St. John Vianney
St. John Vianney, Priest (Patron of priests)
Feast day - August 4 Universally known as the "Cure of Ars),"
St. John Mary Vianney was ordained a priest in 1815.
Three years later he was made parish priest of Ars,
a remote French hamlet, where his reputation as a
confessor and director of souls made him known throughout
the Christian world. His life was one of extreme mortification.
Accustomed to the most severe austerities, beleaguered by
swarms of penitents, and besieged by the devil, this great
mystic manifested a imperturbable patience. He was a
wonderworker loved by the crowds, but he retained a childlike
simplicity, and he remains to this day the living image of the
priest after the heart of Christ.
He heard confessions of people from all over the world for the
sixteen hours each day. His life was filled with works of charity
and love. It is recorded that even the staunchest of sinners were
converted at his mere word.
He died August 4, 1859, and was canonized May 31, 1925.