Jean- Baptiste Marie Vianney

Image " Dear little Saint" (C) Virtuso 2009
Jean- Baptiste Marie Vianney was born at Dardilly vilage not far from Lyons France in 1786.
His wish to be a priest was strewn with obstacles, To have such an ambition during the Revolution was a worrying prospect for his parents. Fearing for his life,
they discouraged him accordingly.
His lack of education and slowness of learning hindered the studies he made under the Abbe of Bally, Cure of Ecully.
He made a vow to travel on foot to the tomb of St Francis Regis, to ask his intercession on the matter. On completion of his pilgrimage to the tomb, his studies went forward at a pace which surprised the Abbe.
In 1809 he was drawn for conscription. On the day his colum was to leave, he became so engrossed in prayer at the Church, that he forgot the time. He presented himself late to the office who sent him to join his corps alone.
On his way he met a mysterious stranger who bade him to follow him. After a journey of a day, the stranger left him in the hospitality of a man and wife in a remote house.
The stranger disappeared, and Jean -Marie never heard of him again.
For some time he hid at Noes, where the people took him to their hearts, but in 1810, he was called once more for conscription. His younger brother offered to take his place and was accepted.
Jean - Marie was now able to resume his priestly studies. He still struggled with those subjects taught in Latin.
Word of his Holiness, and spiritual wisdom reached the ear of the Vicar -General, who overlooked the difficulties saying:"Very well, I will receive him: Divine grace will do the rest."

Jean-Marie Vianney was ordained priest in 1815, and was M. Balley's curate until the latter's death two years later.
This was the time that Jean Marie was appointed Cure of Ars, the little village in Trevoux.


His biographer, M. Monnin said of Jean Marie, that he was outwardly unattractive,

" short, awkward and shy; and of his language, "provincial to vulgarity; that is, his pronunciation was akin to that of the peasant class from which he sprang."
and that he was a frequent offender against "grammar and syntax, not to speak of literary taste of which he did not so much as possess the rudiments."

And yet his unsophisticated and simple ways which society found distasteful - were as nothing to his advanced holiness and incessant labours for the conversion of the people of Ars.

The miracles wrought by God through his servant Jean Marie Vianney attracted multitudes to Ars. Eventually a railway route was laid to accommodate those who travelled there for his counsel in the confessional.

In 1825he founded a home for destitute and orphaned girls called the "Providence."
In order to do this he sold all he possessed and used his slender stipend and small allowance which had been made to him by his brother.
Initially the house cared for only two or three orphans, but the number rapidly increased.
When the house needed enlarging, he cut and carried the stones, mixed the mortar
and laid the stones himself.
Catherine Lasagne, one of the superioresses said that what ever monies came John Vianney's way he would spend on the orphanage, the rest "came of itself." - He trusted to God for everything.

In John Vianney's works, the promise of our Lord that signs should follow them that believe was regularly fulfilled.
The following examples written around 1860 by M.Monnin, were sourced from eye-witnesses who were at that time still living:

Food for the hungry.
Once when there were eighty hungry mouths to feed at the Providence, Jeanne - Marie Chanay came to the Holy Cure to tell him that she hadn't enough flour to make two loaves for them. He told her to put her leaven into what she had and to go on baking as usual.

Jeanne - Marie Chanay:" I know not how it happened, but as I kneaded, the dough seemed to rise under my fingers. I could not put in the water quick enough; the more it swelled and thickened, so that I was able to make with a handful of flour ten large loaves of from twenty - to twenty two pounds each.- as much in fact as could have been made with a whole sack of flour."

Another day when the stocks of corn had run seriously low, the Cure hid the relics of St. John Francis Regis in the remaining corn. The next day saw the Mayor of Ars and many of the people run to the granary to marvel that it had become miraculously
full.

When the Cure of Ars was in much need of funds for the "Providence" or some improvement was needed on the church, he met bountiful mysterious strangers, or found in his drawer considerable sums of money for which he could not account.

Reader of Hearts:
Although miracles of physical healing through the Cure were recorded, the healing of souls and lasting conversion of sinners is what he is best known for.
(*The Cure would attribute all healings to the intercession of Saint Philomena - to whom he had great devotion.)
The Cure spent long hours in the confessional, and many of his penitents bore witness that he read in their hearts what he could not have known naturally. He used to spend from sixteen to eighteen hours in the confessional every day. People from all walks of life went to him for direction;Heads of the State, army officers, university professors, bishops and fellow priests.
Once when a priest asked him how he managed to combine consideration for the weakness of sinners with the exaction of a penance proportionate to that sin, he said:
"I give them a light penance and do the rest myself."

The Eucharist
The Cure lived on boiled potatoes, and reserved no luxuries for himself.
Toward the end of his life he would sigh for the times when he had the physical strength to live on the most frugal of meals.
His love for Jesus in the Eucharist would make it difficult for him to resist speaking of his beloved. Catherine Lassagne wrote of him in her memoirs:

"He spoke of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist with much unction and Joy that he was often too deeply moved to finish his words - his tears made up for them".

One day when the Cure seemed to be of low spirits, the matrons of the providence asked the reason for his sadness, and he replied" I have not seen our Lord for several days..."
"You see Him, then!", they said, But the Cure, changed the conversation.
Believing himself to be alone, he stood one day in the parlour of the Providence. Marie Chanay however, was near by and heard him lament with a long sigh; " I have not seen the good God since Sunday."
(Image : Jean-Vianney's room.)

Diabolical attacks.
As the Cure's holiness progressed, so did the efforts of the evil one to torment him.
When the diabolic attacks first manifested, the Cure would be quite terrified and quake in his bed.
The devil could not gain any interior power over the holy priest, and so he attacked him externally, trying to deprive him of what little sleep he allowed himself. Satan hoped to exhaust the Cure so that he might fail in his duties.
The neighbouring clergy made fun of the rumoured disturbances, suggesting that Jean Vianney was suffering from mental derangement caused by his excessive fasting and austere way of life.
One night however, he stayed at the presbytery at St. Trivier, in order to help with the jubilee celebrated the following day.
At midnight the other clergy, disturbed by the sounds of falling masonry, ran to tell him that the house was collapsing.
He reassured them with a smile that they had nothing to worry about, and the noises ceased. John Vianney had come to recognise these diabolical disturbances as a pre-cursor to some hardened sinner's return to the church, who would make his confession through him.
The Abbe of Chevalon present at St. Trivier at the time, promised to Our Lord he would never jest about the "alleged" disturbances again, and even admitted that he thought the Cure of Ars to be a Saint.
The Saint was told of strange happenings at the Providence also. By now John Vianney had become so used to these occurances that he gave the devil a nickname.

" It is the Grappin who does it", he said, "Just laugh at him." "

The Cure had to suffer all kinds of nocturnal disturbances, furious voices calling his name at night, extraordinary noises, and, on waking find that St. Philomena and the Blessed Virgin's statues had been covered with dirt.
He was also dragged around the room in his bed.
One night his bed was set on fire, the flames spread to other objects but were stopped short as if by a geometrically shaped barrier at the casket holding the relic of Saint Philomena...His " Dear little Saint."

On the 4th of August 1859, St. John Vianney went to his bed, exhausted from hearing confessions from early in the morning until late into the evening. Saying that he "Could do no more" , he received the last rites from a neighbouring priest,and fell into a peaceful sleep from which he did not awake.

He was canonized May 31, 1925. Pope Pius XI declared him the patron saint of all diocesan priests in 1929. His body remains
incorruptible.
SOURCE: Eucharistic Meditations of Saint John Vianney - Cure of Ars by Abbe H. Convert.