KALB EXCLUSIVE: Historic moment for Louisiana as 8 people with ties to the state up for sainthood

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - Louisiana is famous for the Saints Football Team, but there are other kinds of saints making waves in the state as well.

As of August 2023, there are eight people with ties to Louisiana who are in the process of potentially becoming canonized saints in the Catholic Church.

News Channel 5 spoke with representatives from various regions of Louisiana who are working on these individuals’ causes.

Father Peter Mangum, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Shreveport, is the Episcopal Delegate for five priests from the Shreveport area who died during the yellow fever outbreak.

Father Taylor Reynolds, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Alexandria, is the Episcopal Delegate for a little girl named Charlene Richard, who died of leukemia.

Father Mark Ledoux, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Lafayette, is the Episcopal Delegate for Fr. Verbis Lafleur, a priest who gave his life trying to save prisoners of war at sea.

Father Travis Abadie, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Lafayette, is the Episcopal Delegate for Auguste “Nonco” Pelefigue, a man who lived a long, humble life in the faith.

The priests we spoke to said that this is a very historic time for the Catholic Church in Louisiana, to be able to recognize so many people at once for their great service to others and their strong examples of faithfulness to God. The United States does not have a large number of canonized saints compared to other countries, so eight at a time in one state is certainly an achievement for our area.

We learned what the process looks like of how one becomes a canonized saint. Currently, each of the eight individuals are what the church calls “Servants of God”, where they are formally recognized and the process can begin to review their writings, lives and even potential miracles from God after their deaths.

The priests also told us that their meeting was something of a historic event as well, because it was the first time all four delegates for these causes met together in person.

You can watch the full interview of our web exclusive in the video above.

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