Saint John Vianney Radio Script
Saint John Mary Vianney - Radio Script
(1786-1859)*Dennis Alberts is a creative writer providing radio scripts for Catholic Radio Dramas.com. Preparations for production of these programs are underway for broadcast on AM, FM, short-wave, satellite radio and over the internet. We are deeply grateful to Dennis Alberts for his imaginative and resourceful efforts in bringing stories of the lives of the saints to listeners around the world.
Catholic Radio Dramas.comSt. John Mary Vianney
By
Dennis Alberts
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NARR: There have been only a few Saints, in the history of the Church, who have had the effect upon both good and evil, as St. John Vianney. If one doubts his effect upon the devil, it is well to note, that Satan himself appeared to John Vianney and said, ‘If there were three men on earth like thyself, my kingdom would be destroyed.’ His effect upon good cannot be measured in numbers, but suffice it to say, hundreds were converted or at the least, induced to grow to their spiritual potential, through the kindly, yet frank, direction of Father Vianney.
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NARR: John Mary Vianney was not the first saint to have graced the Vianney home. The first was St. Joseph Benedict Labre, in July 1770, as a wandering mendicant. John’s father, Matthew, a child at the time, was moved by the piety displayed by St. Joseph, as well as his very presence. This was a considerable step in the spiritual growth of Matthew, and was passed on to his son John. John was born to Matthew and Marie in 1786, three years before the French Revolution. These were troubled times for the Church. Priests were considered outlaws and were hidden by brave and loving people, such as the Vianney’s. Little John talked with many outlawed priests and attended
Mass in secret, which helped form his great faith and love of the Church. He knew at an early age that he wanted to somehow become a priest, even if it meant imprisonment or death.
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NARR: In 1802, the Church in France was no longer outlawed, and was once again allowed to say Mass openly. In 1806, Father Balley opened a minor seminary in Ecully, and nineteen year old John Vianney was allowed to attend.
ST.JOHN: O, Father Balley. I don’t know what to say. For years my Father has said I would never be allowed to study for the priesthood, as I could not be spared from the farm, and that we could not afford it. I had nearly given up hope that the good God wanted me for one of his priests.
FR. BALLEY: John, we must always trust that the Lord will provide. Do not worry about anything. If need be, I will sacrifice myself for your sake.
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NARR: The classes at the seminary did not go well for John, as he had missed most of the earlier basics. Two students used to torment him to the point that one day he actually fell to his knees and begged forgiveness for his ignorance. It is understandable, that serious doubts began to swirl in the mind of young John Vianney.
ST.JOHN: Father in Heaven, am I doing your will? Did I err in presuming that a simple one such as I could enter your priesthood? How I long to go home my Lord, but yet, I would not be able to labor for souls. I will make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Francis Regis to seek your holy will. May your will be done.
NARR: After many trials along his pilgrimage, including the doors of homes shut rudely in his face, he arrived at the shrine and prayed earnestly for the grace to learn enough Latin for his theology. His prayers were heard, and John returned to the seminary where he at least maintained the minimal passing marks.
NARR: Having persevered the deterrent of failing grades, John thought he had subdued all the obstacles to the priesthood. To his surprise, one more was about to enter his life.”
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SOUND: KNOCKING ON DOOR
SOUND: OPENING OF DOOR
FR.BALLEY: Yes?
SERGANT: I have a notice from the Imperial Army, office of the General of Inductees, for a certain John Vianney.
FR.BALLEY: You mean sergeant that this is a draft notification for John? There must be a mistake. John is seminary student and……
SERGANT: (INTERRUPTING) There is no mistake. Emperor Napoleon has suspended all deferments. John is to report to the local Grand Army barracks by October 26th.
FR.BALLEY: I will get John for you.
ST.JOHN: I am here Father. I overheard. I will have to report and trust the good God.
NARR: The following January, John, along with his infantry regiment, was ordered to the Spanish Frontier, and in all probability, battle itself. While he was making a visit at a local Church, his regiment mustered out without him. Frightened, he prayed to Our Lady for help. Almost immediately a young man asked John what he was doing? John, being confused and weary, followed the young man at his request, not quite knowing what to do. Soon he found himself in the city of Les Noes, and collapsed into an exhaustive sleep. When we awoke, he realized that he was among deserters, and the Army would now consider him one, no matter how he would attempt to explain. What could he do? For nearly two years John would remain in hiding until the general pardon of all deserters by Napoleon in 1810.
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NARR: John’s mother died not long after her son returned to her, and following her death, John renewed his studies for the priesthood with Fr. Balley. In 1812, Fr. Balley decided it necessary to transfer John to the minor seminary of Verrieres. In 1813, he entered the major seminary of St. Irenee at Lyons. This would prove to be a heartbreak for John on his road to the priesthood.
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ST.JOHN: Father, you wanted me to come to your study?
FR.: Yes, John. It’s about your studies, specifically Latin. There is no easy way to put this, except that we must accept the will of God, no matter how difficult it might appear to us.
SOUND: THE FATHER CLEARS HIS THROAT
FR.: John, in all my years as a priest and professor, I cannot recall any candidate for the priesthood who exhibited more enthusiasm or dedication than you, not to mention your extremely heartfelt and sincere piety. You have been a great example not only to students, but the faculty as well. Unfortunately John, you failed to pass Latin. As a result of this, we must ask you to leave the seminary.
ST.JOHN: But…., Father…, this cannot….
FR.: John, I know this is a shock, and so does the Lord. Perhaps there is another calling for you. Have you considered being a Brother?
ST.JOHN: I will pray upon this of course, and return to Fr. Balley for advise.
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NARR: Fr. Balley removed all doubts from the mind of the bewildered John, that he was to become anything but a priest. Together they prayed earnestly and under the tutelage of the determined Fr. Balley, studied long and hard at Latin. Unfortunately, and almost in disbelief, John retook his canonicals for Minor Orders at the seminary, only to receive an ‘Unsatisfactory’ on the Latin. He had become so bewildered during the course of the examination, that he became confused at the questions and was unable to answer satisfactorily. The next day, the good Fr. Balley approached the Vicar-General in Lyons and begged another chance for the pious John. After listening to the ardent speech from Fr, Balley, it was agreed that John would be given another opportunity. He was allowed to complete one final year at the seminary at Ecully. At the end of the year, John Vianney satisfactorily passed his examinations and August 13, 1815, was set as the date for his ordination into the Priesthood.
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NARR: As Divine Providence ordained, Father John Vianney was assigned as an assistant to the saintly Fr. Balley, at the Ecully. This was joyful news for both. The two priests would live simply and peacefully with one another, even to the point of good spiritual competition. One would wear a hair-shirt, so the other would adopt this penance. They would, to the amusement of the Vicar General, report one another for strictness and severity.
NARR: Soon after arriving at Ars, Fr. Vianney knew this would not be an easy assignment. Although there were many impoverished families, tiny little Ars was able to support four taverns, and quite well. It was at these taverns that many of the people would go, instead of Sunday Mass, to conduct themselves in a most worldly way, to say the least.
FR. VIANNEY: O, my Sweet Jesus…as I kneel at your altar in my first visit to this church, grant me the strength and the wisdom to bring this village back to you. Yes, my Jesus, yes…., I hear you…yes, it is only by prayer and fasting. Then, by prayer and fasting Ars shall be brought back and the souls of these children redeemed. I will begin by selling many of the furnishings that were given to the rectory, and I will eat even less than before.
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NARR: One morning before Mass, a local man, curious about the new priest, sneaked in while it was yet dark. To the man’s astonishment, he could see the new priest, kneeling before the blessed sacrament, while tearfully pouring out his heart. The man would quickly spread the news. This new priest was not like other priests. He was not even like other men. How different he prayed, and for us, his parishioners.
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NARR: ‘Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound.’ This quote from St. Paul, Titus 1:13, became a main theme for Father Vianney. He was in a spiritual war with the devil for the souls of his parishioners. On Father’s side was all of Heaven, ready to assist their great knight in his quest. In the other camp was the devil, using all of his age old techniques, through the Inn and Tavern Keepers. Father Vianney was given the strength and courage needed to speak out against the innkeepers directly from the pulpit during a Sunday Mass not long after his arrival. It was the first salvo against the enemy in the spiritual battle for souls, and the attack proved effective.
FR. VIANNEY: The innkeepers steal the bread of a poor woman and her children by selling wine to drunkards who spend on Sunday what they have earned during the week. If he wishes to escape eternal damnation, a priest may not and cannot absolve innkeepers, who, either at night or during church hours, serve those drunkards with wine. Ah! The innkeepers! The devil does not trouble them much; on the contrary, he despises them and spits upon them.
NARR: News of this rebuke spread among Ars with the speed of a wild fire. Many of the Inn keepers were indignant that they were singled out by a priest, and during Mass itself. Sometime later, after many of the people of the parish began to heed the Cure, he was publicly confronted by one of the tavern owners.
INNKEEPER: Excuse me, my dear Cure. Do you understand the repercussions of your sermons about the tavern owners and Inn keepers in Ars?
FR. VIANNEY: I am aware of the repercussions of their souls and the souls of the people who persist in partaking in the many over indulgences, excess, impurity and blasphemies that occur in those places. Not to mention being opened on Sunday’s to serve those who intentionally miss Mass. That is what I am aware of my son.
INNKEEPER: But my Father, you have nearly caused me to go out of business! You are turning my customers into saints.
FR. VIANNEY: No, my son, no. It is not me, it is the good God. Soon my son, you will see and you will too come to the Lord. You will see.
NARR: Even though Father Vianney was a zealous parish priest, he longed to be a contemplative. How he wanted to be within the confines of a monastery and spend his days in front of the blessed sacrament. He began to think that he had brought the people of Ars from their spiritual ruin to the road toward piety. Perhaps it was the Lord’s will that he could now leave. On one rainy evening he actually attempted to leave Ars, but due to the inability to cross a rain swollen river, he returned. When the people of his parish learned his thwarted departure, they petitioned the Vicar General to make certain that this would never occur again. Ars had began to transform.
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NARR: Although his people on the whole were learning to love him and come closer to the Lord, there were still some who stooped to devious means to discredit his reputation, even though he was a good dedicated priest and a man of God.
For nearly one long year, the holy Father had to endure a girl of low reputation loudly proclaiming false charges against his purity, while standing near his house late in the night. The good Father suffered all with the faith and patience of a saint, while praying for the young woman and offering up his heavy cross.
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NARR: It was not just attacks from humans that Father Vianney had to endure, but Satin himself. The devil seeing many souls destined for hell, being saved through the prayer, example and sacrifice of John Vianney, turned to physical distractions and attacks in his spiritual warfare.
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NARR: One day, while praying for a possessed woman, the devil spoke through her.
WOMAN: How thou makest me suffer. If there were three men on earth like thyself, my kingdom would be destroyed.
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NARR: At night, John’s old adversary was most bold in his attacks. John would hear the devil roar like a bull, growl like a bear or snarl like a dog, and yes, he would speak out loud.
SATAN: Vianney! Vianney! Potato eater. Thou art not yet dead. I shall get thee.
NARR: Through his faith and perseverance, the devil eventually gave up these irritations.
In spite of these sufferings as well as his many privations, Father Vianney kept up a most rigorous schedule of hearing confessions for hours each day, saying Mass, visiting the sick and the families of his parish, operating a school for orphaned girls and much more. It was by the grace of God that John could bear this typical daily schedule;
Between 1:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. was confessions for women, followed by Mass, thanksgiving, blessing of articles and comforting the afflicted.
8:00a.m. was breakfast. Usually only ½ cup of milk.
8:30 a.m. confession of men.
10:00 a.m. Little hours of Divine Office.
11:00 a.m. Catechism lessons.
12:00 noon, Recite the Angelus.
He then had to make his way through the crowd of the many pilgrims who came to Ars from all over France, and hide behind the locked doors of the rectory.
He would then eat lunch while standing, read from the divine office, take a siesta, shave, sweep and perform other needed duties.
1:30 p.m. vespers and Compline of the Church.
2:00 p.m. confession of women
5:00 p.m. confession of men.
Later in the evening, there was the Little chaplet of the Immaculate Conception from the pulpit.
And this was a typical schedule.
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NARR: Yes, the people of Ars had changed and the battle with the devil had been won. Yet, Father Vianney maintained his arduous life. He would not have it any other way. He must have been happy to have witnessed such a wonderful spiritual transformation in his village. How far his people had advanced since he first set foot in Ars. It had changed from a small town of mostly indifferent people to a village of saints. And now his time in Ars and on earth had come to an end, and the Living God wanted his son to come home. On July 30, 1859, the Cure of Ars was unable to rise from bed. The local physician was summoned, along with a few fellow priests and brothers.
FATHER BEAU: Father Vianney, I have come with the Eucharist for you, before you are called home.
FR. VIANNEY: How kind the good God is. When we are no longer able to go to him, He Himself comes to us.
NARR: The saintly Father Vianney lingered for a while and then began to quickly decline. He overheard sometime ask about his place for burial and replied;
FR. VIANNEY: My body is not much.
NARR: On Thursday, August 4, 1859, while resting in the arms of Brother Jerome, Father John Marie Vianney, the Cure of Ars, was taken home to Heaven. This simple and humble priest had taught Ars, the Church and the world what could be accomplished with unshakable faith and unquestioning obedience. He had, through his wonderful example, demonstrated the great love that the Living God has for all of his children. He could now rest, but Father Vianney, being the priest that he was, continues to pray, correct and guide his brothers and sisters from heaven.
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