Saint John Vianney, Priest

Jean-Marie Vianney was born in 1786 at Dardilly near Lyon into a farming family. The Revolution left him little schooling, and he struggled so badly with Latin in the seminary that he was nearly refused ordination; he was ordained in 1815. In 1818 he was sent to Ars, a village of some 230 people, and stayed there for the rest of his life. He lived on almost nothing, preached plainly, set up a home for orphaned girls and spent most of each day in the confessional. In his last years tens of thousands of people came every year, and the railway sold special tickets to Ars. He died on 4 August 1859. Canonized in 1925, he was named patron of parish priests in 1929.