Yesterday, I went to Mass at the Brompton Oratory and was able to venerate the relics of St Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney (also commonly known as St Jean Marie Vianney, St John Mary Vianney, and the Curé d’Ars). If you happen to be in London at all during the Year of Priests (until the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2010), it would be well worth making this little pilgrimage.
St Jean Vianney was a French parish priest who ministered to a small town called Ars in the early part of the 19th Century. His parish was literally in the middle of nowhere, yet Jean Marie, within his own lifetime, became internationally famous for an extraordinary sanctity and dedication to the demands of the priesthood. Many of faithful and curious souls came to see him, to hear him preach, or to make their confession to him. Born into modest circumstances, when Catholics faced persecution in Revolutionary France, he spent his life healing the scars that had wounded both Church and State during this time. Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated the Year of the Priest (2009/10) to the care of the Curé d’Ars, hoping that he will become both a guide and model for all priests serving the people of God today.
Many Catholics are familiar with the life of St Jean Marie Vianney - such is his popularity. I’m sure there will be many opportunities in the next few months to read his biography, so let us now take time to reflect on certain aspects of this man’s extraordinary story without going into the chronological finer points.
Eccentric
It may be said with some confidence that St Jean Marie was quite an eccentric man. Indeed, many people would have found him very difficult to get along with, such was his dedication to reform and asceticism. Loving the evangelical ideal of poverty so much the Curé d’Ars lived on one cold potato a day – which was usually rotten, having been boiled days prior to eating. He believed firmly that a priest should live simply and therefore shunned away from any extravagance, which might have made his life a bit more comfortable. He never had his cassock mended or renewed, and would walk about looking quite shabby. However, St Jean Marie would use parish funds to decorate the church, to ensure that he was dressed in beautiful vestments for Mass, and to help the poor and needy. No expense was spared when it came to the Church – as expressed liturgically and amongst the poor brothers and sisters of Our Lord.
Another eccentric aspect of Jean Vianney’s life was his utter devotion to St Philomena. This saint had become very popular amongst the poor in the early part of the 1800s – after some bones had been found within a shelf tomb in the Catacomb of St Priscilla in 1802. Many people believed that the bones belonged to a girl-martyr, whose name, found on the tomb’s inscription, was “Fliumena.” Although this cult never really achieved Church sanction, many devout people would pray to her. St Jean Vianney, though, went further and would insist that his parishioners show devotion to the saint. He built a chapel in the parish church to honour St Philomena, and shortly before his death, after recovering from illness, promised to offer 100 Masses in thanksgiving for her intercession. Since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council devotion to this saint has been suppressed – even if she did excite the pious affection of St Jean Vianney.
Many supernatural events were reported to have happened around and about the Curé d’Ars. Amongst the healing miracles and the prophetic words of wisdom that were worked through him, there were more sinister happenings. In fact, it seems that the Saint had quite a fight on his hands when it came to the Devil – who, apparently, would constantly try and threaten or badger the poor parish priest! One day the presbytery caught fire whilst St Jean Vianney was in the church. With no apparent cause found for the fire the Curé simply said, “It’s the grappin’s work!” He was quite used to satanic threats to his life, so would laugh them off, and even referred to the Devil, mockingly, as ‘the grappin’!
Perseverance
St Jean Marie Vianney is a true example of perseverance. He would not, even when the odds were stacked up against him, give up on his sense of vocation, and his obedience to God’s call. Becoming a priest was not easy for the Curé d’Ars. During the Saint’s early studies Napoleon forced ecclesiastical students to fight in his war against Spain. Jean Vianney had no choice but to surrender his studies and go off to fight. He seems to have been suspected of cowardice at one point, though managed to convince his commanding officer that he was missing from action due to being overly eager to pray in a local church! After this event, though, St Jean Marie did desert and his brother had to go and replace him. His time away from studies didn’t dampen his drive to become a priest, and he entered a seminary after returning home from the army. For some reason, though not lacking in natural intelligence, Jean Marie Vianney found studies for the priesthood excessively difficult. His Latin was so bad that it seemed inevitable that he would not be ordained. In fact, so bad was his Latin that he was given a special dispensation to study philosophy in French. He failed the seminary’s entrance exam, but persevered and tried again – being successful the second time round. This was not the only time he had to retake exams during his studies. Even when the many obstacles to his ordination seemed insurmountable Jean Vianney continued to trust in God, and never gave up. He was aided by the constant encouragement of friends, especially M. Balley, his mentor and priest friend – a man who knew that whatever Jean-Baptiste lacked in learning he made up for in sanctity and wisdom. As a result Jean Vianney was, contrary to expectations, ordained to the priesthood in August 1815.
Another matter that could have led to St Jean Vianney leaving his vocation as a diocesan priest was his temptation to enter the religious life. On four separate occasions he tried to run away from Ars, in order to enter a monastery – so much did he yearn for the life of contemplation. He was stopped every time – usually by his parishioners who would catch him in the act of desertion! He always realised the folly of this fantasy to become something God had no called him to, and would come back to his flock. He knew that, as difficult as it might be, it was only by persevering in the life God had chosen for him that he would find true happiness. So, in many ways, St Jean Vianney shows us that without the support of others, in his case the people of Ars and his Bishop, it can be nigh on impossible for any man, even a Saint, to persevere in what God has called him to do.
Pastor
Of course, more than anything else, St Jean Marie Vianney, is known for his dedication to the work and vocation of being a parish priest. Ars had become quite a secular place due to the political upheavals of the time and Jean Marie was determined to bring the people back to a sense of morality and spirituality. He dedicated himself to the reform of the town, and to the conversion of souls. So zealous was he for the sanctity of his flock that he would often preach against the sin of dancing! In fact he would often deny absolution to the local girls who refused to stop dancing with boys. He also advised his people to dedicate themselves to a life of temperance and moderation, to a life of prayer, and to the life of good works and charity. I wonder what the Saint would make of today’s world, where it sometimes seems that the Church is too timid to encourage sanctity, chastity and purity – I never hear many sermons against dancing, it must be said!
St Jean Vianney loved to celebrate Mass, and had a keen theological awareness of the tremendous mystery to which he, as a priest, and a Christian, was privy to in the celebration of the Eucharist. He was also a very keen preacher – and could go on for quite some time! But, of course, if there is one thing that we all know about the Curé d’Ars it is his dedication to the sacrament of penance. He often sat in the confessional for 16 hours a day – and was known for his sometimes kind, sometimes stern practical advice, and his ability to speak directly to the penitent’s soul, thus helping to heal and convert Christ’s flock. He truly loved those whom God had entrusted to him, becoming like Christ in his need to seek out lost sheep. It is probably this devotion to the people of God, shown through his unwavering loyalty to the proclamation and celebration of word and sacrament that makes St Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney a true model of priesthood as it should be lived in any age.
St Jean Marie Vianney, pray for us, and for our priests
Also, St Francis Xavier, pray for us. It is his feast day today - I might now go to Farm Street to celebrate the witness of this holy and courageous Jesuit.
* One of my favourite quotes from St Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney
[Picture notes: St Jean Marie Vianney; source: Wikimedia Commons. The relics of St Jean Marie Vianney at the Brompton Oratory, 02/12/09]
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