Saint John Vianney – Cure of Ars
Patron of Parish Priests
John Marie Baptiste Vianney was born in France on the 8th of May in
the year 1786. His father worked as a farmer and as a young boy, John
worked as a shepherd on his father’s farm. Young John had average
intelligence but struggled terribly with academics (this shows you don’t have to be smart
to be a Saint!) He especially had a tough time with Latin, the language most of his
subjects were taught. He got through it with the help of a friend who tutored him.
When John was a young man of twenty he began studying for the priesthood. This pursuit
was interrupted when France went to war with Spain. John was drafted into Napoleon’s
army. Back in those days a young man could be exempt from the draft if he was studying
for the priesthood but Napoleon ended that practice as he was in great need of new
soldiers. A guy could also get out of serving in the army if he could send someone to
take his place. John’s father tried to find a replacement but had no luck so away John
went to serve in the army.
The regiment that John was in received their marching orders and on the morning of their
departure, John went into the church to pray before heading out. By the time he finished
praying his regiment had already left on the troop train. John was threatened with arrest
for desertion but his recruiting captain believed John that it was only an accident and he
was sent on his way to catch up with his military unit.
As John was on the road to try to rejoin his unit, he met a deserter who volunteered to
help John find his way. Instead the young man led John to a group of deserters (deserters
are NOT a group of people who like dessert) who were hanging out/hiding out in a small
village. John was asked to stay in the village and work as a school master. They even
gave him an alias. After fourteen months John contacted his parents. His father was very
angry and ordered his son to surrender but John’s younger brother went in his place. (A
valuable lesson here is to always be good to your little brother’s. You may need them
someday!)
John went to resume his studies to pursue his desire and call from God to become a
priest. He still struggled with Latin which is the language so much of his studies were in.
John was given permission to learn his lessons in French. He failed some big exams in
the seminary which he had to retake. At one point he was even dismissed from the
seminary and needed to receive help from a special tutor. Later he able to retake his
exams and passed them. John’s superiors at the seminary were genuinely impressed with
his true devotion and piety. The vicar-general of France approved him to move forward
and become a priest. The vicar-general said “Ordain him. The grace of God will do the
rest.” He was ordained at the age of about 29.
Three years later John was sent to serve in the little French town of Ars. The population
of Ars was about 250 people and a large number were very indifferent about their
Catholic faith and Mass attendance was quite low. In the town there were four taverns for
forty families. It was considered a rough little town where many priests would come and
go. It was considered a real “grave yard” assignment and many townspeople believe this
new priest wouldn’t last long. While there, he founded an orphanage for orphaned and
abandoned girls. He called the home, La Providence and it became a model for similar
homes all over France. He taught the girls little lessons about their Catholic faith. The
lessons became so popular that he had to start teaching them in the church every day to
large crowds. As popular as it was, there were still people who opposed this holy priest
and his message. Some people resented the fact that he asked the
men of the village to be in church and with their families on
Sunday’s instead of getting drunk in the bars. Out of love for
souls his words often challenged people to change for the better.
Many took to heart the truth he spoke and their lives and souls
improved. Others bitterly opposed him. For 14 years a few
women had him say Masses for “a special intention.” It turned
out that the special intention was for him to be transferred to a
different parish! On three occasions he left the village of Ars
and hoped to become a monk, but each time returned to continue
living in the simple rectory to labor for the salvation of souls.
Over time his work certainly paid off. Townspeople crowded the
church daily for Mass, farmers prayed the rosary in their fields,
drunkenness, cursing and immodesty almost disappeared, and
many grew to love their hard working priest.
John had a deep devotion to St. Philomena and often sought her intercession for his work
and those he served.
His chief labor was the direction and salvation of souls. People began to hear about this
holy priest and many would come from miles around to go to him for confession. Many
came from other parishes and from distant cities, towns and villages. Eventually people
even started coming from other countries for spiritual direction and absolution from this
holy priest. During the last ten years of his life, he would spend from 16 to 18 hours per
day hearing confessions! This was about 300 people per day! He once converted what he
referred to as 700 “big sinners” in a year. He would often weep in the confessional and
once when asked by a penitent why he was weeping, John Vianney replied, “My friend, I
weep because you do NOT weep.” For 40 years his daily eating and sleeping wasn’t even
enough to sustain human life. His food consisted of a few small boiled potatoes and he
would only sleep 2-3 hours per night. When he did sleep it was on a bare mattress or a
bundle of wood in the cellar. All types of people from all types of professions with all
types of circumstances went to see him. Up to twenty thousand people a year were going
to Ars to seek out Fr. John Vianney, the Priest of Ars (cure d’ars). A special train route
was established from the city of Lyons to take pilgrims to Ars to see the holy priest. He
refused offers of promotion within the church and refused to be invested as a knight in
the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honor.
His human traits:
- humble, gentle, patient and cheerful, very soft almost inaudible voice
His supernatural gift from God:
- St. John had the ability to read souls. He knew exactly what to say to those in the
confessional so they could have a good confession without purposely leaving
things out
- He had a supernatural knowledge of the past and future
- He would levitate during prayer
He was regularly attacked by the Devil. The Devil once said that if there were three John
Vianney’s that his work (the Devil’s) would be destroyed. It is reported that the Devil
often visited him nightly and would even physically beat him up. St. John, however,
would not give up fighting to save souls.
Miracles:
- St. John Vianney had the gift from God to heal the sick, especially children.
- He once needed a large sum of money for the foundation of a mission. He prayed
to Our Lady to get the sum he needed. He received the exact amount he needed
and considered it a miracle.
- He received a spiritual/mystical marriage of his soul with God. The mystical
marriage actually produced a brilliant gold ring on his finger! Regarding this
special union, John Vianney exclaimed, “Oh! The beautiful union of the soul with
Our Lord! The interior life is a bath of love into which the soul plunges. God
holds the soul, when she has reached that stage, as a mother embraces the head of
her child in order to cover it with caresses. Our Lord hungers after such a soul!”
John Vianney died of natural causes on August 4 of 1859 in Ars, France. He was 73.
Today, over 500,000 per year come to Ars to view St. John Vianney’s incorrupt body.
He was canonized (declared a Saint) by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and
his Feast Day is August 4.
He is the patron of parish priests.
Some great quotes from St. John Vianney:
“The greatest saints were those who suffered the most.”
“To be a Christian and to live in sin is a monstrous contradiction.”
“Offer your temptations for the conversion of sinners. When the Devil sees you doing
this, he is beside himself with rage and makes off, because then the temptation is turned
against himself.”
“Never let your home be without a crucifix upon its walls, to the end that all who enter it
may know that you are a disciple of a Crucified Lord, and that you are not ashamed to
own it.”
“After God, we should have a great confidence in the Blessed Mother of Jesus, who is so
good.”
“We must have a great confidence in God in times of illness or grief, because it is
precisely then that God waits to see whether or not we shall put our trust in him.”
“This is real faith, when we speak to God as we would converse with a man.”
“There is such a thing as a holy anger, which comes from our zeal in upholding the
interests of God.”
“It is impossible to meditate with devotion upon the Mysteries of the Rosary and live in a
state of sin.”
“If you really love God, you will not be content with avoiding big sins. You will regard as
hateful anything which could be even a little displeasing to him.”
“Oh how easily we could win Heaven day by day just by doing what we have to do, but
by doing it for God!”
“God makes a greater speed to pardon a penitent sinner than a mother to snatch her
child out of the fire.”
“With God’s help we shall always have power over our emotions.”
“Anger never travels alone. It is always accompanied by other sins.”
“If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a great number of
Christians would go to Heaven.”
“You either belong wholly to the world or wholly to God.”
“We should consider these moments spent before the Blessed Sacrament as the happiest
of our lives.”
“I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the Cross than in serving the world
and its pleasures.”
“I wish I could lose myself and never find myself except in God.”
Some points to think about and/or discuss:
Saints while on earth were certainly not loved by everyone. St. John Vianney, a man who
labored tirelessly for the souls of his parishioners was not loved or appreciated by a
number of those in his own parish. Never think that following Christ means you will be
loved by everyone. Often it is just the opposite. Jesus tells us in Scripture that following
Him means we must pick up our cross daily. We don’t need to go out looking for crosses,
but by being a faithful witness to Christ – they’ll find us, and when they do we must
embrace them as Christ did and not “sell out”.
We should remember to pray regularly for our priests. The life of a hardworking priest
would amaze the average parishioner. In any given day a priest can go from saying Mass,
to baptizing a child, to anointing someone who is dying, to presiding at a wedding, to
counseling a couple about to be married or divorced, to hearing confessions, to attending
various parish council meetings, to visiting an emergency room and supporting a family
in grief, to handing out grade cards to school children, etc., etc., etc. And it is far too easy
to expect them to do it all without experiencing stress and to always be in good and
happy spirits! Too often, our priests hear more from the complainers than from those
who appreciate them. Tell them you appreciate them. Pray for them. Remember, the
Devil will certainly attack our priests as he did St. John Vianney, and the better the priest,
the more attacks, so we must pray for God to protect them. Your DTS chapter could
organize the young people to each take a portion of the day or week to pray for your
priests. This way they could regularly be covered in prayer.
St. John Vianney often spent sixteen hours per day hearing confessions to absolve people
from their sins. He clearly understood the critical need for us to keep our souls in a state
of grace. Do we clearly understand this need? Might we seriously consider spending at
least five minutes per week in the confessional to keep our souls in the state of grace?
Remember the words of the vicar-general who gave permission for John Vianney to be
ordained – “Ordain him. The grace of God will do the rest.”
We must always trust God that if He has a work for us to do, He will supply us with the
grace necessary to accomplish the task.
Resources used:
- New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia
- Catherine Fournier
- Lessons from Lives of the Saints
- Lives of the Saints
- Patron Saints Index
- Thoughts of the Cure of Ars
- Quotes of the Saints
- Catholic Online Saints
- Mysteries, Marvels, Miracles