Zeal of M. Vianney

One evening, the servant of God appeared more overpowered with fatigue than usual; he had nearly fainted during the short walk from his confessional to the presbytery. His ideas of flight and retirement came upon him again, but they did not prevent him from being as gay, as amiable and open as usual, and even more so. “Oh!” said he, taking his missionary by both hands, “if I were in your place, I would fly away to heaven!” Then, with great sadness and in a sorrowful voice, “How much am I to be pitied! I know nobody more unhappy than I am!”

“M. le Curé, how many people would like to change with you!”

“My friend, they would exchange their gold for copper.”

“O my God!” he often said, “how long I find the time among sinners! When, then, shall I be with the saints! … The good God is so much offended on the earth, that one would be tempted to ask for the end of the world! We could not endure this life if there were not a few beautiful souls to give repose to our heart, and to console our eyes for all the evil that we see and hear. … When we think of the ingratitude of man to the good God, we are tempted to go to the other end of the world to avoid seeing it. It is frightful! And then if the good God were not so good! But He is so good!” …

“O God! how ashamed shall we be, when the day of the last judgment shall show us our ingratitude! We shall understand then, but it will be too late. Our Lord will say to us, ‘Why hast thou offended Me?’ And we shall not know what to answer.”

“No, there is nothing in the world so unhappy as a priest! In what is his life passed? In seeing the good God offended. Always His holy Name blasphemed! Always His commandments broken! Always His love outraged! The priest sees nothing else; he hears nothing else. … He is continually, like St. Peter in the judgment-hall of Pilate, having before his eyes our Lord insulted, despised, mocked, covered with ignominy. … Some spit in His face, others strike Him on the face; others put on Him a crown of thorns; others give Him great blows. He is pushed; He is thrown down; He is trodden under foot; He is crucified; His heart is pierced. … Oh! if I had known what it is to be a priest, I should very soon have run away to La Trappe.”

It is impossible to describe how much he had the salvation of souls at heart. He might be said to be always sighing over the loss of souls. He has often been heard to repeat from the depths of his soul:

“What a pity that souls which have cost the good God so many sufferings should be lost for eternity! Nothing afflicts the Heart of Jesus so much as to see all His sufferings of no avail to so many. … Let us pray, then, for the conversion of sinners; it is the most beautiful and the most useful of all prayers. For the just are on their way to heaven, and the souls in purgatory are sure of getting there. … But poor sinners! poor sinners! … There are some among them in suspense. One Pater and Ave would be enough to turn the scale. … How many souls we may convert by our prayers! He who rescues a soul from hell saves that soul and his own too. All devotions are good, but there is none better than this.”

“St. Francis of Assisi was once praying in a wood. ‘O Lord,’ he said, ‘have compassion on poor sinners!’ and our Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Francis, thy will is conformed to Mine. I am ready to grant thee whatever thou mayest ask.’”

“St. Colette asked for the conversion of a thousand sinners; then, reflecting on it, she was alarmed at the great number, and accused herself of rashness. The Blessed Virgin appeared to her, and showed her the quantity of souls she had converted by her novenas. We may offer ourselves as victims during a week or a fortnight for the conversion of sinners. We suffer from cold or heat; we deprive ourselves of looking at some thing, or of going to see some one, which would give us pleasure; we make a novena; we hear Mass every day of the week for this intention, especially in towns where we have the opportunity. But some people would not go a hundred paces to hear Mass. Those who have the happiness of communicating often may make a novena of Communions. By this holy practice we not only contribute to the glory of God, but we also draw down upon ourselves great abundance of graces.”

“You have prayed,” said M. Vianney to a priest, who complained to him that he could not change the hearts of his parishioners; “you have prayed, you have wept, you have mourned, you have sighed; but have you fasted? have you watched? have you slept on the ground? have you taken the discipline? Till you have come to this, you must not suppose you have done every thing!”

“M. le Curé,” his missionary said to him one day, “if the good God were to give you your choice of going directly to heaven, or remaining on earth to labour for the conversion of sinners, what would you do?”

“I think I should remain here.”

“Oh! M. le Curé, is it possible? The saints are so happy in heaven! No more temptations; no more miseries!”

He answered, with an angelic smile, “That is true; but the saints live upon their income! They have laboured well, for God punishes idleness, and rewards only labour; but they can no longer glorify God, as we can, by sacrifices for the salvation of souls.”

“Would you remain on earth till the end of the world?”

“Just the same.”

“In that case you would have plenty of time before you. Would you get up so early in the morning?”

“Oh, yes, my friend, at midnight! I am not afraid of trouble. … I should be the happiest of priests, if it were not for the thought of appearing before the tribunal of God with my poor Curé’s life.”

In saying this, he shed abundance of tears.