Saint John Marie Vianney:

Feast day : 04 August

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint John Marie Vianney, more affectionately called the Cure`D’Ars (the parish priest of Ars, France) who lived during the period 1786-1859. He was poor at learning and struggled with attaining his priesthood which at one point of time seemed even doubtful. But he exercised his vocation with great dedication and love of God and in return, God blessed him abundantly with extraordinary graces and gifts, the most popular of them being the gift of reading souls. He used it effectively in the Sacrament of Confession and helped millions of people to turn away from their sinful ways and retrace their steps back to God. In the words of the Holy Father Pope Benedict VI “Cure`d’Ars is a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ’s flock.” He is the patron saint of priests and seminarians.

Early life:

Saint John Vianney was born to devout catholic parents on 8 May 1786 in the French town of Dardilly. When Saint Benedict Joseph Labre set out on his pilgrimages in 1770, he was given food and shelter at his grand-parents home where sixteen years later Saint John Vianney was born. One of his greatest treasures, as a child, was the letter of thanks that St. Benedict wrote to his grandfather. At the age of three the French revolution broke out but they continued to have Holy Mass in their barn whenever a priest could come over. At the age of ten he received his First Holy Communion. Though he was very poor at learning, he always desired to become a priest. After the Revolution was over, the churches were allowed to open and he pursued his studies for priesthood. But Napoleon ordered even the students of priesthood to join his army as he needed soldiers for the war in Spain. John Vianney was also enrolled for the army but on the morning his regiment was to leave, he went to church and prayed his usual prayers. By the time he came out, the rest had all gone. In trying to catch up with them he was led into the mountains where deserters were hiding. He stayed there for a while and then returned to his priesthood studies whilst his younger brother was sent to war in his place.

He struggled greatly with his studies for priesthood, especially with Latin. It appeared doubtful if he would ever make it to his ordination. But the Lord was with him. As he advanced towards his ordination, the Vicar-General asked the Superior of the seminary “Is young Vianney pious? Is he devoted to the Blessed Virgin? He was rated very high on these two points to which the Vicar General said “Then I will receive him. Divine grace will do the rest.” Thus on 2 July, 1814, he received his sub deacon orders and a year later he was ordained a priest by Bishop of Grenoble.

Vocational life:

Because he was not very clever, he was appointed assistant to Fr. Balley in Ecully. When Fr. Balley passed away, he was appointed to a small town called Ars in 1818 as its parish priest. He was not expected to do much there as it was a remote town with a few hundred parishioners who were known to be irreligious people. But Saint Vianney resolved to look after every soul that was given to his care with a lot of dedication. He loved all his parishioners and often visited them. They too slowly warmed up to him and had a true conversion of heart. He won them over through his prayers and penances. He would rise at two in the morning to say his breviary prayers and at four he went to the church for the Holy Eucharistic Adoration and remained in prayer until it was time for the morning Holy Mass. He would then visit the sick and spend the rest of the day in the church, hearing more confessions. He had the gift of knowledge and could read souls. He would use this effectively in the confessional and remind people of their past sins and lead them to a true conversion of heart.

Soon word spread around France and later the whole of Europe about this humble priest in Ars and people flocked to make their confessions. There were always long lines of people waiting to confess. Sometimes people would wait thirty, fifty or even seventy hours to reach their turn to confess. At night when the church would close, people would number themselves and take their position accordingly the next morning. He would sit in the confessional for 16-18 hours, sleep for hardly 2 hours and ate very little. The two hours of sleep that he had was frequently disturbed by the devil who assaulted him with deafening noises, insults and abuse including setting his bed on fire. He did this for 41 years of his life, till his death on August 4, 1859. By this time he had converted millions of people from their sinful ways.

He also had many other extraordinary mystical gifts such as levitation, mystical espousal, gift of healing, but it was his gift of reading souls that brought people from all over Europe to this small town seeking the guidance of this humble parish priest. Once, a priest who was envious of St. Vianney’s success in Ars told him that he had tried everything to energize his own congregation, but that they remained apathetic. St. Vianney asked him if he tried praying, fasting and giving alms. The priest admitted he hadn’t.

Death & Sainthood:

He died peacefully at the age of 73 on August 4, 1859. Forty five years after his death, as part of his beatification process, on June 17, 1904, when his body was exhumed, it was found to be preserved. Only his face which was still perfectly recognizable suffered a little corruption. During the year of his beatification, his perfectly preserved heart was removed and enclosed in a beautiful reliquary which is placed in the Shrine of the Cure’s Heart. The golden reliquary which contains the body of the Saint is placed on the altar of the Basilica. His living quarters in Ars is kept preserved just as on the day he died. His personal articles, breviary, the rosary he used and the bed that had been set on fire by the devil are also preserved till date.

He was proclaimed ‘Venerable’ by Pope Pius IX on 03 October 1874 and on 08 January 1905 he was declared ‘Blessed’ by Pope Pius X. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 31 May, 1925 and made patron of parish priests in 1929.