August 4 + Saint John Vianney

Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, also known as the Holy Curé de Ars, was born May 8, 1786 in Dardilly, France to a family of farmers. After serving a time in the army, he entered the seminary to become a priest. He had a very difficult time and struggled mightily with all of his studies with a particularly difficult time with Latin. Many, including his formation directors and instructors in the seminary and his own bishop, had very serious doubts that this man who did not have strong intellectual gifts, would be suitable for the priesthood. However, John persevered and finally was ordained a priest in 1815.

His bishop, acting on his estimation of this new priest as a man of few gifts, sent him to the remotest backwater village of his diocese, the village of Ars.

John was a man of great dedication to his call to be a priest and to serve his people. He preached in a very simple manner, had a great love of the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Mother and he had a special devotion to Saint Philomena. Through his work as a confessor he brought about a spiritual renewal that touched not only the people of his parish but all of France. He regularly spent 14 to 18 hours a day in the confessional surviving on only a few hours of sleep and a diet of boiled potatoes. As the word spread of his extraordinary abilities as a confessor, thousands, including bishops and nobility, made the journey to Ars in order to receive his spiritual counsel. Thus a man who started his life as one who very few thought would ever amount to anything became, by the time of his death in 1859, the vehicle for thousands of conversions. He is, for us today, an example of how God works wonderfully through those who dedicate their lives to Him and who seek to do His will.

John is regarded by the Church as one of its great figures simply because he was faithful. Plagued by many trials and besieged by the devil, John remained firm in his faith and lived a life of devotion to God. He lived on little food and sleep, while working without rest in unfailing humility, gentleness, patience and cheerfulness, until he was well into his 70s.

John died on August 4, 1859. Over 1,000 people attended his funeral, including the bishop and priests of the diocese, who already viewed his life as a model of priestly holiness.