The celebration of the Year of the Priests was proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI from June 2009 to June 2010. It was to commemorate the 150th death anniversary of
St. John Vianney, Patron Saint of Priests. It was also meant to draw attention and appreciation for priests who do so much for the Church- the People of God.
Last July 17, 2010, the relic of St. John Vianney, his heart, visited the Holy Spirit Church in Fremont, California. The HSC was among the few sanctuaries in the Diocese of Oakland chosen to host the veneration of the relic. It was a signal honor indeed!
St. John Vianney happens to be among the saints whose "incorrupt" bodies I have been privileged/blessed to see in the pilgrimages I have so far undertaken. My experience of actually seeing the incorrupt bodies of saints who were in their lifetime ordinary people like us has made me more bold to proclaim , "Truly, there is a God!" The fact that I have actually seen the natural law of human decay suspended after decades, nay, in some cases, centuries in these holy men and women has made my faith more deep and impregnable. Also, the experience of being that close to them in their shrines has carved an indelible imprint in my memory. To date, I have seen the incorrupt bodies of St. John Vianney, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Bernadette, St. Clare of Assisi, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and St. Padre Pio. A sister who founded a religious order in Caracas, Venezuela who has been declared "Blessed" but whose name I cannot recall at this time, is also incorrupt after more than 55 years dead at the time of my visit in 1997. Some saints whose whole bodies may not be incorrupt except for only some parts are St. Francis of Assisi, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Faustina and St. Claude de la Colombiere.
St. John Vianney is commonly known as the Cure d' Ars or The Village Priest. He was born in Dardilly, France on May 8, 1786. He grew up as a shepherd and farmer. As a boy, he loved to pray since his mother was a very religious woman. She was constantly teaching him about God and was a frequent church-goer taking John often with her. The influence of his mother was tremendous! He had a special devotion to our Blessed Mother and to St. Philomena. But in school, he struggled in his studies having so little capacity for learning the three R's. He went to a seminary to become a priest but failed twice in Latin. He was the least promising among the students and remained in the lowest quartile of his class. Prayer was his only strong point and was a model for piety. He was one of those of whom St. Paul said, "God chose the weak to confound the wise." The greatest favor God gave John was to befriend Father Balley who saw the seminarian's earnest desire to serve the Lord so that he offered to be his mentor. He exercised the greatest patience in helping his aspiring student.
After a long and difficult struggle, John at age 30 was ordained a priest who could say mass but without the faculty to hear confessions. After two years, the prohibition was lifted and he was assigned to the poorest parish in a tiny remote village called Ars in France. He stayed in Ars for 41 years until his death. His Superior said, " There is not so much love for God in that place. You'll put love into it. " It was poor in material resources and equally poor in the spiritual view. With only 200 inhabitants, there were four taverns because the people were fond of drinking and dancing. Prayer was the most important force in his life and his virtue of humility was of heroic degree. Souls were touched and conversions worked by the power of John's holiness more than by the appeal of his arguments. Soon people became impressed with his selflessness, humility and his powerful love of God. How true is the saying, " The best preacher is the one who loves God the most."
People came to John for confession. He stayed in the confessional from 10 to 13 hours each day though he ate only a meagre meal, slept only for 2 hours to rest and was often tormented by the devil at night. Hundreds to thousands of people came to Ars from all over France and nearby countries to confess to him. While still a priest, the late Pope John Paul II went from Poland to have his Reconciliation with St. John Vianney. Truly, God's thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways! St. John Vianney's weakness; not being allowed to hear confessions at his ordination, later, became his strength.
St. John Vianney organized a most magnificent Feast of Corpus cChristi celebration which became a reason for a yearly pilgrimage of thousands of people from all over France and Europe to Ars. He put Ars in the map of the world!
St. John Vianney died on August 4, 1859 and was canonized in 1925 by
Pope Pius XI. He composed an prayer which runs thus :
Act of Love Prayer
I love you, O my God and my sole desire is to love you
until the last breath of my life
I love you, O infinitely lovable God and I prefer to die loving
you than live an instant without loving you
I love you, O my God and I do not desire anything but heaven
so as to have the joy of loving you perfectly
I love you, O my God and I fear hell because there will not be
the sweet consolation of loving you
O my God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love you
I want my heart to say it in every beat.
Allow me the grace to suffer loving you, to love you suffering
and one day to die loving you and feeling that I love you
And as I approach my end, I beg you to increase and perfect my love for you.
Any pilgrim in Ars will see the incorrupt body of St. John Vianney on the high altar of the huge basilica. Displayed in a room are some crutches of the sick whom our saint healed in the course of his ministry.Thank-you letters, medals and plaques hang on the walls. A small shack standing in a corner of the churchgrounds houses the bedroom of St. John Vianney with the simple wooden bed and a small table showing his Breviary and the instruments of his personal mortification. He indulged in punishing himself with whips having pointed tips as a form of mortification for all the sins confessed to him. Some wounds on his body, however, were those inflicted by the devil who often visited him at night. St. John Vianney is considered one of the most admired and venerated saints of God in being the Patron Saint of Priests.
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