THE GOOD PASTOR.
WHEN Jean Baptist Vianney entered his parish on that winter evening in
February, 1818, he quickly realized the religious indifference
prevailing there and the contrast in this respect to the kindly and
religiously inclined Ecully. Upon his arrival, no one came forward to
bid him welcome. The very atmosphere of the neighborhood seemed cold
and repellant.
The people of that place, while not positively bad, were for the most
part indifferent in the matter of their eternal welfare. Daily Mass
was attended by only two or three elderly women. For the most trivial
excuse, men neglected Sunday Mass. Not one of them attended Vespers,
although at the same time the cafes of the village were crowded. Even
the most devout of the women approached the Sacraments but rarely,
while the men, through human pride, neglected to make their Easter
duty. In fact, one of their number begged the pastor to give him Holy
Communion in the sacristy, so that no one might see him.
Servile work of every kind was done on Sunday, and at harvest time the
carts and wagons were in use during the entire day "carting souls to
hell," as Father Vianney not inaptly expressed it.
Not in a day were these conditions changed. Such a result required
many years of effort. In time, however, Divine grace triumphed and the
almost unknown parish of Ars became the glorious model for the whole
of France. The spirit of religion was revived, public worship
restored, the Lord's day unusually respected and observed. The parish
formed, as it were, one large-family, in which each member vied with
the other in the service of God.
What had the young pastor done to thus transform his parish? He did
nothing that any other country pastor may not attempt to do. As his
parishioners did not come to him, he went to them in their homes. He
was not satisfied with one formal visit but called repeatedly upon his
people, as their spiritual or temporal needs seemed to require. He
timed his visits for the most part when the family were assembled for
the noonday meal. He would enter the living room or stand at the
threshold and chat in a friendly manner with the members of the
household. Although invited to partake of of their hospitality he
never accepted the least refreshment, not even a drink of water. He
talked with them about their every day life, their cares and
anxieties, their hopes and disappointments.
The people soon perceived that Father Vianney was one of themselves
and thus they learned to confide in him and to ask his advice in their
temporal affairs. Then, whenever occasion presented, with great
aptitude he turned the conversation to things supernatural. At the
same time he was never insistent. His manner was always affable, never
impatient, never reproving; even when he might justly have given
reproof. This gentleness in his manner, which, was only the reflex of
the charity in his heart, soon won over his people, who now looked
forward to his visits and considered themselves highly honored when he
called.
We have already had occasion to notice his defective memory, and how
in consequence he was so greatly impeded in the prosecution of his
studies. This drawback made itself particularly felt when he came to
prepare his sermons. Many a sleepless night did the poor man devote to
the preparation of the discourses to be given to his people. But his
industry, strengthened by the Divine assistance, conquered, so that,
while he never possessed the gift of oratory, he spoke easily,
earnestly and convincingly, and when, in after years, the pilgrims
poured in to Ars, sometimes as many as 20,000 in a single year, he was
able to give his daily instruction from the pulpit without any special
preparation and without the embarrassment which he had experienced at
the beginning of his priestly career.
In order to make the practice of religion more attractive for his
parishioners, he sought to beautify and decorate the little parish
church. In this work he was greatly aided by Mademoiselle d'Ars,
sister of the Vicomte d'Ars, who himself generously provided the
little church with new vestments and altar vessels.
With the co-operation of his parishioners, who, day by day were
learning to appreciate their pastor's solid piety, he built two
chapels as an addition to the parish church. One of these he dedicated
to St. Philomena, a youthful martyr, whose relics were recovered at
Rome in the beginning of the nineteenth century; the other was placed
under the invocation of St. John the Baptist, and in it stood the
confessional of the cure of Ars, the "Mercy Seat," as it were, of the
Almighty, at which untold thousands of souls were reconciled to their
Creator.
Despite the fact that the number of his friends and co-workers
steadily increased, thus evidencing the fruitfulness of his labors,
Father Vianney in truth looked to God alone for success in his
undertakings. He realized that he was engaged with the evil spirit in
a conflict for the souls of his people and he had read in Holy Writ
these words of Jesus Christ: "But this kind (of evil spirit) is not
cast out except by prayer and fasting." (Matthew XVII, 20.)
Upon one occasion he recalled these words to a fellow priest who was
lamenting that he could obtain no results in his parish, although he
had done all in his power to rouse his people from their indifference.
Father Vianney said to him: "You have done all in your power? Are you
so sure of it? Did you fast and give alms? Did you pray?"
By these questions Father Vianney indicated what were the practices of
his own life, which enabled him to obtain results little short of
miraculous. His charity was boundless. The food, clothing and other
supplies, which the generous Mademoiselle d'Ars sent for the rectory,
as a rule, promptly found their way to the poor and needy. Father
Vianney actually kept for himself only what was barely sufficient to
ward off starvation. Even this modicum was frequently given away, when
a poor man came and asked for food.
One evening when Mr. Mandy, the Maire of Ars, came to visit the cure,
he found him pale as death and apparently exhausted. Greatly alarmed,
he exclaimed: "Are you ill, Father Vianney?" "Oh, my good friend," the
latter replied, "you are just in time, I have nothing left to eat."
For three days Father Vianney had had no provisions whatever in the
house, having bestowed the last of his potatoes upon a poor mendicant.
He partook daily of but one meal and that consisted generally of
boiled potatoes, which he was accustomed to cook in a quantity
sufficient to last through the week, so that oftentimes by Friday or
Saturday what remained had become mouldy. When his relatives came to
see him, or if he had other visitors, he took pains to have a plain
meal provided for them. Under no consideration would he allow any
mention to be made of his mortification and self-denial.
As with food so also Father Vianney deprived himself of the various
articles of clothing with which he had been supplied. Being accosted
on his way home by a poor man whose feet were bare and sore, he
divested himself of his own shoes and stockings, gave them to the
mendicant, and returned home barefoot.
Vianney was wont to declare jestingly that he had never left his
overcoat anywhere. As a matter of fact he did not possess one, thus
fulfilling literally our Lord's words: "He that hath two coats, let
him give to him that hath none!" [*] His colleagues were often
displeased at his poverty-stricken appearance and regarded his shabby
clothes as a reflection upon their dignity. These faultfinders could
easily have learned that the patched garments of the hero of brotherly
love commanded the respect of all who knew Vianney's real character.
Wherever he appeared he was received with the utmost respect and
cordially greeted by all.
[*] Luke III, 11.
He offered up to God all his mortifications for the welfare of his
people, increasing these exercises habitually as Easter approached,
and whenever it was a question of touching the heart of a hardened
sinner. He joined prayer to fasting. At two o'clock in the morning he
arose and said the night-office of the breviary. At four o'clock he
entered the church to visit our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and then
said his Mass. After Mass he gave instruction in catechism and heard
confessions. So steadily was he occupied in this work that he seldom
left the church until noon-time. He devoted the afternoons to visiting
the sick and spent the rest of the day in the church, where, to the
edification of all, he held evening devotions in public.
What could the Lord refuse to such self-sacrificing love? Vianney
himself used to say: "I obtained from Him everything that I wanted!"
The progress in the spiritual condition of the congregation at Ars
necessarily became known in the surrounding country and Father
Vianney's fellow priests of other parishes begged him to help them in
the pulpit and confessional. These requests Father Vianney never
refused, so that, in the space of two years, he became the real
apostle of the cathedral circuit. So great was the success of his
spiritual labors that the faithful who desired his assistance no
longer waited until he should come again to their parishes, but
themselves visited him at Ars. Soon the high road to Ars was filled
with pedestrians and vehicles carrying a great number of visitors, and
this procession of pilgrims increased when reports were spread of the
miracles which took place at Ars.