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Pope John has chosen the centenary of the death of St. John Vianney as the occasion for his second encyclical letter, to present the Cure of Ars to the world as an example of a true priest. When John Vianney went home to God on August 4,1859, his native France and even distant places had heard of the saintly virtues of this wonderful little priest, but it was certainly beyond the fondest imagination of the saintly Cure that one day he would be chosen as the patron saint of all priests.

Apart from the outstanding qualities of his priestly ministrations at Ars, there is something especially appealing in this humble and holy man, something that stands out to emphasize how the finger of God reaches down from heaven and works in the life of every priest, and in such a special manner in the life of John Vianney. “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you ...” are words that take on meaning in the life and work of every priest.

Weak human nature is raised up at ordination and given powers that were denied to the Angels, and even to the Mother of God. The power to consecrate bread and wine, to transform them into the Body and Blood of Christ; the power to forgive sins; the power to preach and to guide souls; all the wondrous powers of the priesthood are gifts of God to His chosen ones.

The exercise of these powers by St. John Vianney takes on added meaning when one understands his personal qualifications. The famed Cure of Ars was known as a man of rather meager mental attainments. He completed his seminary training only in the face of gravest difficulties. His later priestly work made it clear that God chooses His own ministers, and works through them— John Vianney was to be Christ’s priest, Christ would work through him as a willing instrument. And what blessed achievements resulted! It could well be that St. John Vianney was chosen as the patron of all priests by Pope Pius XI in 1925— he had already been named the patron of French parish priests by St. Pius X when beatified by St. Pius X in 1905—not only because of his exemplary qualities as a parish priest, but in order to emphasize the fact that all the ministrations of every priest are done in the name of the Great High Priest, Christ Himself, Who can raise up even the least of men and give them His powers in the priesthood. The Holy Father's encyclical carries this theme; priests must do all In their power to be effective instruments of God, but it is God Who then blesses the harvest.

Sacerdotii Nostri Primoridia

Source: Catholic Research Resources Alliances The Catholic Standard and Times, Volume 64, Number 48, 21 August 1959

"I fear that the Church has lost its prophetic voice"."Where are the John the Baptists who will confront the Herods of our day?"

" but how many Priests belong entirely to Jesus Christ! Oh God, who do the greater part love their Savior who has so loved and exalted them? Oh God, how many poor laborers or shepherds love Jesus Christ better than many Priests love him! Alas! What will be the anguish of a Priest lost in hell, when he shall find himself for ever at a distance from, and deprived of Jesus Christ, who on earth has been so near to him - entirely his!"

Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office

"That He might use the occasion to convert them by giving His doctrine as food for their souls.

Well would it be for us, if at our meals, instead of vain and often quarrelsome conversation, we were to speak of God and sacred things, thus gaining souls for God, and promoting His honor. St. Dionysius says, among all good things which are agreeable to God, the greatest and, so to say, most god-like, is to aid in the conversion of sinners.

Who are those in health, who the sick, who the physician?

Those in health are the just who live in the grace of God. O what a valuable life is this, and what great care is required to preserve it! The sick are the sinners, for every sin makes the soul unclean, wounds and even kills it, that is, robs it of  the grace and good will of God, in which consists the spiritual life of the soul. How detestable, then, is sin, which deprives us of our greatest good! The physician is Christ of whom it is said in Psalm cvi.20.: He sent this word, and healed them. If you have sinned, go to the Physician to be healed that you may regain the health of the soul.

Why does Christ say: I will have mercy and not sacrifice?

Because the Pharisees valued external sacrifice, and thought if they offered it frequently, that they were already pleasing to God, even though they showed no mercy and struggled not against their corrupt inclinations to anger, envy, malice, and pride. The sacrifice of our prayers, our good works and mortifications, will not please God, unless they proceed from pure love of Him.

What did Christ mean by saying: I am not come to call the just, but sinners:

Ss. Hilary, Jerome, and Venerable Bede understand the former to be the Pharisees, who pretended to be just in all things, and would not listen to the voice of Jesus, even if He had called them; Jesus knowing this, called those whom the Pharisees regarded as very great sinners who, however, humbly heard and followed His call.

Source: Explanation of the Epistles and Gospel by Rev. Leonard Goffine page 879 (Gospel St. Matthew ic. 9-13)

" If Priests and Religious did all recite the Office as it ought to be recited, the Church would not behold herself in the miserable state to which she is reduced. How many sinners would be delivered from the slavery of the devil, and how many souls would love God with much greater fervor! And how would priests themselves not find themselves ever the same, imperfect, irritable, jealous, attached to their own interests, and led away by vanities! Our Lord has promised to hear every one who prays to him. (Luke xi. 10).

And how comes it that a priest offering up so many prayers in a day, were it only in the Office which he recites, is yet never heard? He is always the same, as weak and prone as ever to fall not only into slight sins (to which he is habituated, and takes neither pains nor care to correct himself of them,) but into grievous sins against charity, justice, or chastity; hence when he recites the Office, he pronounces sentence of condemnation against himself, in these words: Maledicti qui declinant a mandatis tuis. And what is still worse, he feels little remorse, excusing himself as being of the same flesh and blood as other men, and not able to restrain himself.

But if he said the Office with fewer distractions and less negligence, accompanying with his heart the many prayers which he offers to God in reciting it, he certainly would not be so weak but would acquire fortitude and strength to resist all temptations, and to lead a holy life, such as becometh a Priest of God."

Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office by Saint Alphonse de Liguori

anticipating their every want. Be mindful that the slightest negligence on your part renders you culpable in the eyes of God for He will demand a rigorous account of all the souls committed to your care. I will require his blood at thy hand, says Sacred Scripture in Ezechiel (3,18)."

Source: The Priest His Dignity and Obligations by St. John Eudes

Litany to Obtain Holy Priests

Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Christ, hear us
Christ, Graciously hear us

God, Our Heavenly Father, have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us
God, The Holy Ghost, have mercy on us
Holy Trinity, Three Persons in one God, have mercy on us

Lord, obtain for us priests
Lord, obtain for us holy priests and make us docile to their teachings

Holy Mary, Queen of the Clergy, obtain for us holy priests
Saint Joseph, Patron of the Church, obtain for us holy priests
Saint Michael, splendor and protector of the Church militant, obtain for us holy priests

All you holy Saints and Archangels, obtain for us holy priests
All you holy Patriarchs and Prophets, obtain for us holy priests
All you holy Martyrs and Virgins, obtain for us holy priests
All you holy Bishops and Confessors, obtain for us holy priests
All you holy Priests and Doctors, obtain for us holy priests
All you holy Founders of religious orders, obtain for us holy priests

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests
St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests
St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests
St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests
Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.

To celebrate with reverence the Holy Mysteries, obtain for us holy priests
To offer every day the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, obtain for us holy priests
To feed the people of God with the Bread of life, obtain for us holy priests
To promote the splendors of the Divine Worship, obtain for us holy priests
To regenerate souls through baptism, obtain for us holy priests
To instruct the faithful in the Holy Faith, obtain for us holy priests
To keep the faithful in the fear of the Lord, obtain for us holy priests
To announce to all the Word of God, obtain for us holy priests
To unmask and combat false doctrines, obtain for us holy priests
To fortify the Faith of those who doubt, obtain for us holy priests
To support and encourage those who fail, obtain for us holy priests
To raise up those who fall and to reconcile them to God, obtain for us holy priests
To bring back to God those who rejected Him, obtain for us holy priests
To protect christian morality, obtain for us holy priests

To fight with zeal the corruption of morality, obtain for us holy priests
To bless holy unions, obtain for us holy priests
To defend the honor and sanctity of marriage, obtain for us holy priests
To strengthen the happiness of our christian families, obtain for us holy priests
To fortify and console our sicks and those who suffer, obtain for us holy priests
To assist our dying ones, obtain for us holy priests
To lead our dead to eternal happiness, obtain for us holy priests
To pray and offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for our dead, obtain for us holy priests
To give glory to God, and to give grace and peace to souls of good will, obtain for us holy priests.

Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

The Lord chose for Himself priests so that they will offer Him a worthy thanksgiving.

Let us pray: God Almighty and merciful, favorably grant the prayers of Your faithful and grant to those whom You have given the immense generosity of your clemency, to be elevated to the service of the heavenly mysteries, to become worthy ministers at Your sacred altars, so that their teachings be confirmed by your sanctification, through Our Lord Jesus-Christ, Amen.

Tomorrow, Aug. 9, is the feast of St. John Vianney. He was pastor of a remote French village and so he is often known as the Cure of Ars.

A visitor today might see a white-washed priest’s house near a chapel. In the dingy kitchen is a common sauce-pan and a long- handled pan. On the floor is a burnt plank which was used as a bed. In another room is a well-worn cassock, a flat hat with a very wide brim, and a pair of large unblackened peasant shoes.

If we move into the old church we see old benches, pictures, statues, a pulpit. Nearby is a confessional. Not far away in the new church lies the body of the man, who spent 40 years in these surroundings.

This pastor came to Ars in 1818. He had been born John Marie Vianney in Dardllly, near Lyons, on May 8, 1786, during the era of the French Revolution. He knew what It was to live under persecution, for all priests were hunted to death. As a boy John attended Mass and received Holy Communion secretly In his barn.

John was the third of six children; he was 18 years old when he sought consent from his father to become a priest. Because the father was a poor farmer he could not immediately release his helpful son, and John was 20 years old when he finally received permission.

In the seminary at Lyons John did not shine as a brilliant student. He failed in his studies and he had to leave the seminary for the private teaching of a Father Bailey at Ecully. After three months of private tutoring John took an examination and failed miserably.

Then it was that his teacher went privately to one of his examiners. At his request the president of the seminary and one examiner agreed to question Vianney privately. In their report to the Vicar of the Bishop they said that John was “the most unlearned, but the most devoted seminarian in Lyons.”

The Vicar asked a few simple questions, “Is Vianney good? Has he a devotion to Our Lady? Does he say his rosary?'’ The professors replied, “He is a model of goodness.” “Very well,” said the Vicar, “then let him be ordained. The grace of God will do the rest.” It was in 1815, long before I.Q. tests, and a few months after the genius Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, that John was ordained a priest.

A priest is vesting

His time of questing

Dreams is passed, Now at last

A Christ he stands.

  The first appointment of the new priest was to his former teacher, Father Bailey. Each in time reported the other to the Bishop for excessive mortification. Thus are assistants made saints by their pastors.

It was in 1818 that Father Bailey died and the Bishop said to Father John Vianney, “Thirty miles from here, my dear friend, in the district of Trevoux, the village of Ars is without a priest. The church there is a chapel-of-ease. serving about 200 souls. There’s not much love of God in this village. Your job will be to instill it .”

What do we mean by a parish priest, sometimes called a secular, or diocesan priest? The Church is divided like a checker board, into parts called dioceses, ruled by Bishops, all under Peter the Holy Father. The diocese, In turn, is subdivided into parishes marked off in definite boundaries.The parish priest therefore is the keystone of the entire organization of the Church.

Within the territory of certain parishes we sometimes find houses in which a religious community lives. Religious bodies have been started at certain times in the history of the Church for a definite specialized work. They often come into being because of an emergency and cease to exist after a span of years.

This noble example to his sheep he gave.

That flrst he wrought, and afterward he taught.

To draw his fold to heaven by fairness

By good example, was his business.

There were two Frenchmen whose features were somewhat alike; one was John Vianney and the other was Voltaire. The later said, “Throw enough mud and some will stick.” The former set up a means for converting a stubborn parish, “You’ve preached? You’ve prayed? Have you fasted? Have you scourged yourself? Have you slept on bare boards? As long as you haven’t done that you’ve no right to complain.”

Saint John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, spent 16 hours a day in the confessional. The devil, with whom he had physical combat, is said to have revealed that the Cure had taken more than 80,000 souls out of his evil power.

In 1859 St. John Viannev was 73 years old: on July 29 he went to his sick bed, where he died on Aug. 4.

A better priest. I trow that nowhere none is.

He waited for no pomp end reverence.

Nor maked him a spiced conscience.

But Christes lore, and is apostles twelve,

He taught, and first he followed it himself.

Source: Catholic Research Resources Alliance,The Monitor, Volume CI, Number 15, 8 August 1958

"What does our Lord mean by this, my brethren? He seems to say that there are some things which do not belong to God, but to some one else; that God has only partial right in this world which he has created. It would appear to belong partly to Caesar; and who can this Caesar be, who shares the earth with its Creator?

Caesar was the name of the Roman emperor, and our Lord means by Caesar the temporal authority of the state. Now, it must seem absurd to any Catholic, and indeed to any one who believes in God at all, to say that this authority has any right in the world other than that which God has lent to it; so we cannot imagine that our Lord meant anything like that. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people, who do not profess to be atheists, who really maintain not only that the state has rights against him, but even that its right always prevails over his. They say that we must render everything to Caesar, whether God wants it or not; that the law of the state must be obeyed even against the law of God as shown to us by conscience.

These people are really atheists, whether they profess to be or not. The only true God, in whom we believe, will not and cannot resign his right to our obedience or give up his eternal laws. Nay, more, he will and must reserve to himself the right of making new laws if he pleases, and annulling law of the state which are contrary to them. Besides all this, he has also only given to the state a limited sphere in which it can work, and in which only its laws can have any force - that is, he will only allow it to make laws providing for the temporal well-being of its subjects.

This, then, is what belongs to Caesar - that is, to the state. It has the right to claim and enforce our obedience to laws intended for the temporal welfare of its subjects, and to these only, as far as they are not contrary to the eternal law of God, or to others which he may choose to make. And that is all.

When it does not exceed its rights we must give our obedience to it; and we must presume that it does not exceed them unless it is clear that it does. This is what we must render to Caesar.

But how shall we tell that it does exceed its rights? First, by the voice of conscience, when that voice is clear and certain; secondly, by our knowledge of the laws which God himself has made; lastly, by the voice of that other authority which he has put in the world to provide for our spiritual welfare - that is, the Catholic Church. When God speaks to us in either of these ways we must obey him, whether it interferes with Caesar or not; this is what we must render to him.

If the state makes a law commanding us to blaspheme, deny our faith, or commit impurity, we will not obey. Conscience annuls such a law. If the state commands us to do servile work on Sunday its law has no force. We know that God's law is against it. And, lastly, if the state goes outside its sphere, and makes laws regarding things not belonging to its jurisdiction, as the sacraments, we are not bound by such laws. It has no power, for instance, to declare marriage among Christians valid or invalid. The Church has told us this plainly. It is here specially where the state goes out of its province, that it is subject to correction by the church; though it may be in other matters also.

Our Lord, then, means that we should render to Caesar the things that belong to him, not because of any right that he has in himself, but because God has lent it to him; but that we should render to God the things that he has not lent to Caesar, whether Caesar consents or not. Obedience must always be given to God. Give it to him through the state in those things about which he has given the state authority, and in other things without regard to the state; thus shall you render to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

Source: Five minute sermons for Low Masses on all Sundays of the year by Paulist Fathers 1886

"The external honors rendered by the Catholic Church to our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, have been the subject of constant attack from protestant writers, and their objections have been principally founded on these ceremonies and practices being unknown to the primitive Church; nor even introduced till at a comparatively recent period. But those who argue thus, lose sight of the great principle, that the Church is a body directed by the Spirit of God, constantly abiding with it, and acting according to circumstances; hence, whenever a particular heresy arises, some counteracting means is used to arrest its progress. For this reason the Nicene Creed was framed and introduced in the service of the Church as a test of Arianism; and it is a well-known fact that it was not sung at Rome, during the celebration of Mass, for some centuries after it was used throughout the rest of Europe, on account of the orthodoxy of the people not requiring it. For the same reason the Elevation was introduced in the Mass as a test whereby the followers of Berengarius might be distinguished; and the solemn processions to honor the Holy Eucharist have been designed to compensate in some measure for the irreverence and sacrileges of the last few centuries. Had the Christians retained their primitive fervor, daily Communion, and purity of heart and conduct, there would have been no occasion for the introduction of these rites; but under the state of things which have existed for the last few centuries, it ought to be a subject of infinite consolation to all sincere Christians that the scoffs and blasphemies of modern infidels may be in some measure atoned for, by the solemnities instituted in especial honor of this great Mystery of love. Had we no other rule but that of mere antiquity, the Catholic Ritual would be reduced to a level with the Mahometan Koran. A rite instituted by a Council of the sixteenth century, has not a less claim on the obedience and the reverence of the faithful that one of an older date."

Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume, by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin page 164

"The incensing of the altar symbolizes and calls to mind the sublime holiness of the consecrated altar. The blessed clouds of incense, therefore, not merely admonish us, but also obtain for us from above the necessary assistance to enter with a pure intention into the Holy of Holies, to stand at the altar and to celebrate the Most Holy Sacrifice with a devout heart. The fragrant clouds of smoking incense signify, at the same time, that this Sacrifice, by the power of the Holy Ghost, will ascend to Heaven as a "sweet odor", and be for us the source of all spiritual odors of grace. Finally, the celebrant himself, and he alone as the visible representative of the invisible High priest, Jesus Christ, receives by the threefold incensing the veneration due to this sacred character."

Source: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by Nikolaus Gihr p377