St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney - The Curé d'Ars

Today is the feast of the Curé d'Ars, St. Jean Vianney. While he is famous for his holiness & esp his gifts of preaching & reading the souls of those who came to him for confession so that they might make a good confession, he also has an interesting link to the Archdiocese of DBQ even though he never left France.

While he was studying his Latin to prepare for ordination in the diocese of Lyon France, he was tutored by a fellow seminarian. He needed help because he had great difficulty learning it. 1 day, in exasperation, the tutor got so fustrated he slapped St. Jean. Jean Vianney went on to be declared a saint, while the tutor became the 1st bishop of the newly formed diocese of DBQ which at that time included the entire state of Iowa as well as Minnesota. That tutor was Mathias Loras.

Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia encyclical by Blessed Pope John XXIII on St. Jean Vianney