Universally known as the "Cure of Ars," St. John Mary Vianney was ordained a priest in 1815. Three years later he was made parish priest of Ars, a remote French hamlet, where his reputation as a confessor and director of souls made him known throughout the Christian world. His life was one of extreme mortification.
Accustomed to the most severe austerities, beleaguered by swarms of penitents, and besieged by the devil, this great mystic manifested a imperturbable patience. He was a wonderworker loved by the crowds, but he retained a childlike simplicity, and he remains to this day the living image of the priest after the heart of Christ.
Jean-Marie Vianney was an undistinguished man until his extraordinary gift of psychological insight and skill in individual counseling was revealed in his ministry. His direction, primarily given through the Sacrament of Penance, was characterized by common sense, remarkable insight, and extraordinary knowledge through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was able to sense the deeper truth beyond the words of the person seeking reconciliation and provide guidance. It was said of him that he could see into people's souls. As his fame spread, people came from hundreds of miles to hear him preach and to receive his private counsel.
During the last ten years of his life, he spent from 13 to 18 hours a day in the confessional. His advice was sought by bishops, priests, religious, young men and women in doubt as to their vocation, sinners, persons in all sorts of difficulties, and the sick. By 1855, the number of pilgrims to Ars reached twenty thousand a year.
The irony is that at 29, Jean-Marie Vianney was ordained over the objections of many Catholics in his area, and only after his superiors decided that his zeal and devotion compensated for his "academic under-qualification." He was thought to be so incompetent that he was put under the direction of Fr. Balley, who first recognized and encouraged his vocation. After Fr. Balley's death, Fr. Vianney was appointed parish priest in the small and obscure village of Ars.
There he began visiting his parishioners; ministering to the sick and poor; championing campaigns against drinking, dancing and immodest dress, and establishing an orphanage for destitute girls, which became a model for similar institutions throughout France.
In the process of being declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, miracles were attributed through his intercession. However, some feel the greatest miracle was his life, itself. For forty years his food and sleep were insufficient to sustain life. Yet he labored incessantly, with unfailing humility, gentleness, patience, and cheerfulness, in service to the people of God. His life is a reminder that everyone, no matter what their status in life, is capable of doing great things in God's name.
His life was filled with works of charity and love. It is recorded that even the staunchest of sinners were converted at his mere word.
He died August 4, 1859, and was canonized May 31, 1925. by Pope Pius XI, and made patron saint of clergy throughout the world in 1929.
