Saints and Other Powerful Men in the Church Part III

By Bob Lord and Penny Lord

Table of Contents:
Saints and Other Powerful Men in the Church Part III
Biographies of these Catholic Saints:
Saint John Vianney
Saint John Bosco
Blessed Miguel Pro
Saint Peregrine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Journeys of Faith
• Release date: Jul 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465745057

Bob Lord

Bob and Penny Lord renowned Catholic Authors and hosts on EWTN. They are best known for their media on Miracles of the Eucharist and Many Faces of Mary. They have been dubbed experts on the Catholic Saints. They produced over 200 television programs for EWTN global television network and wrote over 25 books and hundreds of ebooks.

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Saints and Other Powerful Men in the Church Part III

Bob and Penny Lord

Published by Bob and Penny Lord at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Bob and Penny Lord

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Table of Contents:

Saints and Other Powerful Men in the Church Part III

Saint John Vianney

Saint John Bosco

Blessed Miguel Pro

Saint Peregrine

Saint John Vianney

Curé of Ars

Patron Saint of Parish Priests

When something meaningful has happened in our lives, we can recall where we were, who we were with, and what was going on at that time.

One of those times was April 14, 1967, when God sent us an angel, a blonde, blue-eyed baby weighing barely five pounds. Our grandson was almost swallowed up in his blanket; he was so tiny. We couldn’t keep our eyes off this precious bundle. Suddenly, the nurses seemed to be having a problem with him. Seeing us, they quickly drew the curtains shut. The doctor finally came out from the nursery; he told us, our baby wouldn’t last the night. Numb, we replied helplessly, You mean he is in the Hands of God. He looked at us, kind of strangely.

We ran to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was locked! The last thing we remember doing that night, was going to our parish church, out on Long Island. It was locked! It was dark; all we could see was a lighted statue of Jesus in front of our church. I knelt before my Lord and begged Him to save our precious grandson.

The next day, we went to the hospital; they told us our baby took his first nourishment at 6 a.m. When I tried to thank the doctor, for saving our grandson, he replied, We did all we could, with the scientific knowledge we have; it was your God who saved him.

And this, from someone who claimed to be an atheist.

The day Robby was Baptized, we raised him up before a beautiful statue of Jesus, He is Yours, Lord. You gave him to us, twice. Now we consecrate him back to You. I had always loved that statue; Jesus had red Hair and blue Eyes, like my father, my first earthly Jesus. My earthly father now in Heaven, I talked to this Jesus. I related to Him. I liked Him. I trusted Him. I didn’t know, at the time, why He had a Heart, with a crown of thorns surrounding It, outside of His Body, on His Chest. You see, I didn’t know much about my Faith, no less the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Robby was the only baby who did not cry, when he was Baptized with holy water. A Jewish friend with us, said this was a sign he was to do something special for the Lord. Our grandson has grown up into a fine young man. He has been close to Jesus and His Mother Mary all his life. He is a part of this book and this chapter, in particular. You see, the name of the church, where we had prayed for our boy, on the night he was saved, the same church where he was Baptized, was The Curé of Ars (St. John Mary Vianney).

Lord, You placed us in the path of one of your great and faithful servants, twenty-three years, ago. Little did we know why, then. The first time we journeyed to the Shrine of St. Jean Vianney in Ars, France, with our family, in 1979, we did not know why we were there! As we studied the life of this Curé, and brought pilgrims there, year after year, we still did not have the answer. Priests on our Pilgrimages, always asked to serve at the Altar where St. John Mary Vianney had celebrated Mass. Still, we did not grasp why, what the Lord was doing all those years. They say, the moment you understand the Lord, you have lost your faith. Every time, I think I’ve got a handle on what the Lord is saying and doing, He says Surprise!

We were giving a talk on the Miracles of the Eucharist, one night. As we spoke of This Treasure in our midst, our Lord Alive in the Blessed Sacrament, we found ourselves going to the instruments He uses to be with us in this unequaled way, our priests. We called our brothers and sisters to affirm our priests and the holy role they play in our lives, how they are representatives of Our Precious Lord and Savior with us, and when we love and respect them, we love and respect Him. They are a lifeline; without them we have no Jesus in the Eucharist, no healing from the forgiveness of our sins. When we finished speaking, a priest came up to us. He said,

Thank you for your words. I didn’t know you could feel our wounds, our loneliness, our need for affirmation. Tonight is my birthday. You gave me the most precious gift. Oftentimes, when I look out at the congregation, from the Altar, I see a sea of boredom, their eyes glazed over. Sometimes I wonder what judgment of me, it is, I sense on their faces. There is so much scandal, so much pain. How do I say, `I’m none of those things; I love you; I love Jesus and His Church, and I want to serve Him by serving you?’ Instead I keep these feelings to myself and keep a safe distance from those I love, God’s people.

This chapter is about a priest, who was raised up to the communion of Saints as Patron Saint of all Parish priests. This chapter is for those unsung priests, those Curés who are taken for granted, unloved and often crucified. This is for the many hours, week after week, they have sat alone, waiting for us to come to be reconciled with our Savior, through confession, and we have not. This is for every Holy Mass they have celebrated, joining with our Lord as victim upon the Altar. This is for their Fiat, their yes, especially on those dry days when they felt nothing.

Who is St. John Mary Vianney?

St. John Mary Vianney was a humble priest, hidden away in a small remote village, too small to appear on most maps of France. This priest, like the mustard seed, could not be hidden in obscurity; the gifts of the Holy Spirit he received were to bring thousands and thousands to him. It is no wonder he comes from that section where over a century later, the Charismatic Renewal of France began. The Holy Spirit goes where He wills, when He wills.

It is also no coincidence, he was born close to where our Lord showed His Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Jesus told Margaret Mary, He was more deeply hurt by the Crown of Thorns pressed on His Heart by His friends, than by the One His enemies mockingly placed on His Head. How many times, Curé did your heart get pierced from a crown of thorns thrust there by friends? Did it wound you, like it did Jesus?

Here again, like with Mother Mary’s Apparitions and Miracles

of the Eucharist, we have clusters of Heavenly happenings. Could it be, the Lord goes where there is much need? You could definitely say that of Ars and of France, at the time of John Vianney. Ars was a village of sin and apathy. The Curé would spend forty-one years of dry martyrdom,1as Pastor of Ars, the only parish he would ever serve.

John Mary Vianney was born in France, the France of Heritage, eldest daughter of the Church. This France, in his lifetime, would be ripped apart and aborted by revolution. That malignancy of the spirit was not only to eat away at all the magnificent old traditions of France, but would spread right into the heart of the Church. As anger cannot be contained, those spoiling and destroying did not stop at the aristocracy, but forgetting why they had begun in the first place, turned on Church, guillotining priests and nuns. We share this because, as in the time of St. John Mary Vianney, if faith, like a garden, is not cared for and nourished, it will die. And die France did, and the Church along with her. Only in places like French Canada and our beloved Louisiana can you see evidence of the glorious Heritage of the France of Yesterday. There, the old traditions and pride in France and the Church flourish, side by side.

John Mary Vianney was one of six children, born in a little village, Dardilly, five miles north of Lyons. His family’s reputation for charity became so wide-known, beggars would pass their name on to other fellow travellers of the highway. There is an expression, angels unaware. Well, one of the beggars they so generously gave to, was a saint. St. Benedict Joseph Labre, affectionately called the beggar saint, stopped at their home sixteen years before John Mary was born. However, we can be assured, the prayers and blessing this holy man bestowed on the family, would be an instrument to bring another holy man unto them, who someday, like himself, would be declared by Mother Church, a Saint.

John Mary, child of Mary

From his mother’s knee, John began to pray. Helping his little hands to make his first signs of the Cross, she would patiently and joyfully have him repeat, in his sing-song way, the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary. His two greatest treasures, as a small child, were his Rosary, a precious gift he received only to have

to give it to his younger sister, and a little wooden statue of Mary his mother gave him, to compensate for giving away the rosary. This statue was to be at his side most of his life, a source of strength, a reminder his Lady was with him. Years later, the Curé, nearly seventy years old, still spoke of the Lady he loved, The Blessed Virgin is my oldest love; I loved her even before I knew her.

The neighbors seeing this little boy, first to drop down on his knees each day, when the Angelus bells rang, would prophesy to his mother, Your John Mary will become a priest or brother. One of his greatest delights was to accompany his mother to church. She tried to go to Mass each day, her little boy pleading and winning, trailing after her. He listened intently, as she explained the Mass, sharing with him the Divine Mystery, what was really happening. No wonder he developed early, a love and passion for the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. He discovered at a young age, this Lord Who was alive, and He would become for John Mary, as a priest, his Strength and his Fulfilling Love.

John Mary loved attending school, but his learning did not end there. As soon as he arrived home, he opened books on the Lives of the Saints. Religious worship was one of the fatalities of the Revolution, the authorities leveling all sorts of threats. It was strictly forbidden! In spite of this, the Church was alive in the Diocese of Lyons, which included Dardilly. The Church was underground, but flourishing! Priests disguised themselves as artisans and secretly conducted their ministerial services throughout the parishes. One of these priests who passed himself off as a cook, visited the Vianney home, one day. After blessing all the children, he turned to John Mary. He liked the boy. How old are you? the priest asked. John Mary replied, he was eleven. The priest asked him how long it had been since his last confession. Before John Mary could finish replying, I’ve never been to confession, the priest had him in tow, and John Mary was making his first confession. Then the priest turned to the family, Now it’s time for him to study Catechism, so he will be ready to receive First Holy Communion.

No sooner said, John Mary was off to live with his aunt, in Ecully. There were two nuns there, disguised in lay clothes, who were preparing fifteen other children; so he could join them and prepare for his First Holy Communion. Although his companions learned to love this young boy, his life in Ecully began with painful jibing. Being short and a little plump, they would taunt him with: Look at the little fat boy wrestling with his angel.

He was thirteen years old when he finally received His Lord in His Body and Blood, his First Holy Communion. The shades were drawn to prevent detection by the authorities. The only light, outside of the lit candles on the Altar, was the New Light of John Mary and his Savior, now one.

As a grown man, he was still not able to speak of that day, without tears coming to his eyes. He had not wanted to leave; he had wanted this moment to last. Or was it, as he explained, years later,

When we receive Communion, we sense something extraordinary...a great joy,...a great consolation,...a well-being that permeates our whole being and makes us tremble...We cannot but say with St. John, `It is the Lord!’ O my God! What joy for a Christian to get up from the Sacred Banquet and go forth with all Heaven in his heart.

Call to the Priesthood

The young Corsican general who led the coup d’état on September 18, 1799 not only overthrew the Directoire, restoring peace to France, but Napoleon, upon entering into negotiations with Pope Pius VII, ended the persecution of the Church, temporarily. The church bells peeled loud and strong, bringing life back to France. Come back! Come back! they tolled and they came. First, the priests returned. Churches which had become buildings were now churches again, for with the priests, the Mass returned and with the Mass, the Eucharist! And