BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — In a graphic and disturbing case filed under the Child Victims Act, three priests are accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old at St. Francis High School in the late 1970s.

The anonymous plaintiff says that in 1977, Father James Smyka, Father Aurelian Brzezniak and Father Patrick Mendola sexually abused him in a shower room in front of an audience of between 15 to 20 other priests.

The complaint states that afterward, they would console him while he cried, only to sexually abuse him again at least 15 times in a single night.

The lawsuit states the abuse continued until the boy was eight years old.

Both Mendola and Brzezniak are deceased. Smyka, who is a friar, lives in Syracuse, and was recently named by the diocese on its list of credibly accused priests.