Saint jean marie vianney biography
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St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, Patron of Parish Priests
“If we really understood the präst on earth, we would die: not of fear, but of love.” St John Vianney’s whole life could be summed up in this saying attributed to him.
Known as the “Curé d’Ars,” Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney was born on 8 May 1786 in France in the town of Dardilly, nära Lyons. His devout Catholic parents were farmers, and from an early age, John worked in the fields. Without formal education, as a young man he was functionally illiterate; but thanks to his mother’s teaching, Vianney was able to memorise and understand numerous prayers, and live a devout religious life.
“I would win many souls for God”
At that time in France, the winds of Revolution were blowing. ung John made his Confession at home, rather than in a church, to a “non-juring” priest – that fryst vatten, a präst who had not sworn loyalty to the revolutionary governmen
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The Life of St Jean-Marie Vianney
The Life of St Jean-Marie Vianney
Paolo Risso
'Ars... is no longer Ars!'
The simple priesthood of St Jean Vianney changed a town and a world
On Tuesday evening, 9 February 1818, Antoine Givre, a boy herding sheep in the Dombes region, had an unusual encounter. He met a priest striding towards him, like a peasant on the road from Lyons. He was pushing a rickety cart heaped with objects, among which he could make out a wooden bedstead.
The priest called to the boy and asked him if it was much further to the village of Ars. Antoine pointed out to him the modest little town before them which was disappearing into the darkness. "How small it is!" the priest murmured. Then he knelt on the frozen ground and prayed at length, his eyes fixed on the houses.
'I will show you the way to heaven'
As he rose and set out again with his cart, the boy was at his side. When they arrived in front of the poor church, the priest said to him: "Thank y
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St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney
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Curé of Ars, born at Dardilly, near Lyons, France, on 8 May, 1786; died at Ars, 4 August, 1859; son of Matthieu Vianney and Marie Beluze.
In 1806, the curé at Ecully, M. Balley, opened a school for ecclesiastical students, and Jean-Marie was sent to him. Though he was of average intelligence and his masters never seem to have doubted his vocation, his knowledge was extremely limited, being confined to a little arithmetic, history, and geography, and he found learning, especially the study of Latin, excessively difficult. One of his fellow-students, Matthias Loras, afterwards first Bishop of Dubuque, assisted him with his Latin lessons.
But now another obstacle presented itself. Young Vianney was drawn in the conscript