Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859) 4th August.

The inclusion of the renowned curé d'Ars in the calendar of Common Worship is mildly surprising, since this doyen of extreme Anglo-Catholics represents everything that the English traditionally disliked about 19th-century Roman Catholicism.

Born of humble parents in Dardilly, near Lyon, Vianney was of no more than average intelligence, and only the efforts of the parish priest of Écully led him into the priesthood. Twice by accident a deserter from Napoleon's conscript army, and once a failure in his seminary examinations, he was finally ordained priest in 1815 and served with his mentor at Écully until 1818, when he became parish priest of the nearby village of Ars. There he remained for the rest of his life.

At Ars, Vianney founded a sort of orphanage where his catechismal instruction was so popular that it became a daily event. But his chief fame was as a spiritual director, and penitents from every class of society flocked to his confessional; first from neighbouring parishes, then from the whole of France and beyond. In the last decade of his life, he was spending sixteen to eighteen hours a day in the confessional. His direction was marked by common sense and seemingly supernatural insight, and his instruction was always couched in simple language. He was credited with healing miracles, and reputed to be subject to attacks by the devil. For forty years before his death, he allegedly took less food and sleep than was sufficient to sustain life. Proclaimed by the Pope as a model for parish priests in 1905, he was canonized in 1925.

Charles Plouviez