John, the son of a small farmer at Dardilly, near the city of Lyons in France, was born on May 8, 1786. He began life as shepherd of the family flock. Experiencing an inner pull to enter priesthood, he joined the Presbytery School of Abbe’ Balley. With no educational background whatever, the farm-boy found his studies, especially Latin, absolutely beyond his grasp. As a result, the formators found John an unpromising candidate for the Holy Order. However, his lack of intellectual standards was amply compensated by his iron will, piety and sound spirituality. After a lengthy battle with books, the Vicar General allowed him to be ordained in 1815 saying: “The Church needs not only learned priests but also, even more, holy priests.” Three years later, Fr. John was appointed parish priest (Cure’) of Ars, a small hamlet with about 230 souls.
John’s pastoral ministry began when the turmoil of the French Revolution had cast its somber shadow on the spiritual life of the people, leaving behind a legacy of religious indifference and immorality. His vision to reform the sleepy village began with himself – fasts, prayers and availability to his flock. A decade of tireless efforts coupled with God’s grace transformed an indifferent Ars into a vibrant Christian Community. His severity and sternness at the pulpit were matched by his compassion and power of conversion at the confessional. As his reputation for holiness and for his miraculous powers overflowed the boundaries of Ars, penitents from all over Europe flocked to his Church. An average of twenty thousand people visited him every year. Fr. John spent twelve to sixteen hours per day in the confessional and had the divine gift to tell each penitent what he required most Worn out and exhausted, he made three attempts to join a Carthusian Monastery and to spend the rest of his life in solitude and prayer. But each time the needs of the faithful and obedience to his Bishop forced him to retrace his steps. After forty-one years of hard labour in the vineyard of the Lord, the Cure’ of Ars went for his reward in 1859 and was canonized in 1925.
Reflection: The life of John was not a bed of roses and glory. He was tormented by Satan, detested by a small section of the faithful and above all, slandered against by the fellow-priests of his neighbourhing Parishes. They accused him of mental derangement, false piety and excessive zeal. The Bishop, who looked into these allegations, had this much to say: “Gentlemen, I wish that all my clergy had a touch of the same madness.”
Private prayer is like straw that is scattered here and there; if you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that. (St. John Vianney)
