ST. JOHN VIANNEY,

THE CURE OF ARS

SOME CONVERSATION POINTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my thoughts is, “St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, Some Conversation Points.”

Today, August 4 is the feast of St. John Vianney. By now I hope you have heard of this saint - and know a few things about him - so as to think about him and talk a few conversations about him.

Okay, so that’s the goal of my words right now. To provide some conversational topics.

SAINTLY PRIESTS

The first topic would be saintly priests.

St. John Vianney’s dates are 1786 to 1859.

He died this day at the age of 73.

He was a parish priest in a little town names Ars for some 40 years.

In his day, someone said, “There is a holy man in Ars. Go and see him.”

More than one person must have said that, because at some point 300 people would come to Ars per day. The town was small - 40 homes, 4 taverns, and about 1000 people at the most.

My first conversation question would be: “Do you know any holy priests? Have you ever met one? When? Where? Tell me about him.”

I think of Father George Wichland - a saint who died in 1992 - who made sure lots and lots and lots of people in Baltimore got food.  I think of a classmate - who is definitely a saint. I think of Brother Raymond O’Brien - another saint, a Redemptorist - who died in 1988 - who had a sense of whenever a Mass was being said, he would just know it. His message to me was his sense of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in whatever house he was in.

Question: Who have been the priests you have met that were definitely holy people?

Who have been people you know who were holy?  Why? Tell me what they did that led you to that conclusion?

So that’s my first conversation piece: who have been saints that you have met - someone whom others would have said what was said of St. John Vianney, “There is a Holy Man in Ars; go and see him.”

CONFESSIONS

St. John Vianney is known as the Patron Saint of Confession.

After getting this reputation, he ended up hearing confessions 12 hours a day during the winter - and 17 hours a day during the warmer weather.

For the sake of conversation, think and talk about that.

How long were the lines? Did people talk to each other on line? Did people try to sneak ahead? Did people allow people to sneak off the line to go to the bathroom?  How about eating?  How about hotels or sleeping places? Where would I get answers to these questions?

I remember reading Francis Trochu’s book on St. John Vianney, but I don’t remember any of his answers to those questions.

What about John Vianney getting out of the confessional? When did he eat, say Mass, go to the bathroom, sleep?

Could he read hearts as some said he could?

I remember hearing that the Redemptorist Saint, St. Clement Hofbauer heard confessions  for long, long hours and got hemorrhoid problems.

St. John Vianney lived till 73 - got 2 hours sleep per night - ate mostly potatoes and was quite thin. How about his health?

I did read that 4 times he wanted to run away from Ars to be a contemplative.

What’s your take on him as a confessor?  Did you ever go to a priest who was a great confessor?

I know that St. John Vianney’s role as a big time confession listener - is sitting there - every time after Mass - but at “the wrong time” - when someone says, “Father could you give me 5 minutes? I want to go to confession.” I don’t know about other priests, but I’ll hear that person’s confession.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR A PRIEST

A third and final conversational topic would be qualifications for a priest

.

We’re always heard that John Vianney didn’t have enough education. He had to work - farming - so the family could survive.

When someone asked a bishop can we ordain him, the bishop didn’t ask if he had high marks, but he asked if he was holy.

So he was allowed to be ordained a priest, but he had to walk to Austria to get a bishop to ordain him.

There was a shortage of priests at the time, because 300 priests were killed during the French Revolution - religion was banned - and times were changing.
They were going to put John Vianney in a situation where he didn’t have to hear confessions, because he didn’t have enough education in this area.

They put him in Ars - which was considered “A punishment parish”.  It was a tiny place - and didn’t have much going for it.

In time he turned the place around.

CONCLUSION

So I hope those 3 points are food for thought - enough to start a conversation: what is planted in our garden.