Year For Priests
Pope Benedict XVI has announced the Church will celebrate a special year for priests to begin on June 19, the 150th anniversary of the death of the Cure of Ars, Saint John Vianney. During the course of the Year, Pope Benedict will proclaim Saint John Vianney as the patron saint of all the priests of the world. In highlighting the Year of the Priest, Pope Benedict called upon the example of Saint John Vianney, this 19th century saint, who represents a “true example of a priest at the service of the flock of Christ.”
Saint John Vianney is widely known to Catholics as the Cure (parish priest) of Ars who won over the hearts of his villagers in France by visiting with them, teaching them about God and reconciling people to the Lord in the confessional. He sometimes spent eleven or twelve hours in the confessional.
After forty-one years of an incredible life of fasting, prayer, and service to the faithful in Ars, he died on August 4, 1859. After a number of years, his body was exhumed because of his impending beatification, and was found perfectly intact. He was made a saint in 1925 after many miracles were attributed to his intercession.
What an amazing saint! He overcame many obstacles to do what he wanted most, to love and serve God. Please remember to pray to him for the welfare of all our priests, and ask him to pray for us so that many young men will choose to become priests.
This jubilee year is a wonderful opportunity to recognize and to honor all the priests in the Church, who touch and transform our lives, who bring us Christ in the holy sacraments, and who act in His place now on this earth.
Author: Sr. Eileen Clifford
