy card derived from original 1870s era composite photograph | |
| Born | November 18, 1839 |
| Died | September 26, 1873 (aged 33) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
Jean Marie Biler (18 November 1839 - 26 September 1873) was one of five Breton missionary priests to Louisiana who died while treating patients of the 1873 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Shreveport, Louisiana. The group is collectively known as the Shreveport Martyrs. On December 8, 2020, Bishop Francis Malone of the Diocese of Shreveport declared him to be a Servant of God, opening the diocesan phase of inquiry into a Cause of Beatification and Canonization.[1] In 2022, the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints permitted Biler and the other four Shreveport Martyrs to proceed for consideration as a single Cause.[2] Peter B. Mangum serves as the Episcopal Delegate for the Cause.
Life
editA native of Plourivo, Brittany, France, Jean Marie Biler attended Grand Seminaire de Saint-Brieuc and was ordained a priest on 17 December 1864. In 1870, he came to the Diocese of Natchitoches in Louisiana at the invitation of Bishop Augustus Marie Martin to serve as the Chaplain for the Daughters of the Cross convent in Shreveport, Louisiana.[3] In the late summer of 1873, Shreveport was stricken with a major epidemic of yellow fever and Father Jean Pierre of Holy Trinity Catholic Church summoned him to come into the city to assist with caring for the victims.[4] Biler immediately responded to the call, without regard for his own safety.[5] He administered the final sacraments to the two Shreveport priests who had served in the effort before him: Isidore Quemerais and Jean Pierre, who died on 15 September and 16 September, respectively.[6] Biler also contracted yellow fever, and knowing he was the only remaining Catholic priest in Shreveport, he requested help by telegram from two confreres serving in remote locations: Louis Gergaud at St. Matthew's Catholic Church in Monroe, Louisiana, and Francois Le Vézouët who was serving in Natchitoches, Louisiana.[6]
Biler initially seemed to recover from yellow fever, noted in the letters and papers of the Daughters of the Cross, who cared for him at the Fairfield convent. However, on 26 September he took a decisive turn for the worse, and just as death was imminent, Le Vézouët arrived from Natchitoches to administer the final sacraments to him.[7]
Biler was originally buried in the convent cemetery before his removal to Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport. In 2023, he was again exhumed to rest at St. Joseph Cemetery in Shreveport with three of the other Shreveport Martyrs beneath a Calvary monument.[1]
His biographical narrative appears in the book, Shreveport Martyrs of 1873: The Surest Path to Heaven, published by The History Press in 2021, co-authored by Peter B. Mangum, W. Ryan Smith, and Cheryl White. Biler also features in the 2021 documentary feature film, The Five Priests.
References
edit- ^ a b Diocese of Shreveport.
- ^ Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Rome.
- ^ Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
- ^ Archives of the Diocese of Shreveport.
- ^ Diary of Father Joseph Gentille, Diocese of Shreveport, 1884.
- ^ a b Daughters of the Cross Collection, Noel Archives and Special Collections, Louisiana State University at Shreveport.
- ^ Mangum; Smith; White (2021). Shreveport Martyrs of 1873: The Surest Path to Heaven. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press.