Saint John Mary Vianney

[portrait of Saint John Mary Vianney]
Also known as
Cure of Ars
Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney
Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney
Jean-Baptiste Vianney
John Baptist Vianney
John Vianney
Memorial
4 August
Profile
Born to a farm family. In his youth he taught other children their prayers and catechism. Ordained in 1815, though it took several years study as he had little education, was not a very good student, and his Latin was terrible. Assigned as a parochial vicar to Ecully, France. In 1818 he was assigned to the parish of Ars-sur-Formans, France, a tiny village near Lyons, which suffered from very lax attendance. He began visiting his parishioners, especially the sick and poor, spent days in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, did penance for his parishioners, and leading his people by example. Gifted with discernment of spirits, prophecy, hidden knowledge, and working miracles. Tormented by evil spirits, especially when he tried to get his 2-3 hours of sleep each night. Crowds came to hear him preach, and to make their reconciliation because of his reputation with penitents; by 1855 there were 20,000 pilgrims a year to Ars. Spent 40 years as the parish priest.
Born
8 May 1786 at Dardilly, Lyons, France
Died
4 August 1859 at Ars, France of natural causes
interred in the basilica of Ars
Name Meaning
God is gracious; gift of God
Venerated
26 July 1896
Beatified
8 January 1905 by Pope Saint Pius X
Canonized
31 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI
Patronage
confessors
Dubuque, Iowa, archdiocese of
Kansas City, Kansas, archdiocese of
Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
priests
Prayers
Litany to Saint Philomena
Prayer to Saint Mary Vianney
Prayer for Parish Priests
Acte d'amour du Saint Curé d'Ars
Images
Gallery of images of Saint John Marie Vianney
Storefront
Aquinas and More
Additional Information
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Google Directory
Letter on The Curé of Ars, by PopePope John Paul II, 16 March 1986
New Catholic Dictionary
Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia: On Saint John Vianney, by Pope John XXIII, 1 August 1959
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
Wikipedia
Writings
On Anger
On Avarice
On Communion
On Confession
On Death
On Envy
On Frequent Communion
On Gluttony
On Grace
On Hope
On Impurity
On Lust
On Paradise
On Prayer I
On Prayer II
On Pride I
On Pride II
On Purgatory
On Salvation I
On Salvation II
On Sin I
On Sin II
On Sloth
On Suffering
On Temptations
On The Word of God
On the Blessed Virgin
On the Cardinal Virtues
On the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
On the Holy Spirit
On the Last Judgment
On the Love of God I
On the Love of God II
On the Prerogatives of the Pure Soul
On the Priesthood
On the Real Presence
On the Sanctification of Sunday
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Readings
Man is a beggar who needs to ask God for everything.

- Saint John Vianney
All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone - for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good.

Saint John Vianney
If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a greatnumber of Christians would go to Heaven.

Saint John Vianney
You either belong wholly to the world or wholly to God.

Saint John Vianney
I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the Cross than in serving the world and its pleasures.

Saint John Vianney
You cannot please both God and the world at the same time, They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions.

Saint John Vianney
We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to be done, one in favour of a person we love, the other in favour of a person who has done us some harm. Well, we must give preference to the latter.

Saint John Vianney
We should consider those moments spent before the Blessed Sacrament as the happiest of our lives.

Saint John Vianney
My little children, reflect on these words: the Christian's treasure is not on earth but in heaven. Our thoughts, then, ought to be directed to where out treasure is. This is the glorious duty of man: to pray and to love. If you pray and love, that is where a man's happiness lies.

Prayer is nothing else but union with God. In this intimate union, God and the soul are fused together like two bits of wax that no one can every pull apart. This union of god with a tiny creature is a lovely thing. It is a happiness beyond understanding.

My little children, your hearts, are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.

Some men immerse themselves as deeply in prayer as fish in water, because they give themselves totally to God. O, how I love these noble souls!

How unlike them we are! How often we come to church with no idea of what to do or what to ask for. And yet, whenever we go to any human being, we know well enough why we go. And still worse, there are some who seem to speak to the good God like this: "I will only say a couple of things to you, and then I will be rid of you." I often think that when we come to adore the Lord, we would receive everything we ask for, if we would ask with living faith and with a pure heart.

from the catechetical instructions by Saint John Mary Vianny
Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.

Saint John Vianney
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