Saints: Role Models for Men- St. John Vianney

St. John Vianney is the patron saint of priests and one of the most popular/ well known saints today. Here are some reasons I think that St. John Vianney is a great man and why he is so well known.
Overcame A Serious Obstacle

St. John Vianney did not have the greatest education growing up, which made it really difficult for him to study to become a priest. He especially had difficulty learning Latin, and many people around him considered him stupid because of how poor of a scholar he was. However, because of how greatly St. John Vianney desired to become a priest, he did as best as he could (and got some tutoring assistance) and barely made it through seminary.

Exceeding Expectations 

The leadership in charge of St. John Vianney during and after seminary greatly underestimated him. This goes back to his lack of scholarship and intellectualism. Because his leaders did not consider St. John Vianney to be a great scholar or a great future priest, they placed him in at a parish where they thought he would cause the least amount of trouble for the Church. They placed him in the small village of Ars.

This village did not have many faithful people when St. John Vianney first arrived. However, thanks to the gifts God gave him, St. John Vianney was able to reach out to those in most need of God and helped many people repent. Moreover, because of his reputation as a great confessor, many pilgrims and travelers made their way to the tiny church in Ars so that they too could encounter St. John Vianney. Soon, crowds too big for the small church and even the village began to make their way to Vianney.

Intense Sacrifices

As part of his ministry to the people who needed him, St. John Vianney established an intense life of prayer and fasting for himself. He would sacrifice sleep in order to pray more, he would skip many meals or eat miniscule meals in order to fast for his people, and endure other physically demanding sacrifices he put on himself in order to pray and fast for the conversion of those most in need of him.


Battled the Devil

Some nights, St. John Vianney's sleep would be disturbed by the devil. And when I say disturbed, I mean that demonic noises would come from nowhere and Vianney would be dragged around his room by an invisible being. I remember that one time during Reach, in order to help a youth group envision this aspect of St. John Vianney's life, I told them to imagine Paranormal Activity happening to their priest.

While at first these attacks were frightening, St. John Vianney soon made a connection between  the attacks at night and the events that would happen the next day. He noticed that, after the devil's attacks, a person with a multitude of heavy sins would come to him in great need of repentance and conversion. Soon, St. John Vianney would find joy in these attacks from the devil, and he would tell people how foolish the devil was for informing him that a grave sinner was on their way.