Collection: St. John Baptist Vianney

John Vianney was born to a farm family. In his youth John taught other children their prayers and catechism. Although it took several years of study, he had little education, was not a very good student, and his Latin was terrible, he was ordained in 1815. He was assigned as a parochial vicar to Ecully, France. In 1818 he was assigned to the parish of Ars-sur-Formans, France, a tiny village near Lyons, which suffered from very lax attendance. He began visiting his parishioners, especially the sick and poor, spent days in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, did penance for his parishioners, and lead his people by example. St. John had the gifts of discernment of spirits, prophecy, hidden knowledge, and of working miracles. He was tormented by evil spirits, especially when he tried to get his 2-3 hours of sleep each night. Crowds came to hear him preach and to make their reconciliation because of his reputation with penitents.   By 1855 there were 20,000 pilgrims a year to Ars where he spent 40 years as the parish priest.  

Born: May 8, 1786 at Dardilly, Lyons, France  

Died: August 4, 1859 at Ars, France of natural causes  

Venerated: July 26, 1896 by Pope Leo XIII  

Beatified: January 8, 1905 by Pope Saint Pius X  

Canonized: May 31, 1925 by Pope Pius XI