St. John Marie Baptiste Vianney (Curé of Ars)

Link to video above: EWTN - Life of St. John Vianney

Words of Wisdom from St. John Vianney

The more we know of men, the less we love them. It is the contrary with God; the more we know of Him, the more we love Him. (Catechism on the Love of God). 

How pleasing to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is the short quarter of an hour that we steal from our occupation, from something of no use, to come and pray to Him, to visit Him, to console Him. (Catechism on Real Presence). 

God has given each of us our own work to do. It is for us to pursue our road, that is to say, our vocation …… When God gives us such and such a vocation, He bestows upon us at the same time His grace to fulfill it. (On Vocation). 

We are permitted to love our relations, our possessions, our health, our reputation; but this love must be subordinate to the love we should have for God, so that we may be ready to make the sacrifice of it if He should require it. (Love of God). 

The life of a saint is just the imitation of Jesus Christ. (Sermon on the Incarnation II). 

If when we are ill, our recovery will contribute to the glory of God and the good of our soul, He who healed so many when He was on earth, will certainly heal us. If, on the contrary, the illness is more advantageous to us, He will instead give us the strength to suffer. (Sermon on Hope). 

Never forget that it is at the beginning of each day that God has the necessary grace for the day ready for us.

He knows exactly what opportunities we shall have to sin …… and will give us everything we need if we ask Him then. That is why the Devil does all he can to prevent us from saying our Morning Prayers or to make us say them badly. (On Morning Prayers).

“One would need to be a Saint to celebrate worthily. When we are in Heaven, we will appreciate the value of the Mass and how often we have said it without due reverence, or worship, or recollection."

 "All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man."

“All our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God, if we have not that universal charity for everyone - for the good, and for the bad, for the poor and for the rich, and for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good.”

Saint John Vianney’s Prayer to Jesus:

I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.
I love You, O my infinitely lovable God,
and I would rather die loving You, 

than live without loving You.
I love You, Lord and the only grace 

I ask is to love You eternally
My God, if my tongue cannot say 

in every moment that I love You,
I want my heart to repeat it to 

You as often as I draw breath. 

From Pope Emeritus Benedict’s Address to Religious at Fatima: 


“Dear friends, let us imitate the Curé of Ars who prayed to the Lord in the following words: “Grant me the conversion of my parish, and I accept to suffer all that you wish for the rest of my life”. And he did everything to pull people away from their own lukewarm attitude in order to lead them back to love.

There exists a deep solidarity among all the members of the Body of Christ. It is not possible to love Christ without loving his brothers and sisters. For their salvation John Mary Vianney decided to become a priest: “to win souls for the good God”, as he said when, at eighteen years of age, he announced his vocation, just as Paul had said: “to win as many as I could” (1 Cor 9:19).

The Vicar General had told him: “there is not much love of God in the parish; you will bring it there”. In his priestly passion, this holy parish priest was merciful like Jesus in meeting each sinner. He preferred to insist on the attractive aspect of virtue, on God’s mercy, in comparison to which our sins are like “grains of sand”. He pointed to the merciful love of God which had been offended…Then is the time to take a firm stand, with an attitude of warm fraternal love, as brother assisting his brother to ‘remain on his feet.’”