Priest · Feast day August 4
St. John Vianney
The feast day of St. John Vianney is August 4, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Traditionally invoked as patron of parish priests. Below: a short life and 6 sourced quotations in their own words.
| Feast day | August 4 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Priest |
| Died | 1859 |
| Patron of | parish priests |
| In their own words | 6 sourced quotations |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
The seminary nearly failed him for weakness in Latin; the Church made him patron of parish priests. Assigned to Ars, a village of 230 souls, he spent forty years there — and by the end, a hundred thousand pilgrims a year came for his confessional.
He heard confessions twelve to sixteen hours a day, lived on boiled potatoes, and fought the devil like a farmer fighting weather. He called the priesthood the love of the heart of Jesus.
Patron of
Tradition invokes St. John Vianney as patron of parish priests.
Patronages are traditional, not an official list. All patron saints in Bless, A to Z.
In their own words
Each quotation names the work it comes from. Bless quotes these in the comments beside the verses listed under In Scripture.
Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.
The Holy Spirit is the mysterious light that makes us see our sins and God's mercy.
I look at Him and He looks at me.
Our sins are grains of sand beside the great mountain of the mercy of God.
The priest is not a priest for himself; he is a priest for you.
Man has a beautiful office, that of praying and loving. You pray, you love: that is the happiness of man on earth.
In Scripture
In Bless, St. John Vianney’s words appear in the comments beside these verses. This page’s labels say how each is linked: “on this verse” means the saint wrote about that very verse; “on this theme” means the quotation shares its theme. Scripture is quoted from the Catholic Public Domain Version.
On this theme
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5 · CPDV Beside their words: “Man has a beautiful office, that of praying and loving. You pray, you love: that is the…”
On this theme
One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, so that I may behold the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.
Psalm 26:4 · CPDV Beside their words: “I look at Him and He looks at me.”
On this theme
I sought the Lord, and he heeded me, and he carried me away from all my tribulations.
Psalm 33:5 · CPDV Beside their words: “I look at Him and He looks at me.”
On this theme
Be merciful to me, O God, according to your great mercy. And, according to the plentitude of your compassion, wipe out my iniquity.
Psalm 50:3 · CPDV Beside their words: “The Holy Spirit is the mysterious light that makes us see our sins and God's mercy.”
On this theme
For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sinfulness did my mother conceive me.
Psalm 50:7 · CPDV Beside their words: “Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”
On this theme
But it is good for me to adhere to God, to put my hope in the Lord God, so that I may announce all your prophecies, at the gates of the daughter of Zion.
Psalm 72:28 · CPDV Beside their words: “Man has a beautiful office, that of praying and loving. You pray, you love: that is the…”
On this theme
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our iniquities from us.
Psalm 102:12 · CPDV Beside their words: “Our sins are grains of sand beside the great mountain of the mercy of God.”
On this theme
And then approach and accuse me, says the Lord. Then, if your sins are like scarlet, they shall be made white like snow; and if they are red like vermillion, they shall become white like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 · CPDV Beside their words: “Our sins are grains of sand beside the great mountain of the mercy of God.”
4 more verses
On this theme
And when he has arrived, he will argue against the world, about sin and about justice and about judgment:
John 16:8 · CPDV Beside their words: “The Holy Spirit is the mysterious light that makes us see our sins and God's mercy.”
On this theme
For we are not preaching about ourselves, but about Jesus Christ our Lord. We are merely your servants through Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:5 · CPDV Beside their words: “The priest is not a priest for himself; he is a priest for you.”
On this theme
so that he might sanctify her, washing her clean by water and the Word of life,
Ephesians 5:26 · CPDV Beside their words: “Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”
On this theme
For every high priest, having been taken from among men, is appointed on behalf of men toward the things which pertain to God, so that he may offer gifts and sacrifices on behalf of sins;
Hebrews 5:1 · CPDV Beside their words: “The priest is not a priest for himself; he is a priest for you.”
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. John Vianney. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. John Vianney keeps August 4 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of August.
All the saints of August Born on August 4? A saint for every day
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