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

42 THE CURE OF ARS.Ars is a little village of the ancient principality ofLes Dombes, now the department of Trevoux. In theyear 1818 none of the roads existed which now breakthe monotony of its features. The houses were scarcelyvisible amid the thick foliage of its fruit-trees. Theywere scattered here and there without any regard to symmetrical order, only clustering a little more thickly roundthe ancient steeple of the same date with the fine oldfeudal castle which commands the village from the north.A silent peace, bordering upon melancholy,is the characteristic feature of the villages which lie sequestered amongthe wooded valleys of the Dombes ;the streams flowthe air islazily along, to pay their tribute to the Saone ;heavy and relaxing, a circumstance not to be forgottenwhen we attempt to appreciate the lifesuperhuman ofunflinching and unremittinglabour which was led in s(depressing an atmosphere.The population of Ars iswholly agricultural. Theloving veneration which theyhave at alltimes borne totheir pastors shows that these poor villagers are susceptible of deep impressions, and faithful in preserving them.At the reestablishment of religion in France, the AbbeBerger had been appointed Cure of Ars and he remained;there nearly to the time of M. Vianneys arrival, in thebeginning of Lent, the 9th of February 1818. The newcure came in most apostolic poverty. The furniture whichhe had inherited from his holy master consisted of awooden bedstead and some coverlets, of which his charitysoon dispossessed him, inventing such arrangementsforhis night s lodging as would have amazed M. Baileyhimself.It is said that, when he first caught sight of the roofsof his parish, he knelt down toimplore a blessing upon