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

"The"334 THE CURE OF ARS.death before, and restored to them by a miracle, and bya continued miracle had he been preserved to them eversince.His life for thirty or forty years would have beendeath to any other man. And he was so much wanted !What was to become of that innumerable concourse ofpilgrims, sick in body or in soul, who hung upon his lips ?Had his hand been indeed lifted up for the last time inbenediction ? We had cradled ourselves," says M. Mon-"in these hopes ;we had rested on the thought thatnin,he was still to be left for a long time to us. We couldnot imagine Ars without its cure ; its church always openand always full ; itsmidnight Angelus ; its closely besieged confessional ; its Saint, who was the sun of thatprivileged corner of the earth, who gaveit its life, andfilled itsatmosphere with the odour of his virtues. Andhe was no more ! He had blessed us for the last time ;he had bidden us his last farewell ;between our souls and God, that golden linkand that sacred bondbetween usand all the mysterious glories of the communion of Saints,was broken.Cure" of Ars was dead ! That life of devotionand prayer, of charity and patience, of humility andsacrifice, was over: he had fought the good fight;he hadfinished his course ;he had received his crown. At last thetoil-worn labourer of the Lord was at rest. As the words,Depart, Christian soul, were uttered, he entered into thejoy of his Lord."The emaciated body, seamed and scarred with theglorious stigmata of mortification, lay on his poor pallet,arrayed bythe hands of his beloved missionaries in thepoor cotta and soutane, which in life he never laid aside.The Comte des Garets drew near the bed, took the handof his revered pastor, and bade him this touching fare-