Here's the link to a Carl Olsen article on the devil, but I'm putting it here because I wanted to do something on the Curé of Ars on his feast day today, and Olsen uses St. John Vianney in his introduction.
Imagine a saint – a priest – so dedicated to God that he often went days without eating, and when he did eat, it was a boiled potato or a piece of hard bread. Although many considered him unfit for the priesthood, he revived the crushed faith of an impoverished village and often spent eighteen hours a day hearing confessions, often sleeping only an hour or two each night. As the reputation of this holy man of God spread, pilgrims began to seek him out, sometimes waiting days for him to hear their confession, heal their illnesses, and speak directly to their deepest needs.
My own favorite Curé story is the time one of his brother priests punished a local boy for cheating or lying or some such thing, and the mom came into the parish with her guns smoking. Her little precious hadn't done anything wrong and the priest had no right, etc., etc. Only she got the wrong priest and reemed out Vianney for something he knew nothing about. He took the abuse without complaint. But later they found him in his room and he'd broken out in hives because he was so angry with the woman. I love that story because it reveals the passion of the saints --Vianney wasn't a passive little kitten, incapable of anger-- and at the same time shows the lengths to which we must go to control anger or other passions. It's not that it would have been wrong to defend himself; but he had the self-awareness to know he personally could not do so without offending charity, so he kept silent until he could control himself.
A little hope for inveterate hotheads like me! Here's a link to more on St. John Vianney, including things he actually said, such as:
When we go before the Blessed Sacrament, let us open our heart; our good God will open His. We shall go to Him; He will come to us; the one to ask, the other to receive. It will be like a breath from one to the other.
