From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   August 4th - St. John Baptist Vianney   
      
   Today is the feast day of the Curé of Ars, confessor, intercessor for the   
   Clergy's sanctification and model for those entrusted with the care of   
   souls. He   
   lived in the 19th century (1786-1859).   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   There is always a word to say about St. John Baptist Vianney because he was   
   one   
   of the greatest saints of the 19th century. His life presents so many   
   different   
   facets that one always can take new lessons from it.   
      
   In the first decades of the 19th century, he was a poor seminarian. Not only   
   was   
   he poor but he had a small intelligence, remarkably small. He had to make an   
   extraordinary effort to follow his studies at the seminary, and twice failed   
   the   
   examinations required before ordination. His intellectual insufficiency gave   
   much cause for concern about his priestly vocation. Finally at age 30 he   
   barely   
   managed to complete the course and was ordained.   
      
   The Bishop sent this dull priest to a tiny village in the south of France,   
   the   
   village of Ars. There he began his sacerdotal life, which would permeate all   
   of   
   Europe with its light, and, from there, spread throughout the world. He was   
   canonized a saint by Pius XI in 1925 and proclaimed patron of parish   
   priests.   
      
   What was it that distinguished this Saint? Even though he didn't have any   
   natural qualities to make him an exceptional priest, he became a magnificent   
   priest, an extraordinary apostle, a confessor with rare discernment, and a   
   preacher who exercised a profound influence over souls.   
      
   What was the reason for such efficiency? St. Therese of Lisieux used to say,   
   "For love, nothing is impossible." What this means is that one who truly   
   loves   
   God, Our Lord and Our Lady will obtain the means to do what Divine   
   Providence   
   calls him to do. This applies perfectly to St. John Vianney. For example,   
   let us   
   look at his preaching. He became an extraordinary preacher. He prepared his   
   sermons the best he could, then he studied them. They were not sermons   
   touching   
   on the highest topics of theology; they were common catechetical   
   instructions   
   for the people. But when he taught, he spoke with such conviction, with such   
   a   
   great love of God, with words so blessed that the graces of those sermons   
   were   
   communicative and touched all who heard them.   
      
   A defect I still didn't mention: he had a weak voice, and in those happy   
   times   
   when microphones didn't exist, the multitudes that gathered to listen his   
   preaching - filling the church of Ars and its environs - often could not   
   hear   
   him. Even though persons at a distance could only hear a few loose phrases   
   of   
   his sermons, many of them still converted. Others could not hear him at all,   
   but   
   they also converted, only from the effect of seeing him.   
      
   In his Soul of the Apostolate, Dom Chautard relates this telling fact. An   
   impious lawyer went to Ars to mock its unlearned Curé. But he returned   
   converted. Someone asked him: What did you see there? He answered: "I saw   
   God in   
   a man." That is, the presence of God was in St. John Vianney. One could note   
   that God was with him and in him. I consider the witness of this impious   
   lawyer   
   about the Curé of Ars - "I saw God in a man" - one of the most glorious   
   homages   
   a man can receive.   
      
   The blessings from his sermons and charisma of his words extended far and   
   wide,   
   and all over Europe pilgrimages started to be made to Ars. This was one of   
   the   
   reasons for the countless conversions St. John Vianney made.   
      
   He was also a martyr of the confessionary. He used to spend hours and hours   
   there hearing confessions and giving counsels. We don't realize the   
   tremendous   
   penance it represents to spend long hours hearing the foul moral things   
   people   
   do. In the confessionary he applied the advice of St. Alphonse of Ligouri to   
   not   
   hurry through the confession, to be patient, to consider each penitent as if   
   he   
   were the only person to be heard and to help him conquer each one of his   
   sins.   
   So he entered battle against each sin, insisted on the practice of virtue,   
   advised good behavior, and often he denied absolution. Yes, if he could not   
   note   
   a serious intent of amendment, he denied absolution to that person.   
      
   He was an enemy of dancing. You should note that the dances of that time   
   were   
   far different from the immoral and outrageous dances of today. The young   
   ladies   
   were completely covered and had skirts that reached to the floor. If he   
   condemned those dances, what would he say about ours? His condemnation went   
   so   
   far as to deny absolution to those who would not promise to stop going to   
   such   
   dances.. Many persons would go to other churches to receive absolution.   
   Hearing   
   this, he simply commented: If other priests want to send them to Hell, it is   
   up   
   to them.   
      
   This extraordinary Saint spent all his time in the church: at the pulpit,   
   confessionary or altar. At night when he returned to his house, one might   
   think   
   he would at least get a deserved rest. But no, a new fight started, this   
   time   
   against the devil. For decades he fought a nightly battle with the devil -   
   whom   
   he called Grapin - in which the devil physically assaulted him and tormented   
   him   
   with deafening noises and insulting words. On the night before a person   
   particularly dominated by the devil would come to confess to St. John   
   Vianney,   
   the devil would inflict stronger torments on the Saint. Once he set fire to   
   the   
   Curé's bed. In response St. John Vianney used to increase his special   
   penances,   
   flagellations, and prayers to win the graces for his words to effect the   
   needed   
   conversions.   
      
   It is beautiful to consider that Divine Providence, in order to further   
   increase   
   his apostolate, gave him the gift of the miracles. In fact he worked many   
   miracles. But he did not attribute them to himself. In his church he built a   
   shrine to St. Philomena, a virgin martyr that Paul VI removed from the list   
   of   
   the saints. St. John Vianney did not think the same way, and attributed all   
   his   
   miracles to her.   
      
   I will mention just one extraordinary fact that reveals his gift of reading   
   souls - the discernment of spirits - that he had. This fact was reported by   
   one   
   of his penitents, a young lady who was a Daughter of Mary. She went to   
   confession to the Curé of Ars. After she knelt, he began to tell her events   
   from   
   her past life.   
      
       - Do you remember that you went to a ball on such-and-such occasion?   
       - Yes, I remember.   
       - Do you remember that at a certain moment a handsome young man entered   
   the   
   ballroom. He was quite elegant, appeared very upright and danced with   
   several   
   young ladies?   
       - Yes, I do.   
       - Do you recall that you had a great desire to dance with him?   
       - I recall that.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)