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THE BULLETIN, September 19, 1959—PAGE 3-B
'THE CURE D'ARS' DIED HERE—This is the bed in which
St. John-Mary Vianney, “the Cure d’Ars” died, August 4, 1859, at
the age of 73. Canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, he is hailed
as the world-wide patron of parish priests. Photo courtesy P. J.
Kenedy & Sons, New York, from the centennial volume “The
Cure D’Ars — A Pictorial Biography.”—(NC Photos).
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CHATHAH
10 E. BRYAN STREET — SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
"SAFE SINCE 1885"
(N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE)
During 1959 the Church is
observing the centenary of the
death of St. John Vianney. A
number of portraits — some
seemingly contradictory — could
be painted of him: farm boy,
deserter from Napoleon’s army,
laggard student, parish priest,
renowned confessor, astounding
mystic. But underlying every
stage of his career was a unify
ing element — a burning love
of God and a zeal for souls
which made his life a spiritual
masterpiece.
John Vianney was born on
May 8, 1786, at Dardilly, near
Lyons, France. Three years
later the French Revolution was
raging, with all its anti-clerical
excesses. Much of his early con
tact with religion came during
Masses offered in secret by fugi
tive priests.
It was during these years,
while learning to be a shepherd
boy on his father’s farm, that
he first resolved to become a
priest. At the age of 18 he told
his father of his decision.
The good man was less than
enthusiastic: he could not afford
to educate his son, and besides
he needed him on the farm. But
the youth persisted, and at the
age of 20 he was allowed to be
gin studies at an informal school
conducted in the nearby village
of Ecully by Abbe Bailey.
Young John had little natural
aptitude as a student. He found
Latin especially difficult. At one
point, he was almost ready to
despair of his studies.
But in the summer of 1806 he
made a pilgrimage — on foot
and begging his food — to the
shrine of St. John Francis Regis.
He returned to Ecully no better
as a student, but resolved not to
give up.
Then fate intervened. Napo
leon’s armies required him. John
Vianney was ordered to report
for service in Spain.
Dutifully, the young man left
to join his unit. On the road he
met a soldier. The man told
him to follow. He did— and soon
found himself among a group of
deserters.
John Vianney quickly handed
himself over to the mayor of
the nearest village, Les Noes,
But the mayor did not react
as expected. Perhaps it was be
cause he was a human being,
perhaps because the young re
cruit—only five feet, two inches
tall — hardly looked like a sol
dier. At any rate, he advised
him to remain a deserter, and
found him a hiding place in the
home of his own cousin.
There he stayed for 14 months,
until Napoleon proclaimed an
amnesty for deserters. Then
John Vianney returned home
and to his studies.
In 1811 he received the ton-
sure and at the end of the fol
lowing year entered the semi
nary. His career was hardly
distinguished. He failed his
examinations and could not be
accepted for ordination.
Only further coaching, furth
er testing and intervention by
friends — who called him “the
unlearned but the most devout
seminarian in Lyons” —■ enabled
him to be raised to the priest
hood on August 12, 1815.
His .first assignment was as
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vicar to his old friend and
teacher, Abbe Bailey. Soon the
competition in austerity which
the two holy men waged with
each other became the talk of
the town.
When, in 1817, Abbe Bailey
died, it was a saddened young
priest who left Ecully to take
up his new assignment as cure
of the church in Ars-en-Dombes,
a remote village of 230 people.
Ars, at the time of John Vian-
ncy’s arrival, has been described
as a place of “little definite im
morality and malicious wicked
ness, but little true religion and
love of God.” The new cure set
out to change all that.
'His principal technique was
good example. For his first six
years in Ars, he lived on little
more than potatoes, boiled in a
pot at the beginning of the week
and parceled out sparingly for
the next seven days.
At the same time he began a
regular catechism class for chil
dren of the village, and a series
of remarkable sermons for their
elders.
John Vianney was rigorous
and uncompromising in his
spirituality. He waged unrelent
ing war against drunkenness.
He campaigned against dancing
and swearing.
It was at this time he began
to win a double reputation —
for sanctity and eccentricity.
Some detractors, both clerical
and lay, called him a fanatic.
But the people of Ars simply
said: “Our cure is a saint and
we must, obey him. We are no
better than other people, but
we live close to a saint.”
At this time, too, began a
strange series of phenomena
which continued through the
rest of his life, and which the
little priest attributed calmly to
the devil. There were strange
noises and voices in his rectory,
personal violence and, on one
occasion, the burning of the
cure’s bed.
An acquaintance, commenting
on these incidents, once said to
him: “You must get very
frightened.”
“One gets used to everything,
my friend,” John Vianney re
plied simply.
The humble cure began to win
fame beyond his village as a
confessor of remarkable insight
and holiness. As early as 1827
people from outside Ars were
seeking his advice. Beginning in
ST. JOHN
MARIE VIANNEY
(NC Photos)
1830, the daily visitors to his
church averaged at least 300.
At Lyons the railway opened
a special booking office selling
eight-day round trip tickets to
Ars.
Eight-day tickets — for the
crowds who flocked to his con
fessional made it impossible for
anyone to hope to see him in
less time than that. And John
Vianney was equal to the de
mands. In winter he spent not
less than 11 or 12 hours daily
in the confessional; in summer,
up to 16 hours.
Clearly, the cure’s skill in the
confessional was something
more than merely natural. On
one occasion he told a friend:
“I once said to a certain woman,
‘So it is you who have left your
husband in hospital and refuse
to join him.’ ‘How do you know
that?’ she asked, ‘I’ve not men
tioned it to a soul.’ I was more
surprised than she was. I
imagined that she had already
told me the whole story.”
At other times John Vianney
was able to correct his penitents
in the number of their sins or
the length of time since their
last confession, or to remind
them of sins they had forgotten
to mention.
Once a noblewoman came to
his church, worried because her
18-year-old son was planning to
marry a 15-year-old girl. The
cure, who had never met her,
left his confessional, came up
to her and whispered, “Let them
WHERE CURE D'ARS PREACHED—This pulpit was used
by St. John Vianney, Cure of Ars in the old parish church where
the 19th century French parish priest preached. This is one of
some 200 photographs in a new pictorial biography of the saint,
published by P. J. Kenedy & Sons, New York.—(NC Photos).
marry. They will be very hap
py.” And similar incidents of
seemingly, inexplicable knowl
edge were repeated again and
again.
The priest also won a reputa
tion for working miraclous
cures — though all of these he
attributed to the intercession of
his beloved St. Philomena. But
the most striking miracle of ail,
as the schoolmaster of Ars ex
plained it, was none of these.
“The most difficult, extraordin
ary and amazing work that the
cure did was his own life,” the
man said.
On July 18, 1859, the Cure
fell ill. Pie was 73 years old,
and he knew the end was at
hand. When he received the last
sacraments, he said quietly: “It
is sad to receive Holy Com
munion for the last time.” He
died August 4, 1859.
Sixty-six years later, in 1925,
John Mary Vianney, the humble
cure of Ars, was proclaimed a
saint by Pope Pius XI.
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