The Curé of Ars: His Early Life
By: Xavier Rodriguez-Gould
Tags: Christianity, Jesus, Saint, Holiness, Catholic

The French word curé means a priest who is responsible for a parish, and it comes from the Latin root cura meaning “care, medical attendance, cure.”

St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney took his responsibility as a medical worker of the souls of Ars (a 200–300 person village) seriously, as is apparent by his many good works, constant prayer, and penance for any perceived mistakes he made when helping the people of Ars.

The Curé of Ars, as he was known in the 19th century, cured over 80,000 souls in his humble and simple way. And, in spite of all this, he lamented over the miracles that were showered upon him from God, because he saw them as a rebuke of his lack of faith in God.

In this article we will take a look at this humble saint’s life with the aim of giving us an example on which to model our own life. There will be source information later on in this article.

From Humble Beginnings

Jean-Baptiste-Marie-Vianney was born in 1786, and his younger years were filled with uncertainty, and revolution. Until 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte assumed power, faithful Catholic churches were closed. Before that, beginning in 1790, the only ‘Catholic’ parishes which were allowed to publicly operate were ones who had sworn a civic oath which bound them to the newly established National French Church. Most truly Catholic clergy went into hiding, praying underground masses in private estates and homes. The Vianney family’s house was home for multiple undercover priests. In fact, Jean received the sacrament of penance for the first time in his house, at the age of eleven!

“I still remember it! It was at home, right beneath our clock!” — said by Catherine Lassagne; on the subject of Jean’s first confession; taken from The Remarkable Curé of Ars written by Michel De Saint Pierre (© 1963).

One of the few compromised priests who took the civic oath from Jean’s (or John, as he is known in America) parish: Father James Rey. The simple peasants of Dardilly, where Jean attended mass, attended Father James Rey’s masses without knowledge of the gravity of the terrible event that had happened until the Vianneys were warned against attending by some relatives. Soon after, the church was shunned, and, eventually, the church closed down.

Jean was raised on a small farm, and when he was seven he was given the traditional task of shepherding his father’s small assortment of cows and sheep in their pasture.

Jean also received the Eucharist for the first time at the age of 13, and it was also done in secret. This event was one of the happiest moments of his life. Jean had great faith in the Lord even from a young age, which was evident to others by his humility and fervent prayer.

School and Vocation

“If I were a priest,” he said, “I would want to win many souls!” — spoken by St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie-Vianney at the age of 17 to his mother. Taken from The Remarkable Curé of Ars written by Michel De Saint Pierre (© 1963).

Jean wished with all his heart to be a priest. He didn’t wish to be a famous priest, or even an exceptionally high-ranking priest but a simple parish priest.

Still, many things got in the way of this dream: Napoleon Bonaparte’s thirst for power, (which hasn’t become an obstacle yet, but will soon be) Jean’s great struggle with learning to read, let alone reading and speaking Latin, and his great fear of performing the office of a priest with insufficient vigour or giving a bad example. Another issue was that Jean didn’t know what his father, Matthew Vianney, would think of it. Jean was a valuable addition to his father’s farm, and it would be a sore loss indeed to lose him.

Jean’s fears about his father were realized when the idea of his priesthood was suggested. But eventually, after much pleading by his mother, and when he learned that Jean could be taught by Father Balley, a priest of great faith, Matthew Vianney, if reluctantly, allowed it. At first, Father Balley resisted the idea of teaching Jean because of his business, but, after questioning Jean Vianney, he could see that Jean was very holy, and readily agreed to take him in as a student.

Thus began Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney’s life as student.

A Deserter

When Father Balley interviewed Jean, he had found him to be extremely talented, thoughtful, and smart. But, there was one major trouble: Jean’s memory, or lack thereof. Jean struggled to memorize even the simplest things, which led him to struggle in multiple school subjects, but especially Latin!

Another discouraging factor to Jean about his schooling was that he was older than the other pupils, which, combined with his struggle memorizing Latin, led to insults made by the other students. This greatly discouraged Jean, so he exclaimed his desire to go home to his parents and farm. Father Balley saw Vianney’s potential, even if Jean couldn’t see it, so Father Balley did his best to convince Jean to stay.

“Let me go home to my parents!” — spoken by St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney to Father Balley. Taken from The Remarkable Curé of Ars written by Michel De Saint Pierre (© 1963).

The good Father convinced Jean to stay, by using terms which appealed to him.

Father Balley was very penitential and would do his best to mortify himself in every way possible. Vianney followed his mentor’s example as best he could, and was overjoyed at the thought of pleasing God through penance, fasting, and prayer.

Jean settled into a routine of school, doing his best to learn but kept experiencing “little progress” (25, The Remarkable Curé of Ars by Michel De Saint Pierre) and many setbacks.

Jean Marie Vianney became Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney when he was confirmed in 1807, because his confirmation saint was St John the Baptist. Earlier that year Napoleon had issued an order that able-bodied men of the correct age were to be conscripted into the military, but, luckily, Jean avoided the draft by virtue of his studying to become a priest.

Two years passed. And then, a gendarme showed up at the Vianney family’s house, and explained to them that Jean had to be conscripted, regardless of his studies. It truly was horrifying news for the Vianney’s, and especially for Jean-Baptiste-Marie himself!

Jean had weakened himself greatly because his frequent fasting and lack of sleep, so, soon after he joined the army, he ended up in bed, extremely sick.

Jean was ordered to regroup with the army in Spain, but he couldn’t because of his illness. But, after he recovered, he began the long, lonely journey to join his comrades in war.

On his way, a peasant man joined his side while walking, and said

“Come with me!” — quote from a stranger speaking to St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney Taken from The Remarkable Curé of Ars written by Michel De Saint Pierre (© 1963).

Our good and humble saint followed this stranger. This stranger finally asked him if he would like to desert from the army. Jean, taken by surprise, was at first hesitant because he knew of the punishments that could be inflicted upon a deserter’s family, but was reassured by the stranger, and eventually acquiesced.

Let us not see this action as sinful, or un-patriotic, for multiple reasons one of which being that it was an error on the part of the government to even send him, a man studying to be a priest, to the army anyway! Another reason was that after arriving in the village of Les Noës he went to the mayor, who reassured him that deserting was just fine, as far as he was concerned. In fact, the mayor was already housing deserters in his own house!

Jean Vianney found a home in Les Robins, a small area which couldn’t really be called a village, which was a short walk away from Les Noës. He was welcomed Claudine Fayot, a relative of the same mayor we met last paragraph.

The Vianney family was having a bad time back in Dardilly, and they were being threatened by the officers who searched for deserters.

But, finally, Jean’s long period in hiding ended when Napoleon issued a general amnesty to those who had deserted. Unfortunately, there was a caveat: Jean needed to find a replacement or he would still be seen as a deserter! Francis the Younger, a younger brother of Jean’s, volunteered to take his place and Jean returned to his home.

A Devastating Loss

Marie Vianney died on February 8th, 1811, a short time after Jean’s return. Jean loved his mother deeply, and felt the loss acutely. After this, he became more grave and serious, and more attached to God, having lost one of his greatest ties to earth.

Jean was welcomed back by Father Balley, and began his studies again. Thus began a long, arduous, and in some cases embarrassing process in which Jean studied for the priesthood.

But, it wasn’t all bad, and he spent this time growing, and growing, in the faith. Using his time for fasting and penance along with Father Balley.

Unfortunately, despite Father Balley’s great faith in Jean, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney’s studies barely progressed.

One of Jean’s greatest struggles in life was dealing with despair, which he was tempted with at every turn. From his mother’s death, to his lack of progress in school, he began to despair that he would ever become a priest.

But Providence was indeed smiling upon Jean in the form of Father Courbon, who had the job of making the final decision on whether Jean should be ordained a priest. Knowing of Jean’s lack of knowledge in Latin, all Father Courbon asked about was his piety and virtue. Having learned that he was very pious, he readily sent him off to become a priest.

“Come now, don’t worry. You will be a priest some day.” — A voice Jean-Baptiste-Marie recounted having heard whispered in his ear. Taken from The Remarkable Curé of Ars written by Michel De Saint Pierre (© 1963).

Finally, at the age of 29 years, St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney was ordained a priest in 1815! He prepared to live a life of extreme piety, in which he would do his very best to become a saint.

Conclusion

This is the ending of part one of a two part series. The next section will detail his life as a priest, including his saintly later life. We shall conclude with a prayer Jean was used to praying:

I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally. My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath. — St John Vianney

Source Information

I used The Remarkable Curé of Ars by Michel De Saint Pierre as my primary source for this article. I highly recommend reading his researched biography of St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney. Any historical mistakes made are my own, and please make a comment if you notice any so they can be fixed.