The History of Vianney

Born into a farm family at Dardilly, France on May 8, 1786, three years before the storming of the Bastille that began the French Revolution, John Vianney's early years were spent against the backdrop of a country whose Catholic heritage and Faith had been systematically destroyed.

By the time he was four years old, his devout Catholic family was attending mass in secret, and the fearless priests who risked their lives to deliver the sacraments to the loyal peasants were John's heroes. When the Church was re-established in France in 1802, he seemed an unlikely candidate for the priesthood because of his lack of schooling. Nevertheless, at the age of nineteen, John convinced his father to spare him from the farm so that he could pursue his vocation. Forced to learn Latin with boys of eleven and twelve, he was a terrible student. Yet he never gave up his desire to be a priest.

His studies came to an abrupt halt when he was inducted into Napoleon's army in 1809. Through a series of mishaps, Vianney lost his regiment, and was misled into the mountains to a troop of other deserters. There he lived for fourteen months under the assumed name of Jerome Vincent, hiding out in a haystack in the barn from searching French soldiers. There is some confusion about how the matter was resolved, but John was finally able to return to Ecully and his studies.

Because of the shortage of priests and in spite of his poor academic record, Vianney was ordained and in 1818 was sent to Ars, a tiny, out of the way parish with a shabby church, few resources and a lax spiritual life.

How did it happen that a decade later Ars had become a vibrant Christian community, a model of holy living for the world, a place of such radiant peace that many of the thousands of people who came to visit described it as "heaven on earth?" The testimony of those who knew John Vianney on a daily basis points towards his personal holiness as the key to the miraculous transformation of a parish.

Amazing things happened in Ars, witnessed by ordinary people. The Virgin Mary appeared regularly at the rectory for conversation with the pastor. So did the devil, who kept trying to smash the furniture. There were miracles of multiplying bread to feed the hungry, of healing and of prophecy and of a pastor who kept going for years on amounts of food and sleep too small to sustain human life. Most dear to John Vianney's heart were the miracles of conversions- thousands of them. Skeptics and curious tourists found their lives transformed. Families were healed and renewed. Fallen-away Catholics wept and returned to the Church.

Twenty thousand people a year came from near and far just to look at him, to exchange a few words, to ask an important question, or for the touch of his hand. Most of all they came to have their sins forgiven through confession. For the Curé it was well worth the agony of sixteen or more hours a day in the confessional, that he might save a single soul.

Although it was his life-long dream to retire to a hermit's existence and a contemplative life of silence and prayer, he remained in Ars, serving the pilgrims who flocked there, until his death in 1859, at the age of seventy-three. In 1925, he was canonized by Pope Pius XI, and is the patron saint of parish priests and confessors. To date, he is the only parish (diocesan) priest in all of Church history to be canonized.

Saint John Vianney, pray for us!