Incorrupt heart of the patron saint of priests touring US through mid-2019 (Catholic Caucus)

class="subtitle">Organizers see the invitation to pray with St. John Vianney as particularly timely.

The Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a national tour of a relic of St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests, through June 2019.

The shrine of Ars, France, has entrusted the Knights of Columbus with the major relic of St. Jean Mary Vianney’s incorrupt heart for the national tour in the U.S..

The Knights of Columbus welcomed as providential this special opportunity to offer for veneration a major relic of the patron of parish priests, whose holiness and integrity is a model for clergy and laity alike.

The patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney died August 4, 1859. A century later, Pope John XXIII reflected on the life of the saint, and what it means to be a holy priest.

The pastor of Ars lived a life of great penance, whose “only motives were the love of God and the desire for the salvation of the souls of his neighbors,” John XXIII said. The saintly pope reflected on the life of Vianney in an encyclical titled Sacerdotii nostri primordia, written in 1959 for the 100th anniversary of Vianney’s death.

After struggling with his studies, Vianney was ordained a priest in 1815. Shortly afterward, he was assigned to Ars, France, near his hometown of Dardilly. There, he spent most of his priesthood. He was noted for his dedication to the poor, his counseling to those in need, and for founding an orphanage for girls.

“This detachment from external goods enabled him to offer the most devoted and touching care to the poor,” said the pope. “He passed a life that was almost completely detached from the changeable, perishable goods of this world, and his spirit was free and unencumbered by impediments of this kind, so that it could always lie open to those who suffered from any kind of misery.”

Pope John XXIII wrote that the preservation of chastity breaks the restraints of self-interest and grants a person greater dedication to those in need. “St. John Mary Vianney has this pertinent comment to make in this regard: ‘A soul adorned with the virtue of chastity cannot help loving others; for it has discovered the source and font of love – God.’”

The pope also pointed to Vianney’s dedication to the virtue of obedience. The saint had desired a contemplative life rather than the heavy burden of pastoral duties, but he was obedient to the bishops.

“All his life he longed to lead a quiet and retired life in the background, and he regarded pastoral duties as a very heavy burden laid on his shoulders and more than once he tried to free himself of it,” the pope said.

While God never allowed him to achieve this goal, it was certainly God’s way of forming the saint in the virtue of obedience, he said.

He also highlighted Vianney’s prayer life and devotion to the Eucharist, as well as his commitment to the Sacrament of Confession.

Pope John XXIII said Vianney “habitually restrained his own will” to further dedicate himself to the Church.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson referred to the current upheaval in the Church in his announcement of the St. John Vianney relic tour.

Thanks for the ping and posting welcome back you and your posts have been missed I'm sure!

“This detachment from external goods enabled him to offer the most devoted and touching care to the poor,” said the pope. “He passed a life that was almost completely detached from the changeable, perishable goods of this world, and his spirit was free and unencumbered by impediments of this kind, so that it could always lie open to those who suffered from any kind of misery.”

I don't know about you or anyone else reading this but when I read things like the above about the Saints, it seems so far from my own life! My gosh, I know we are all called to be Saints, but I see such heights of holiness as a million miles away. It's discouraging.

At the same time encouraging too though because I was just thinking of this yesterday: All the Saints must have started from some point similarly far away. At least some of them anyway. And I can see in my own life small steps toward sanctity that even just a few years ago I could never dream. So they are really big steps but taken in small amounts over time.

Often when I read about the Saints' lives, I read how for many years some toiled doing usual things of life, nothing great, just usual stuff like caring for their families or working for money to support themselves or others, all the while treating strangers kindly and such like that. Making small sacrifices and doing small things that over the years brought them to the heights we now celebrate. A lifetime of work if not decades. So not like some immediate change, although I guess that happened for some of them. But not all.. This gives me small comfort that perhaps I'm on at least the general right path.

I do hope someday I can be even just 1% as pleasing to God as they were and are, I really do, because I want to please Him, not because I want any Saintly "glory" but because I can now see how much He's done for me and I've done so little if any at all for Him. I'd like to say, in other words, "I love you God!", but I don't even know if I'm worthy to say that. Most days I can only feel comfortable saying "God have mercy on me a sinner!" I do have certainty He has mercy on all sinners who seek HIs forgiveness. So that's a great starting point for me each day.

I just don't know if I can do it, many days, because the more I continue on my journey the more I see how selfish I am, how lazy. Such sloth I have; maybe that's all I have to give, is my sloth. At least though, if I did that, I'd be giving myself totally to Him, which would be a start. But it's hard to give up.

This is what I think I should do; this is what I try to do every day, to trade that sloth for zeal for Him and works that please Him. So I say many times a day "God have mercy on me a sinner!" Problem is I have a lot of sloth to trade haha! I guess it's fortunate He's infinite so can take it all. At least eventually. I have hope in Christ He will.

Saint Vianney, pray for us (me)! All reading this pray for me too please.

Dear friend ... Thank you for the welcome! Sometimes we need to take a break, step back and evaluate our purpose in posting and/or commenting in various forums. How does it serve God in any way if this becomes a means to attack others or a vehicle for them to retaliate. It's fodder for reflection :-)

God continuously calls to each of us and we respond in different ways. There are far too many variables in each individual's life that preclude us from having the same response. Consider St. Augustine. Augustine's life as a young man was characterized by loose living and a search for answers to life's basic questions. Yet, he still sought to know and follow the Truth. Many are the saints whose lives followed a similar path until they finally recognized the voice of Christ and responded.

This is a beautiful testimony to the Interior Life you share with God. On Catholic Answers radio program yesterday, one of the guests was Rose Sweet, an inspirational speaker and retreat guide. She writes: "It is the soul’s honest seeking of God, and the truth of him, in everything, starting with the ordinary. In the interior life, the soul sees and moves both through and beyond the created world’s exterior to the life of intimacy with God, our Beloved." You're on the right track!

I wanted to share something about sainthood, from a homily given by my pastor. It was the feast of St. Charbel, a hermit who lived isolated from the world in a small, unheated hut, up in the mountains of Lebanon. He ate only 1 meal a day, consisting of leftovers from the monks in the abbey. His bed was a straw mat; his pillow, a rock. He spent the night in prayer waiting for morning when he could celebrate mass in his hut. Father commented that St. Charbel would frequently go to confession with the monk assigned to bring him his daily meal. Now you may be wondering what sins could such a devout hermit possibly confess.

I had often wondered this about other saints, as well. We know that St. John Paul II also frequented the Sacrament of Confession. Father drew the analogy to those in the entertainment industry. Their dressing rooms have mirrors surrounded by bright lights whose purpose is to detect problems with makeup or costumes. In like manner, the holier the soul, the closer they are drawn towards the Light that illumines any imperfections in the soul. That analogy clarified and answered a question I had been pondering my entire life. Perhaps it will assist you on your journey, as well.

God bless you on this amazing journey and may you some day find yourself standing before the Light of the World.

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