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

""You""At154 THE CURE OF ARS.From the year 1835 he was dispensed by Mgr. Deviefrom the usual pastoral retreat.have no need of a retreat,"said the Bishop ;and there are souls at Ars which have need of you."M. Monnin s personal reminiscences of the pilgrimagedate from the year 1848. that time," says he,number of pilgrims who arrived at Ars by the omnibuses"thealone, which connected the village with the Saone,amounted to the incredible number of 80,000 in the courseof the year. They came from all parts of France, fromSavoy, Belgium, Germany, and England. They were ofall ranks and conditions ;some bringing offerings, somebegging alms, all imploring to be healed of some maladyeither of soul or body. The lame, the blind, the deaf,the epileptic, the insane, the sick of every kind of malady,walked a hundred or two hundred miles in the strengthof their invincible confidence. We shall not attempt toof human miseries before ourbring that long processionreader s eyes, lest he should imagine from the numerous?ures that the design of God in the pilgrimage was thehealing of the body, whereas the conversion of sinnerswas the special work of M. Vianney, to which all therest was merely accessory.Even the presence of the patient was not in all casesnecessary. St. Philomena and the Cure of Ars could exerttheir power at a distance ;and many a sufferer, too poor,too weak, or too sick to make the pilgrimage in person,has come from far distant lands to render thanks in thehumble village sanctuary for his perfect recovery, after anovena to St. Philomena, or an application by letter, orthrough some charitable friend, to the holy cure. Theoil from the lamp before St. Philomena s altar has provedthe means of healing to many a distant sufferer."