One’s annual retreat is always an occasion for reflection, renewal, and recommitment. It was especially so this year as I joined my brother priests in company with Archbishop Dolan in prayer at Ars, the home of Jean Marie Vianney, the patron of priests. This saint, ordained in nearby Grenoble on August 13, 1815, arrived in the town on February 13, 1818. (There is a statue commemorating the event. It shows the gentle man speaking to a young lad. He is quoted as saying: “You have shown me the path to Ars, I will show you the path to heaven.”) There were many challenges to be faced as the people had fallen away from many practices of the faith and indeed the modest church building itself was in disrepair. His modest quarters, which are kept as he knew them, still witnesses to his love of the Lord, his openness to learning, and his preoccupation that each person would come to the Father, know Him, and come to salvation. Amidst the images of Jesus and His Mother, his library of over four hundred books, and a few modest pieces of furniture, the Cure engaged in dialogue with both the Blessed Virgin and the Evil One. Hours would be spent in prayer on his prie dieu.

Daily he would leave his quarters, enter the church of Saint Sixtus and celebrate the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist. He would acknowledge by his reverential humility that in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest grace and joy. He testified to the people: “When we have just received Communion, if we were asked what are we taking away to our homes, we might answer, ‘I am taking away Heaven!” Allied with his appreciation of the centrality of the Real Presence is his well known dedication to the Sacrament of Penance. Over seventeen hours a day he would sit in his confessional and reconcile sinners with their God. Over and over again, he would zealously invite men and women to be freed from their past and become united with the reality of Divine Love. “It is a beautiful thought, my children, that we have a sacrament that heals the wounds of our souls!” From 1830 on pilgrims from throughout France and points beyond would come to confess their sins. Additionally, it became known that miracles were taking place in this out of the way place unknown before the holy man arrived. Though the faithful saw him as the miracle worker, he attributed the wonders to Saint Philomena, the virgin martyr of the early church. He had a great devotion to her, having heard of her through Pauline Jaricot. Herself, now declared a Venerable by Holy Mother Church, attributed her restoration of health to the saint. Pauline, under the spiritual guidance of the Cure is known to us all as the foundress of the organization that is today the Propagation of the Faith. Of course, Saint Jean had the utmost devotion to the Blessed Mother. He would always urge his flock to attend Mary and place their petitions before her that she might be their advocate. Much testimony is available concerning Mary’s appearances in his rooms where conversations took place between her and her Son’s humble servant. She was the greatest source of encouragement to him. In return for her providential care over his ministry and his people he consecrated the parish to the Immaculate Conception in 1836 a full eighteen years before that dogma was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX.

Not only was prayer the center of his life, the Cure wanted the same to be true of those who lived in and visited Ars. He defined it as “a sweet friendship, an amazing familiarity … it is a sweet conversation between a child and its father.” For him, it is a divine gift. “We have not deserved to pray – but God, in his goodness, has permitted us to speak with Him.” The Cure recognized that prayer itself is foretaste of the experience of eternity. “When we pray with attention, with humility of mind and of heart, we quit the earth, we rise to Heaven, we penetrate the Bosom of God, we go and converse with the angels and the saints.” He promises that salvation awaits those who seek always the presence of God in prayer and the sacraments.

Though he improved the sacred space of the small church, Jean Marie realized the need for a larger church. Though the plans were made and approved by him, their fruition came after his death. Expanding from the old church, the new edifice was consecrated in 1885. On the occasion of the beatification of the Cure of Ars in 1905, two side chapels were added, one of which is the place where the body of the priest is kept. The work of the architect Sainte-Marie Perrin was completed in 1910. When Jean Marie Vianney’s canonization took place in 1925 a new casket was produced which was paid for by the priests of France. His body is visible to all as it was to his visitors in the nineteenth century. The images of St. John the Baptist, St. Benedict Labre, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis Regis and St. Philomena surround the Cure’s remains. Paul Borel, a popular and gifted artist was asked to paint murals in the Basilica which would soon be a site of international pilgrimage. Under the cupola of the chancel, four angels carrying the attributes of the martyrdom of  St. Philomena. In the drum of the cupola, eight panels show the scenes of the life and martyrdom of St. Philomena. It is also Borel who painted seven of the eight portraits of saints found in the ambulatory under the vault. Finally, he completed the sketches of the stained glass windows of the ambulatory. Most notable are the four paintings depicting scenes from the life of the Cure of Ars in the chapels of Sainte-Marie Perrin.

Two of the latter were in the chapel where we celebrated Mass each day with Archbishop Dolan. Before, during, and after the Eucharist many of us reflected on the messages the artist shares. The first shows St. Jean pointing toward an adult male. All the other figures are kneeling before the saint. They have begun repenting of their sins. The Cure recognizes the need for the man. Like many contemporaries of our age we fail to realize our need for forgiveness. St. Paul tells us that the just man falls seven times a day. We must bow before the Lord of all and acknowledge our weakness and sin and embrace the Sacrament of Reconciliation. On the opposite wall Borel pictures the simple priest blessing a village child. They are surrounded by grateful citizens of Ars. Off to the left I noted a woman who seems to be pulling her husband towards the Cure. After some time of meditation I began to wonder as I concentrated on the husband. Another interpretation began to appear in my mind. There is a possibility that the man is attempting to restrict his spouse from reaching the parish priest. As we begin Lent we should focus on our Christian vocation to draw others to Christ. As well as warned to avoid those individuals who are keeping us from the fulfillment of God’s will.

May these days be a time of true repentance for all of us.

Vivat Jesus,

Fr. Brian