French statue of St. John-Marie Vianney – by Romary (Own work) GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
On the first Friday of July, the Archdiocese of Liverpool welcomed a very special guest.
A relic of the heart of St. John-Marie Vianney, the Curé d’Ars, – whose Feast it is today – came to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool in the city centre.
Hundreds of pilgrims, including myself, flocked to the Metropolitan Cathedral to pay homage to the Holy Priest of Ars.
We queued, awaiting our turn to kneel before the relic and bring our petitions to St. John-Marie Vianney.
As I queued, praying the Rosary, I pondered upon that which I would ask of the Holy Priest.
My heart burst forth with petitions about the conversion of the Priesthood, particularly in the Curé’s own country, France.
Whilst the Traditional Church is very strong in France (one does not need to travel far before one encounters a church, monastery or convent where the Old Latin Rite is celebrated), the Modern Church has left the country devastated.
There are so many beautiful churches that are locked up, closed, or perhaps have a Mass once a month.
The result is that the Faith has become lost in those towns and villages. For only the determined Mass goers will travel to the nearest town for Holy Mass.
It is a tragedy and I found my heart bursting forth with prayers to ask of the Curé d’Ars, for the Priests and the Faith in France.
After kneeling before the Saint and imploring his help, I continued to pray the Rosary kneeling in the pews, still before the Holy relic.
It was very moving to see the number of pilgrims kneel down, as I had, directly in front of the relic, petitioning the Holy Priest.
The Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral was a very special place to be that day.
In honour of the visit of St. John-Marie Vianney, Our Lord was exposed in His Eucharistic splendour for us to adore, throughout the day.
Confessions were also offered continuously, with Priests dotted about the Cathedral.
The visit of the Curé d’Ars brought life most abundantly to this very modern Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. It is a visit I will never forget.
St. John-Marie Vianney,
Pray for us.
Note: For those who know little of this incredible Saint, Roger has an entry here with remarkable extracts from his biography.
