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Aug 4, St. John Marie Vianney - Patron of Parish Priests
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| August 4th, 2007
| JosephMary
Posted on 08/04/2007 7:06:47 AM PDT by fr maximilian mary
St. John Mary Vianney was born in France in 1786. His childhood coincided with the terrible French revolution. He was devout even as a boy and quietly taught other children their prayers. He would be ordained a priest in 1815 but struggled mightily through seminary and was a poor student. He had a very difficult time with Latin. There was even talk among his superiors if he should be ordained or, if ordained, be allowed to hear confessions. They decided to ordain him but gave him one of the least desirable of assignments: to the little town of Ars. The young priest was told that the faith was all but lost there and so he would have little to do. “Then I have everything to do!”, he exclaimed.
Upon arriving in Ars the conditions were as foretold but this good priest knew that the holiness of the people would first need a holy priest and so he took upon himself not only his own seeking of personal holiness but also severe penances for his flock. He fasted continually and only slept a few hours a night, spending most of his time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
His prayers and penances began to pay off. He spent time waiting for penitents in the confessions and little by little they began to come. The town began to change and people began to return to the practice of their faith. The time needed in the confessional grew and grew until it was up to 16 hours a day! And the people began to come from other places as his renown as a confessor became widely known.
Supernatural gifts were granted to him and he would even wrestle with the devil in the literal sense for the evil one was furious that so many souls were being snatched from his grasp. Oh, if only the evil one could at least keep the people lukewarm but this priest was leading them on the path to holiness and sanctification! When miracles occurred at his intercession he would always give the glory to God or ‘blame’ Our Lady or St. Philomena. Worn out by his labors this holy man of God died in 1859. He was canonized in 1925 and is the Patron of parish priests. May they follow his example of holiness.
TOPICS: Catholic; Prayer
KEYWORDS: eucharist; mary; priesthood; vianney
To: NYer; Frank Sheed
St. John Marie Vianney, pray for us!
2
posted on
08/04/2007 7:10:43 AM PDT
by
fr maximilian mary
("Imitate Jesus, love Mary as your Mother." Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
To: Pyro7480; monkapotamus; ELS; Theophane; indult; St. Johann Tetzel; B Knotts; livius; k omalley; ...
3
posted on
08/04/2007 7:19:34 AM PDT
by
Frank Sheed
(Fr. V. R. Capodanno, Lt, USN, Catholic Chaplain. 3rd/5th, 1st Marine Div., FMF. MOH, posthumously.)
Comment #4 Removed by Moderator
To: fr maximilian mary
First Saturday and the Feast Day of Saint John Marie Vianney... perfect day for Confession.
Saint Philomena pray for the purity of our priests.
5
posted on
08/04/2007 7:54:02 AM PDT
by
Nihil Obstat
(Count your blessings)
To: Salvation
6
posted on
08/04/2007 8:06:46 AM PDT
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: fr maximilian mary; Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; ...
Thank you for this beautiful post! I was just getting ready to post the following as a separate thread but will add it to yours, instead. God bless you, Father!
St. John Vianney, pray for our priests and for us!
Happy Feast of St. John Vianney, the Cure d'Ars, the patron saint of parish priests. Let us pray extra for our parish priests and all priests today and every day, and do something nice for them very often.
As we know, there can be quite a bit of solitude in priests' lives, so we should be sure to keep in contact with them.
To see a panoply of prayers for priests and seminarians, and for vocations, visit the web site of the Cure d'Ars Prayer Group here in the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina. The illustration above and the three quotes below -- all from the Cure -- are from that site.
"Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love."
"The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest."
"What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door! The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth."
Here is the link to the web site of the Sanctuaire d'Ars: http://www.arsnet.org/
Here is the link to the web site of the Serra Club, whose members foster vocations and encourage priests and seminarians: http://www.serra.org/
7
posted on
08/04/2007 2:31:46 PM PDT
by
NYer
("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
To: fr maximilian mary; Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; ...
Thank you for this beautiful post! I was just getting ready to post the following as a separate thread but will add it to yours, instead. God bless you, Father!
St. John Vianney, pray for our priests and for us!
Happy Feast of St. John Vianney, the Cure d'Ars, the patron saint of parish priests. Let us pray extra for our parish priests and all priests today and every day, and do something nice for them very often.
As we know, there can be quite a bit of solitude in priests' lives, so we should be sure to keep in contact with them.
To see a panoply of prayers for priests and seminarians, and for vocations, visit the web site of the Cure d'Ars Prayer Group here in the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina. The illustration above and the three quotes below -- all from the Cure -- are from that site.
"Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love."
"The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest."
"What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door! The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth."
Here is the link to the web site of the Sanctuaire d'Ars: http://www.arsnet.org/
Here is the link to the web site of the Serra Club, whose members foster vocations and encourage priests and seminarians: http://www.serra.org/
8
posted on
08/04/2007 2:32:49 PM PDT
by
NYer
("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
To: fr maximilian mary
9
posted on
08/04/2007 7:46:42 PM PDT
by
murphE
(These are days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed but his own. --G.K. Chesterton)
To: fr maximilian mary
St. John Mary Vianney, priest
Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest
Cure of Ars
Memorial
August 4th
unknown artist
(1786-1859) Born new Lyons, France, he was ordained in 1815 in Grenoble, and in 1818 was assigned to the parish of Ars, where he spent the rest of his life. He was best known for his steadfast care of souls, for his spirit of prayer and mortification and, above all, for his tireless dedication to the Sacrament of Penance. He spent most of his life in the confessional, drawing energy from his intimate and constant friendship with our Lord in the Eucharist. Pius XI declared him Patron of Parish Priest.
Collect:
Father of mercy,
you made St. John Vianney outstanding
in his priestly zeal and concern for your people.
By his example and prayers,
enable us to win our brothers and sisters
to the love of Christ
and come with them to eternal glory.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Reading:Ezekiel 3:17-21
At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me. If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life. Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you will have saved your life."
Gospel Reading:Matthew 9:35-10:1
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."
And He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity.
St. John Vianney Prayer "O my God, come to me, so that You may dwell in me and I may dwell in you."
10
posted on
08/04/2008 8:48:14 AM PDT
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: fr maximilian mary
11
posted on
08/04/2009 9:42:28 AM PDT
by
Salvation
(With God all things are possible.)
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