The Year of the Priest – St. Jean Vianney, Patron of Priests

On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart 2009, the Holy Father declared “A Year for Priests” to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death (dies natalis) of the Curé d’Ars: Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. He was born in the last years of the Ancien Régime, into a devout and humble peasant family of Dardilly. The early life of young Jean was rocked by the French Revolution. The revolutionary government outlawed the Church and practice of the Faith. Many loyal priests went into hiding and continued to carry out their duties. The Vianney family was forced to attend Mass in secret locations. St. Jean was prepared in secret for his First Holy Communion by two nuns in disguise. The example of these heroic priests and religious had a profound effect upon Jean. From an early age he decided that he was called to the priesthood.

In 1802 the Church in France was re-established. Jean wished to begin his studies for the priesthood but his father did not let him leave the farm until he was twenty years of age. He went to Father Balley’s “presbytery-school” in the neighbouring village of Ecully and began the rudimentary studies required to enter seminary. He struggled, especially with Latin. He had not been helped by the way the revolution had disrupted his earlier studies. His desire to answer God’s call was strong and aided by the patience of Father Balley he soldiered on. However once again the consequences of the French Revolution interrupted Jean’s course: he was drafted into the Napoleonic army in 1809.

He should have been exempt but a clerical error resulted in him being called up. He went to Lyons, became ill and was hospitalised, missing his first draft. When he was better he was sent to Roanne to meet up with another unit. Whilst with this group he went to a Church to pray and fell behind. He met a fellow conscript who offered to guide him back but instead led him to the mountain village of Noes. Here a group of deserters had gathered. For over a year the deserter Jean hid from the authorities under the name Jerome Vincent and opened a village school for the children. Like the priests of his childhood, Jean was now also in hiding, and slept in a barn. In 1810 an imperial decree granted amnesty to all deserters. Jean returned to Ecully and resumed his studies. In 1813 he returned to Lyons to enter the major seminary. He was ordained in 1815, a month after the Battle of Waterloo, and was appointed assistant to Father Balley.

Father Balley died in 1818 and Jean was sent to the remote hamlet of Ars. Once again the reverberations of the French Revolution would affect Jean. The attacks on the Church had left the town ignorant of the Faith. Sundays were spent working in the fields and dancing and drinking in the tavern The Bishop had warned Jean as he assigned him: “there is little love of God in that parish; you will be the one to put it there…”

Jean took this mission to heart. He was deeply aware that he needed to go there to embody Christ’s presence and to bear witness to his saving mercy. He prayed: “Lord, grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever you wish, for my entire life!” and with this prayer he entered upon his mission.

He devoted himself to his parish: He began a serious programme of education for the young and the old. He organised care for orphans and the sick, He restored Sunday as the Lord’s Day, preaching against the blasphemies committed. He promoted devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady. He became a “fixture” in the Church building. He was there for the souls entrusted to him: “ Upon his arrival, he chose the church as his home. He entered the church before dawn and did not leave it until after the evening Angelus. There he was to be sought whenever needed”. He would spend hours in the confessional and his reputation spread throughout the world. The first recorded ‘pilgrims’ began coming to him in 1827. By 1855 twenty-thousand people a year were visiting him. He died in 1859 at the age of 73 after forty-one years of service in Ars.

Jean lived an austere and prayerful life. He was attacked by the devil and by doubt. He ran away four times to join a monastery but he returned each time to carry on his mission in the small hamlet. He is an example to all priests, especially today. In the West we see half-empty churches and a world which has rejected the Faith, but like St. Jean we must not despair. From the start Jean suffered to follow God’s calling. Not even a socio-political juggernaut like the French Revolution could stop him fulfilling God’s wish for the salvation of souls. He realised the important role the priest plays in this:

“Were we to fully realize what a priest is on earth, we would die: not of fright, but of love… Without the priest, the passion and death of our Lord would be of no avail. It is the priest who continues the work of redemption on earth… What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no one to open its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of his goods… Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest, and they will end by worshiping the beasts there… The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for Christ.”

Mark Davoren