From the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum:
Memoria sancti Ioannis Mariae Vianney, presbyteri, qui, quadraginta amplius annos paroeciae ipsi commissae in vico Ars prope Bellicium in Gallia actuosa praedicatione, oratione et paenitentiae exemplo mirum in modum ministravit et cotidie pueros et adultos catechizans, paenitentes reconcilians atque ardenti caritate e sacra Eucharistia velut e fonte hausta refulgens tantopere provexit, ut longe lateque consilia sua diffunderet et permultos ad Deum sapienter duceret.
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This is a real amateurs guess at translation, more of a ‘what does the prayer really not say.’ I’ve had a go though.
In memory of Saint John Vianney, Priest for over forty years. He spent his time preaching and was a great example to both young and adult catechists and sinners, fuelled out of his great love for the eucharist and he stuck up for the Church, all over with his godly wisdom and good counsel.
Discuss.
Er, well, he was a great priest, that’s for sure and obviously appealed to both young and old. He also managed to bring men to repentance and one would assume, they began to love with fervour, what he himself loved. The eucharist and defending the church.
Of course, I may be totally misinterpreting here, in which case, sorry Father Z?
And today is also the feast of St Dominic for those of us who follow the Extraordinary Form liturgical calendar.
Thanks becket1 I was just about to point that out too. I was hoping for some sort of reflection by Fr. Z on the great Saint Dominic.
“The memorial of St. Jean-Marie Vianney, a priest. He was stationed for more than forty years in the village of Ars, near Belley, France. He ministered in a wonderful manner with lively preaching, with prayer and his example of penance. Every day he made progress, catechizing children and adults, reconciling penitents, shining with burning love from the Eucharist, as if drawn from a spring, so that he spread his counsel far and wide, and wisely led very many to God.”
Note for clergy and laity: Vianney’s example was the hook; he could only set the hook because of his love of the Eucharist and closeness to God. Only then could the faithful bring themselves to follow him, and the Lord provided St. John the counsel the faithful sought.
It may be difficult for Americans to think about how hard the Revolution was on the Church in France. If the farmers of Ars thought “who cares”, Pere Jean may have thought himself lucky.
How can we let God’s light shine through us? And even if the secular psychologist has taken part of the confessor’s role since the turn of the 20th century, there’s many tools the psych doesn’t have.
Salutationes omnibus.
We try to follow both the EF and NO calendars, but to make things difficult, the local printer printed this year’s liturgical calendar (passed out by the parish) incorrectly so that some of the saints’ days are off by one day in an entire week. Thankfully, we have our breviary.
Ss. John Vianney and Dominic, pray for us and especially for all priest and seminarians. Pray for us and all who preach and teach the Gospel.
Tom said:
‘And even if the secular psychologist has taken part of the confessor’s role since the turn of the 20th century, there’s many tools the psych doesn’t have.’
The power to forgive sins, only God, and the priest has that.
Tom,
I think the difficulties we have today with a secularized world are frighteningly similar to those St. John had in post-Revolutionary France. Many of the secularists are motivated by the same destructive impulse that drove the Revolution, and many of their victims are thinking either “who cares” or “religion is the root of all evil.”
About the only thing that’s missing is the guillotine. . . . and that might actually clarify the struggle we’re in, and what’s at stake.
Memory of St. John M. Vianney, priest, who, for over forty years in a parish under his care ministered in an amazing way in a village of Ars in France, through active preaching, prayer and the example of penance and by catechizing children and adults, reconciling penitents and by shining with burning charity drawn from the holy Eucharist as from a font, he made such progress, that he diffused his counsels far and wide wisely leading many to God.
This is like trying to make spaghetti from potatoes. Like it or not, you’ve got to rearrange the order of words, and loose something in the process.
There is one story I am particularly fond of from the life of this saint: someone was circulating a letter requesting that St. John be removed from his parish and the letter was less than flattering. It was prompted by jealous rivalry. The letter went around some parishes and it was signed by some clerics. Accidently the letter was also circulated to St. John Vianney, who, upon reading it, promptly added his own name to the other signatures.
AnAmericanMother,
I would take the guillotine, rather than years of being drugged and put in an asylum a la Soviet style persecution…may this great French saint intercede for us all.
Andrew,
Something is always lost in translation, it’s just a matter of choosing what you have to lose.
And if you can’t make spaghetti, make gnocchi!
Oh, yeah, supertradmum, I’m with you.
But when people are diagnosed with a mental illness and just quietly go off for a ‘rest cure’ and never return, it takes longer for the rest of us to figure out what’s going on.
At least with the guillotine there’s a terrible clarity.
Martyrs of Compiègne, pray for us!
@AnAmericanMother
It’s funny that you state “I think the difficulties we have today with a secularized world are frighteningly similar to those St. John had in post-Revolutionary France.” I had the exact same thought about the great Saint Dominic especially dealing with the horror of the Albigensian heresy. It’s probably providential that both forms of the Roman Rite honor these two saints from very different times but both having lessons for us in this modern world.
History repeats itself.
Let’s hope that this time it’s as farce (per that wicked old man Marx), so that we can take St. Thomas More’s words to heart and mock the evildoers.
OK. Eventually I’ll learn. There is an extreme mismatch between comments in preview and comments after posting. All macrons got hosed. Argh.
Andrew – thanks for that great story! St Jean Vianney – OPN!