John Vianney

John Vianney (born Jean-Marie Vianney [ʒɑ̃ maʁi vjanɛ] and later Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney; 8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859) was a French Catholic priest and member of the Third Order of Mary, often referred to as the Curé d'Ars ("the parish priest of Ars"). He is known for his priestly and pastoral work in his parish in Ars, France, resulting in the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings.

Catholics note his saintly life, mortification, persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession, and ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was canonized in 1925 and his feast day is August 4. He is the patron saint of parish priests.

Vianney was born on 8 May 1786, in the French town of Dardilly, France (near Lyon), and was baptized the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and his wife Marie (Belize), had six children, of whom John was the fourth. The Vianneys were devout Catholics who helped the poor. Vianney's paternal grandparents once hosted Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of the homeless, who passed through Dardilly on his pilgrimage to Rome, in 1770.

By 1790, the anticlerical terror phase of the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide from the regime in order to carry out the sacraments in their parish. Even though to do so had been declared illegal, the Vianneys travelled to distant farms to attend Masses celebrated on the run. Realizing that such priests risked their lives day by day, Vianney began to look upon them as heroes. He received his First Communion catechetical instruction in a private home from two nuns, whose communities had been dissolved during the Revolution. He made his first communion at the age of 13, in a neighbour's kitchen; during the Mass, the windows were covered so that the light of the candles could not be seen from outside.

The Catholic Church was re-established in France in 1802, by Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting in religious peace throughout the country, culminating in a Concordat. By this time, Vianney was concerned about his future vocation and longed for an education. He was 20 when his father allowed him to leave the farm to be taught at a "presbytery school", in the neighbouring village of Écully, conducted by the Abbé Balley. The school taught arithmetic, history, geography and Latin. Vianney struggled with school, especially with Latin, since his past education had been interrupted by the French Revolution. Only because of Vianney's deepest desire to be a priest—and Balley's patience—did he persevere.

Vianney's studies were interrupted in 1809, when he was drafted into Napoleon's armies. He would have been exempt, as an ecclesiastical student, but Napoleon had withdrawn the exemption in certain dioceses, because of his need for soldiers in his fight against Spain. Two days after he had to report at Lyons, he became ill and was hospitalized, during which time his draft left without him. Once released from the hospital, on 5 January, he was sent to Roanne for another draft. He went into a church to pray, and fell behind the group. He met a young man who volunteered to guide him back to his group, but instead led him deep into the Forez mountains, to the village of Les Noes, where deserters had gathered. Vianney lived there for fourteen months, hidden in the byre attached to a farmhouse, and under the care of Claudine Fayot, a widow with four children. He assumed the name Jerome Vincent, and under that name, he opened a school for village children. Since the harsh weather isolated the town during the winter, the deserters were safe from gendarmes. However, after the snow melted, gendarmes came to the town constantly, searching for deserters. During these searches, Vianney hid inside stacks of fermenting hay in Fayot's barn.

An imperial proclamation in March 1810 granted amnesty to all deserters, enabling Vianney to go back legally to Écully, where he resumed his studies. He was tonsured in 1811, and, in 1812, went to the minor seminary, at Verrières-en-Forez. In the autumn of 1813, he was sent to the major seminary at Lyons. Considered too slow, he was returned to Balley. However, Balley persuaded the vicar general that Vianney's piety was great enough to compensate for his ignorance, and the seminarian received minor orders, and the subdiaconate on 2 July 1814, was ordained a deacon, in June 1815, and was ordained a priest, on 12 August 1815, in the Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble. He said his first Mass the next day, and was appointed the assistant to Balley in Écully.^{[citation needed]}

In 1818, shortly after the death of Balley, Vianney was appointed parish priest of the parish of Ars, a town of 230 inhabitants. When Vianney's bishop first assigned him to Ars, Vianney got lost trying to find the town. A young shepherd, Antoine Givre, tending flocks in the fields pointed him in the right direction.