St John Vianney: the Curé of Ars and Confession

St John Vianney (1786–1859) was a French parish priest, known as the Curé of Ars, who spent most of every day in the confessional. He struggled through his studies and was nearly turned away from the priesthood, then spent over forty years in a small village where pilgrims came by the thousands to confess to him. The Church celebrates him on August 4, and he is the patron of parish priests. His life is one long lesson in how much God wants to forgive.

Who was St John Vianney?

Jean-Marie Vianney was born in 1786 in Dardilly, a farming village near Lyon in France. He grew up during the French Revolution, when churches were closed and priests who stayed loyal to Rome had to hide. As a boy he went to Mass in secret, said by priests who risked their lives to come, and he made his First Communion quietly in a private house. Seeing those priests made a deep impression on him.

He wanted to be a priest himself, but he came to it late. He began serious study only around the age of twenty, under a local priest, Fr Charles Balley, who believed in him when others didn't.

Why did he struggle to become a priest?

Study was hard for him, especially Latin, which every seminarian then had to master. He had little schooling as a child, and the lessons simply didn't come easily. He failed exams and was sent home from the seminary at one point. Fr Balley kept tutoring him and spoke up for him. His superiors finally judged that his goodness and devotion mattered more than his marks, and he was ordained a priest in 1815.

It's worth pausing here. One of the most fruitful priests in the Church's history was, on paper, a weak student. God didn't need him to be brilliant. He needed him to be willing.

What did he do at Ars?

In 1818 he was sent to Ars, a small village of a couple of hundred people not far from Lyon. Religious practice there had faded, as it had in much of France after the Revolution. Few came to Mass, and Sunday was a working day for many.

He started simply. He prayed for long hours in the church, ate very little, visited families, and preached plainly about God's love and the life of grace. Slowly the village changed. People came back to Mass. Then they started coming to Confession.

How long did he spend hearing confessions?

Many hours a day, for decades. Word of the Curé of Ars spread far beyond the village, and people came from all over France, and later from abroad, to confess to him. By his last years, crowds of pilgrims arrived every year, and the village had to make room for them.

His day was shaped around the confessional. He rose long before dawn and went into the church to hear confessions, broke for Mass and a short catechism lesson, and went back. The accounts often report up to sixteen hours a day in the busiest months. People waited in line for hours, sometimes days, to see him.

It wore him out. More than once he tried to leave Ars for a quieter life of prayer, and each time he came back to his parish and his confessional. He died there on August 4, 1859, at 73. Pope Pius XI canonized him in 1925 and in 1929 declared him patron of parish priests. Priests who hear confessions still look to him as a model.

What did he teach about Confession?

He left no theology books, only sermons, catechism talks and the memories of people who knew him. But a few themes come up again and again, and they still help anyone on the way to the confessional.

God's mercy is bigger than your sins

One of his sayings, collected by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy for the Year for Priests, puts it simply: "Our errors are grains of sand beside the great mountain of God's mercy." Whatever you're carrying, it isn't too large for God to forgive. This is the Church's teaching too: there is no sin the Church cannot forgive when someone truly turns back (CCC 982).

God goes looking for the sinner first

Pope Benedict XVI quoted him on this when he opened the Year for Priests in 2009: it is not the sinner who returns to God to beg forgiveness, but "God himself who runs after the sinner and makes him return to him." If you feel drawn toward Confession, that pull is already God's grace at work.

Your priest wants to hear your confession

The Curé spent his whole life waiting in a confessional for people to come. Priests today still sit in that box hoping someone will. When you go, you're not a burden. The Catechism quotes his words about priests: "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus" (CCC 1589). The priest in the confessional is there because of that love, for you.

He carried more than his share

He was known for gentle penances, and he explained why in words Pope Benedict also quoted: "I will tell you my recipe: I give sinners a small penance and the rest I do in their place." He meant his own fasting and prayer for them. A penance isn't a price for forgiveness. It's a small step of healing after it, so do the one you're given and trust that it's enough.

His love for prayer and the Eucharist

The confessional was only half of his day. The rest belonged to the Mass and to long prayer before the tabernacle. He loved to tell about a farmer from Ars who would sit in the church for long stretches without moving his lips. When asked what he was doing, the man answered: "I look at him and he looks at me." The Catechism uses those words to explain contemplative prayer (CCC 2715).

That's a helpful picture before Confession too. You don't need perfect words. You come, you look at Jesus honestly, and you let him look at you.

What his life means for you

If you've been away from Confession for a long time, the Curé would want you to know the door is open. He spent his life sitting behind it. Our guide on going back to Confession after years walks through how to start.

If you're nervous, remember that the people in his line were nervous too. Many had been away for decades, and they came anyway. Our pages on what happens in Confession and what to say take most of the mystery out of it.

And if you go often, keep going. He wanted his people close to the sacrament, not only after serious falls, and the Church still recommends confessing everyday faults (CCC 1458). See how often to go for a sensible rhythm.

His feast is August 4. You don't need to wait for it, though. Look up the Confession times at your parish this week, and ask St John Vianney to pray for you, and for the priest who'll be waiting.