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

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 9Pazzi, inhale the fragrance of her Communion ere yet admitted to receive his Lord. Few and far between werenow the blessed seasons when, in fear and haste, the faithful were summoned to some carefully guarded hiding-placeto hear the Mass said by some proscribed and persecutedpriest, at perilof his life and their own. What was toreplace the daily Mass, and the frequent visit to theBlessed Sacrament ? Even the indwelling of that DivineSpirit, the Lord and the Lifegiver, that best Consoler, byWhose ministry Jesus is made present to us in HisSacraments, and in Whose Person He is present evenwithout them. What was to stand in the place of thedeserted and desecrated sanctuaries of apostate France,where her few faithful children might no longer find theirEven her silent valleys and lonely woods, and herGod ?free, pure mountain tops, where the step of the spoiler andthe infidel came not near to disturb them. With God inhis heart and the holiness of nature around him, JeanMarie passed peacefully through that terrible time.was now come to the age when country boys of his classhave to begin to labour for their daily bread. MatthieuVianney had four or five cows in his stable, an ass, andthree sheep. It had been hitherto the office of the elderbrother to keep them now it was Jean Marie s turn to;lead them out to browse in the little close near the house,and in the long days to take them to the more distantpastures belonging to the farm. It would seem that ourDivine Lord, Who has been pleased to reveal Himself tous under the touching name of the Good Shepherd, hasa special love for the shepherd s life. Shepherds were thefirst to approach Him on earth ;and He has often madethe life of a shepherd the preparation for that of a pastorof eouls. Such was the first seminary of St. Vincent ofHe