Saint Jean-Marie Vianney, Curé of Ars, August 8
Curé of Ars (1786–1859) Feast day on August 8. The whole world knows the seductive physiognomy of this humble priest, angel of patience, seraphim of love, emulator of St. John the Baptist in his frightful and continual austerities, a perfect model of pastors of souls. Ars, this monosyllable in Latin form, has become attached to the memory of Jean-Marie Vianney, like a title of nobility won on a battlefield. The "Curé d'Ars": these simple words are a description, a portrait, a lesson. The early years. — What a Christian mother can do. On May 8, 1786, a child was born at Dardilly, a large village opposite the hill of Fourvière, eight kilometers northwest of Lyons, who received the name of Jean-Marie on the same day at baptism. Father Mathieu Vianey — that is the spelling of the time — was, like his wife, an excellent Christian. Consecrated to the Blessed Virgin from before his birth, like his five brothers and sisters, the child learned early from his mother, a true model o