Life of St John Vianney.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!

"AtTHE PILGRIMAGE. 153sanctity. A letter written in 1827 thus describes theshurch during the Octave of Corpus Christi.8o clock we went to Benediction.The church was filledwith worshippers, of whom a considerable number werestrangers. The walls were covered with rich hangingsand banners, the Tabernacle splendidly gilt, the Remonstrance sparkling with jewels ;the light of a multitude oftapers played upon the gold and diamonds ;and kneelingamid all these splendours was the priest worn out withvigils and fasts, breathing forth in a scarcely audiblevoice the fervour of his love."The difficulty of procuring food and lodging in so poora place as Ars would soon, however, have put an end tothe concourse of pilgrims, had curiosity or novelty beentheir only attraction. Persons of the highest rank andmost refined and luxurious habits were content, in thewords of one of the pilgrims, to be ill lodged, ill fed, torise early, to be squeezed, elbowed, repulsed ; they bravedcold, hunger, thirst, fatigue, want of sleep, all to catch afew words from the holy cure; they would not have doneso much for a king.The inhabitants of Ars at last saw the necessity ofproviding accommodation for the increasing influx of pilgrims ; the greater number of houses immediately roundthe church were, in fact, built for this purpose. Newroads were made, and a regular system of public conveyances organised in 1835 between Lyons and Ars. Atthe same time packet-boats were established on the Saone,which greatly facilitated the arrival of the pilgrims.was calculated that more than 20,000 persons then visitedArs in the course of each year. M. Vianney soon arrivedat that state to which St. Philip Neri bound himself byvow, never to have an hour or a moment to himselfIt