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Icon of St John Vianney
This icon of St John Vianney was written by Sue Orchison, Canberra, Australia. We use it with her permission. The artist can be contacted via [email protected]
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St. John Vianney’s life seems scarcely similar to ours. He did grow up in a rural area, in central France, where he was born on May 8, 1786, to a farm couple and was given the name Jean Marie Baptiste. His family’s reputation for kindness and hospitality exemplifies how visitors perceive our parish. But we might wonder if many of us have the Vianneys’ degree of piety and commitment to their faith. The family attended Mass when it was illegal to do so during the French Revolution and the children secretly prepared for First Communion and Confirmation. Young John saw priests as heroes who risked their lives to provide the sacraments.
John was about sixteen years old before Catholics could openly practice their faith in France. He was age twenty before he began formal education, attending a school for future priests. Some of us might identify with his struggles at his studies, which were interrupted again when he was drafted into Napoleon’s army. Because of illness and a series of mishaps leading to seclusion as a deserter, the young man did not go to war before the revolution ended. Finally his priestly formation resumed, marked by such difficulties with courses taught in Latin that he was dismissed from the seminary. John’s tenacious will to become a priest and the patience of his tutor, Fr. Balley, saw him through to ordination in 1815. Fr. Vianney’s first assignment was as an assistant to his mentor in Ecully. When Fr. Balley died three years later, Fr. Vianney was sent to Ars, a tiny town poorly regarded by fellow clergy. Eventually he became pastor of the Ars parish.
Parishioners’ ignorance of their faith and their laxity about Catholic practices appalled Fr. Vianney. He preached against blasphemy and drinking and campaigned against dancing, refusing absolution to those who would not renounce that pleasure. At the same time he instituted catechism classes and religious organizations. His personal mortifications, devotion at prayer and Mass, and care for the poor and ill gave him a reputation as a holy man. When John Vianney was in his early forties, people were coming to Ars from great distances to consult with the curé, who ate and slept little in order to devote his time to ministry. The contemplative priest wished to leave his busy life for a monastery, but his bishop and the people prevented his moving, so he rededicated himself to Ars. During the last years of his life, the Curé of Ars spent up to eighteen hours each day in the confessional, receiving twenty thousands pilgrims a year.
On August 4, 1859, at the age of 73, John Vianney died. He was canonized in 1925 and the anniversary of his death was designated his feast day. St. John Vianney’s body, entombed in the Basilica at Ars, is incorrupt. Patron of parish priests and confessors, St. John Vianney is also a model for us through his great love for God, joy in the Eucharist, desire for repentance and high regard for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. -
Sue Orchison interprets her icon
There are several elements of the image that I feel are important to the Icon. The image on the book is the Lamb of God slain for our sins, but risen and victorious over death. This image is on a vestment of the Saint. Reconciliation was a very important element of St John Vianney’s ministry. . . . The cross on the purple stole is in the pattern of the criss-cross of the confessional window; he spent many hours daily administering the Sacrament of Reconciliation and was a great blessing to those who came to receive forgiveness. The book, representing the Gospels, the image of the Lamb holding the Cross plus the purple stole say everything there is to say—the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. St John understood perfectly that saving souls by freeing them from the burden of sin is what the priestly ministry is all about. The priest is another Christ.
. . . I have represented (the Missal) in the icon. St John Vianney is the Patron Saint of parish priests and the missal was very dear to his heart. He spent much time in teaching catechism classes. St John’s right hand is held in blessing and the symbolic pattern of our doctrine. The thumb and ring finger are joined symbolizing the eternal love of the Trinity, the index and middle fingers are upright symbolizing the divine and human natures of Christ and the little finger proclaims three persons in one God. The mouth of the Saint (is) closed and his ear is open and listening to the word of God.
This gentle portrayal of the Saint, based on the image used in the wayside chapels around Ars, captures the essence of the man, his simplicity and his littleness. (From her blog) -
St John Vianney and prayer
Prayer from liturgy on the Memorial of St. John Vianney
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.Prayer of St. John Vianney
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.(Catechism of the Catholic Church #2658)Advice from St. John Vianney
St. John Vianney recommended liturgical prayer to his people by saying, “Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: If you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that.”An Instruction on Prayer by St. John Vianney.
Consider, children, a Christian's treasure is not on earth, it is in heaven. Well then, our thoughts should turn to where our treasure is. Man has a noble task: that o prayer and love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of man on earth. Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvelous light. In this intimate union, God and the soul are like two pieces of wax molded into one; they cannot any more be separated. It is a very wonderful thing, this union of God with his insignificant creature; happiness passing all understanding. We had deserved to be left incapable of praying; but God in his goodness has permitted us to speak to him. Our prayer is an incense that is delightful to God. My children, your hearts are small, but prayer enlarges them and renders them capable of loving God. Prayer is a foretaste of heaven, an overflowing of heaven. It never leaves us without sweetness; it is like honey, it descends into the soul and sweetens everything. In a prayer well made, troubles vanish like snow under the rays of the sun. Prayer makes time seem to pass quickly, and so pleasantly that one fails to notice how long it is. When I was parish priest of Bresse, once, almost all my colleagues were ill, and as I made the long journeys I used to pray to God, and, I assure you, the time did not seem long to me. There are those who lose themselves in prayer, like fish in water, because they are absorbed in God. There is no division in their hearts. How I love those noble souls. Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Collette saw Our Lord and spoke to him as we speak to one another. As for ourselves, how often do we come to church with out thinking what we are doing or for what we are going to ask. And yet, when we go to call on someone, we have no difficulty in remembering why it was we came. Some appear as if they were about to say to God: “I am just going to say a couple of words, so I can get away quickly.” I often think that when we come to adore our Lord we should get all we ask if we asked for it with a lively faith and a pure heart. (From the Office of Readings for his Memorial)
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In his own words"Man is a beggar who needs to ask God for everything."
"All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good."
"If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven."
"You either belong wholly to the world or wholly to God."
"I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the Cross than in serving the world and its pleasures."
"You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions."
"We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to be done, one in favour of a person we love, the other in favour of a person who has done us some harm. Well, we must give preference to the latter."
"We should consider those moments spent before the Blessed Sacrament as the happiest of our lives."
"Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself."