Every August 4, the Catholic Church celebrates Saint John the Baptist Mary Vianney (1786-1859), the Holy Curé of Ars, patron of all priests and, in a special way, of those who serve as parish priests.
Saint John Mary Vianney is known as the ‘Holy Curé of Ars’ – an expression that in French is said Curé of Ars and which is also equivalent to ‘the parish priest of Ars’ -. Ars is the name of the French town where this great priest served as parish priest: Ars-sur-Formans, a town located 30 km from the city of Lyon.
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A difficult start
Saint John Mary Vianney was born in Dardilly (France), on May 8, 1786. He was the third of six brothers, members of a peasant family.
He studied for a brief time at the community school in his town. Then, in 1806, he entered the newly created special school for aspiring ecclesiastics. There, unfortunately, he had his first academic disappointments: Juan María seemed quite limited in his study.
With great effort the saint managed to acquire the minimum knowledge of arithmetic, history and geography to remain in the institution, while with Latin everything became difficult for him. To his greatest misfortune, this is the ecclesiastical language par excellence and, for that reason alone, his teachers doubted whether or not he was suitable for an ecclesiastical career. In other words: it was in his hands to have closed the doors of training. However, God wanted it not to be like that.
One of his companions, Matthias Loras, future bishop of Dubuque, helped him with lessons in the ancient language of Julius Caesar, Cicero and Saint Augustine, so that John Baptist Mary was able to save the subject.
That same year, 1806, the saint would receive dispensation from military service for being an aspirant to the priesthood. This situation continued until 1809, the year in which he was recruited into Napoleon’s army and sent to Lyon. His destiny would be to join the forces that were getting ready to invade Spain.
On January 6, 1810, John the Baptist defected, posing as a certain Jerome Vincent. He had to hide for a time until he arrived, in October of that same year, at the home of a priest friend, Father Balley. On May 28, 1811, the saint would receive the tonsure.
Humble priest, humble priest
At the age of 26, Juan María entered the Minor Seminary of Verrieres, where he could take philosophy in French – which softened his studies. There he was a classmate of Saint Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marists.
Juan María was ordained a priest on August 13, 1815 and sent to Ecully as assistant to Monsignor Don Balley, his old friend, who was the first to encourage him in his priestly vocation.
Balley had, some time ago, done the unspeakable for the young priest: he had defended him after he was expelled from the Major Seminary for lack of academic suitability (poor performance). Now, Father Juan María was at the side of Don Balley, his preceptor and protector, ready to cooperate in the service.
Years later, upon Balley’s death, Father Juan María Vianney was sent as a clergyman to Ars, a small town of 250 inhabitants, almost all of them poor. From that place, which he called the “last in the diocese and perhaps in all of France,” the priest would begin a spiritual revolution that would forever change the entire nation.
Snatch souls from the devil
Saint John Mary Vianney is considered the paradigm of every good confessor. He possessed extraordinary gifts such as prophecy or the ability to delve into the depths of the human soul. His intuitive spirit, permeated with the grace of God, was able to penetrate the hidden intentions of many of the hearts that approached in search of forgiveness, but that were not always humble or transparent.
At the same time, Father Vianney was a man of great humility and capacity for discernment, indispensable virtues that made him a model pastor.
On repeated occasions the Curé of Ars was the target of direct attacks from the devil, which he successfully faced thanks to his light soul, always facing Heaven and strengthened by mortification, fasting, prayer and service. With these “weapons” the grace of God remains solid within.
His pastoral zeal – his authentic passion for the salvation of souls – led him to spend long hours in the confessional, almost daily, with the purpose – as he himself used to say – of “snatching souls from the devil.”
Fast and light to deliver blows
The holy parish priest lived very detached from material things, which he treated with the freedom of the children of God: he was so detached from everything that he once gave away his own bed! (That’s how he got into the habit of sleeping on the floor of his room).
He also led an ascetic life: he regularly practiced fasting and when he didn’t, it was enough for him to eat something very simple. He used to say that “the devil is not so afraid of discipline and leather shirts, as he is of the reduction of food, drink and sleep.”
Never letting your guard down
The episodes in which the demon tried to frighten or distract him without success are quite well known: on one occasion he made his house shake for up to 15 minutes so that he would stop praying; On another occasion he wanted her to leave the mass he was celebrating, causing a fire in his room. The saint handled both moments with exemplary serenity: he did not stop his prayer and did not move from the altar respectively. On the day of the fire he simply asked one of the altar boys to go and put out the fire, while he finished celebrating.
Certainly, there were also terrible nights in which the demon did not stop disturbing him with loud noises that did not allow him to sleep, while mocking him by suggesting that he abandon the fast: “Enough is enough” was the cry that tormented his mind. However, the Curé of Ars remained firm and faithful. After having fought tenaciously against the Prince of Darkness, with a secure heart, as if lulled in the arms of Mary, the Holy Priest fell asleep as if he were a child.
Only charity transforms the world
Saint John Mary Vianney also lived through turbulent times, such as those after the French Revolution. One of the sad results of this political process was the atmosphere of disbelief and lack of hope among the people. Many turned away from the faith and the number of those who did not want to know more about God was increasing.
The Curé of Ars then proposed to address this great need by dedicating more effort to the preparation of his sermons. The saint spent entire nights in the sacristy composing and memorizing what he was going to say, aware of the fragility of his memory, making every effort to preach well, make himself understood, and transmit the Gospel fully.
As the parish priest was very sensitive to the needs of his flock, he kindly took care of the instruction of the children in catechism, and tried to combat the bad customs that separated the people from the Church, especially those related to the Sunday precept. He fought so that Ars workers were not forced to work on weekends, as well as for taverns to remain closed on Sunday so that people could go to mass.
More than once he ignited controversy by condemning those who waste money and time on superfluous entertainment. In one of his homilies he even said: “The tavern is the devil’s shop, the market where souls are lost, where family harmony is broken.” And he was right.
The parish is ‘Mary’s territory’
Over time, his popularity grew greatly and thousands of people came to Ars, even coming from far away, to confess to Father Vianney. Saint John Mary moved thousands to become pious children of the Virgin Mary, for he himself was a man of deep love for Her, to whom he consecrated her parish and her priestly service.
On Saturday, August 4, 1859, the Holy Curé of Ars left for the Father’s House. He was 73 years old. He was canonized on the feast of Pentecost in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.
This August 13 will mark the 209th anniversary of his priestly ordination, carried out in 1815.
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If you want to know more about Saint John Mary Vianney, you can read the following article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/San_Juan_Bautista_María_Vianney.
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