St. John Vianney
Besides Jesus Himself, there may be no better model for priests than St. John Vianney, who is himself the patron of parish priests. Interestingly, in our Churches history, there have only been a handful of the simple, ordinary parish priests who were canonized saints. Most of the priest saints we have were religious priests, missionaries, or perhaps bishops, cardinals and popes. St. John Vianney, then, is the perfect example for those of us who are not going to be bishops or martyrs, although he is an example for those too. He lived from 1786 until 1859, and for 41 of those years, he was the Cure (pastor) of the little French town of Ars.
Coming from a rural, but very devout family, John never really had the chance for schooling until he decided to pursue the priesthood. Before he studied philosophy and theology, he was forced to study basic writing, reading and mathematics. He was twenty years and the worst in his class, while his peers were only twelve. This did not stop him though, and in humility of spirit he pursued his studies diligently. No one around him ever questioned his holiness and zeal, just his intelligence. The saint especially struggled at this time with Latin, as all the classes in the seminary were in Latin. His holiness and perseverance paid off though, and despite study struggles and being temporarily conscripted into the French army, the Saint was ordained in 1815. He was, however, not allowed to preach or hear confessions yet, because the diocese feared he would say something foolish or heretical.
Three years later the young saint, in all humility, was given his first and only parish, Ars. At the time, Ars was not exactly a holy place. In fact, the main reason St. John Vianney was sent there was so that he would stay out of trouble, for no one could save the sad Church in Ars. The Cure was happy to take on the challenge, and obediently went to shepherd his people. Upon arrival, the saint realized just how difficult his task was: the church was abandoned, the rectory a mess, and Mass was attended by just a few old widows. This was only worsened by the fact that the people of Ars all but drove out their last pastor, and spent their nights drinking and dancing in the streets. Great courage was needed to win their hard hearts.
So, the saint took his people to prayer. In his early years there, St. John Vianney would spend hours and hours every day on his knees in prayer, so much that he would sometimes wake as early as 2:00 in the morning, and head to the Church to pray. On top of his prayers, he fasted heroically, going days without eating, and took on the most severe penances imaginable. All this he did out of the love he had for the poor souls of Ars. Lastly, he would spend hours working every minute detail of his sermons, which would sometimes last up to an hour. His words were like fire, which his burning heart of love, ignited. Eventually, things began to change in the town. The people returned to church. Farmers stopped working on Sundays. The wild festivals from before were replaced with religious pilgrimages and processions. The Cure even opened an orphanage for the poor abandoned children of his town, called “the Providence,” and it is still open today. One trait that especially drew his people to him was his holiness in confession. So great was his love of God that the Holy Spirit let him peer into his people’s very soul, and often he would know their sins before they even told him. He even had the gift of healing, and cured many. From all across France men and women came to see the little Cure, to hear him preach, or to go to confession. And this priest was sent to Ars because he was too stupid to go anywhere else.
The saint’s time in Ars was not allows easy, even after the town’s conversion. At the height of his success, the Cure felt the attack of the devil on his works. Remember, the devil hates priests, especially holy ones. The Cure would hear noises and scratches against his walls when he tried to rest from his long days of prayer and toil. The devil would say, “Go away Vianney! Leave this place!” When the devil saw his success, he told the Cure, “I am the one converting those people, not God. I performed those miracles, not Him.” The saint would cry out to God and to St. Michael for protection, but the devil fought him for many years. He even burned the Cure’s bed, hoping to scare him away.
While conversions, miracles and transformations of lives were happening all around him, the saint never thought himself to be holy. He was ever away of how far he was from God, and every little fault he had made him suffer. In his old age, the saint simply wanted to retire to a monastery and live out his days praying for, as he said, “his black soul.” He even tried to run away, three times! But every time the good people of Ars begged him to stay, and he couldn’t refuse those whom he loved so much.
In his old age, the Cure became very sickly, and when he preached he could barely even speak. His sermons started consisting of him looking out over his people, crying for the sins of humanity, and always glancing back at the tabernacle or the crucifix. These sermons were said to be his most powerful of all. Finally as he lay on his death bed, thousands gathered around his rectory to pray. Those near him when he died said he looked like an angel, so at peace even though he was suffering from his illnesses and old age. His body was broken with the love he had for God and for his people, and died and returned to the Lord, in the town that God had transformed through him.