Rags for Fr. Vianney — Riches for the Lord!

Jean-Marie Vianney grew up during the French Revolution, so had a limited education, making it difficult for him to become a priest. After surviving the draft into Napoleon’s army, he was eventually ordained and sent to a small village near to Lyons — Ars-sur-Formans. According to his parishioners, Fr. Vianney’s cassock was often torn or worn out!

When informed that (then) Fr. Vianney had appeared in public without his sash, the bishop of Belly responded: “The Curé of Ars without a sash is worth any priest in my diocese with one.”

Like St Francis of Assisi, Fr. Vianney liked to praise God with fine altar linen and ornate vestments during Mass.

He earned the position as the patron saint of parish priests through humility, self-sacrifice, profound dedication to saving souls in the confessional and his devotion to the Eucharist.

He had special affection for the Virgin Mary & St. Philomena. (In his humility he attributed the cures which others had attributed to him, to St. Philomena.)

St. Vianney spent many hours hearing confessions: up to 16 hours in the summer and 11-12 hours a day in the winter — brutal in a cold church!

Ars had a population of 200 and in his latter years, ~20,000 people would pilgrimage there annually, many to make their confession with the Curé!) There are multiple testimonies from penitents in the Acts of Canonization about his insight into their personal struggles: he knew details about their lives that he should not — could not — have known!

St. Vianney was a Franciscan tertiary and yearned for the ascetic life of a monk. He lived a life of penance, often eating only a little dry bread or some boiled potatoes. Witnesses recorded seeing blood on his clothes. Apparently he sought a quieter life and had escaped from Ars in the dead of night on at least four occasions! Many of his personal sacrifices were for the penitents:

“According to Fr. Patrice Chocholski, current rector of the Shrine of St. John Vianney in Ars, France where the saint lived and died, priests in 17th Century Western Europe were given a manual which outlined the penance they were to give for each sin! The priest was told to add these penances up and, at the end of each confession, present the penitent with a kind of bill!

“Sometimes, the ‘bill’ could be very heavy for people returning to the Church – to Christ,” said Fr. Patrice. “St. John Vianney said, ‘I will not betray the Church, but I cannot give the bill to these people so I will take the main penance on myself and leave them [my parishioners] only a little penance.’ ‘Tis love, no? It was out of pastoral charity.”

(Aerial view of the Shrine of St. John Vianney in Ars, France: Inside EWTN)

St. Vianney was before his time in his understanding and devotion of the Eucharist. He taught:

“Holy Communion and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are the two most efficacious actions to obtain the conversion of hearts.”

“There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us.”

"The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity."

"To love God! Oh, how beautiful it is to love God!"

"It is not the sinner who returns to God to beg His pardon and mercy, but God Himself who runs after the sinner and makes him return to Him."

“If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will leave you.”

The fourth of August is the feast of St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, Curé d’Ars and patron saint of parish priests.

Kevin Hay

You can follow Kevin on X (formerly known as Twitter) @kevinhay77

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