The Cure of Ars: Patron Saint of Parish Priests
AT THE time of his death in 1859, over 100,000 people a year visited the little village of Ars, northwest of Lyons, France, and its beloved Cur , St. John Vianney-known everywhere as "the Cur of Ars." Today over 500,000 people visit this simple farming town in the middle of France, where they come to see the incorrupt body of one of the greatest saints in the history of the Church and to visit in prayerful meditation the simple parish church where the holy Cur converted thousands and reconciled to Jesus Christ and His Church tens of thousands of souls. Yet this is a most improbable story, for here is the story of a saint who, with only two years' formal education before entering upon his priestly studies, had the greatest difficulty passing his examinations and becoming a priest. And even when he did, he was given one of the poorest, most remote and most run-down parishes in all of France. But within a few short years, he had reformed his parish and his town, and in the process estab