St John Vianney

John grew up on the farm, helping his father take care of their sheep. When he was 18 he asked his father if he could become a priest, it took his father 2 years to agree, but he finally said yes. In order to become a priest John had to study a lot, and studying did not come easy for him. He had to work very hard to pass his tests to finally become a priest, but he knew that God would help him and he studied hard and finally did become a parish priest. He was given a Parish in a small town called Ars in France. He gave his whole life to the community, living there for 42 years as the Parish priests. He spent his whole life praying for the people in the community to come to know Jesus; he made many sacrifices for them and taught them what they needed to do to follow Jesus. He became very well know all over France and people started to go to the small town of Ars to see Fr. John and to go to confession with him. He had a gift to be able to see what was really going on in peoples’ hearts and help them to turn away from sin. He would hear peoples’ confessions for 12 to 16 hours a day! He worked many wonders for the people that came to see him and he was so generous, patient and kind with people that everyone who heard him speak would give their hearts to Jesus. He became known as the Curé d’Ars, because everyone living in Ars loved him so much and changed their lives because of his example. St. John Vianney became very well known throughout the world and his preaching, confessions and example brought many people back to God.