St. John Vianney's Favorite Work

by Fr. Roger Landry - January 29, 2010

Perhaps as a result of his many hardships due to the inadequate education he received as a young boy, St. John Vianney was always a great apostle of the importance of Catholic schools. He founded two such schools in Ars and endowed several others in surrounding villages. He sacrificed all his property and his entire inheritance to build them and would regularly go on begging tours to sustain them. He poured his heart and so much of his energy into making them succeed.

As we begin Catholic Schools Week on Sunday, focusing on how the Church's and parents' investment in a Catholic education pays off in "dividends for life," we can all profit from the example and the wisdom of the patron saint of priests, who treated Catholic education as the pearl of great price for which he expended all he had to make possible.

Fr. Vianney thought that a good Catholic education was worth almost any sacrifice. Once a mother said to him, "I have now spent all I own in providing a good education for my children; all I have left is my house." The saint's reply was swift and a little shocking. "Sell it," he encouraged her, "and complete your work." That led her to reassess her priorities and to surpass her previous limits of maternal love. She sold the house, but as God would have it, the elderly buyer, moved by her willingness to sacrifice everything for the Christian upbringing of her children, decided secretly to name her the beneficiary of the house in his will. The Lord called this benevolent man home a short time after the sale. So, by God's providence, not only did she not lose her house but, because of her willingness to sacrifice, also obtained the money necessary to educate her kids!

Fr. Vianney's upbringing helped to ensure that he would never take a Catholic education for granted. When he was about to begin school, the French Revolutionaries passed a law prohibiting priests or present or former religious from teaching in schools. They also required every teacher to take oath of "civism," forcing them to adopt the anti-religious secularist presumptions of the Revolution. Finally they mandated that parents, at the risk of huge fines send their kids to school for three years to be indoctrinated in the ideas of the revolution. Mathieu and Marie Vianney avoided the dilemma of choosing either to pay the fines or send their kids to such schools because so few teachers took the oath that there was no teacher available in Dardilly and the school remained shut.

Eventually, because of the dearth of teachers, the government needed to abolish the blacklisting of priests and religious and the oath of civism. A virtuous man named Mr. Dumas came to Dardilly to teach reading, writing, math, history and geography to the children during the winter, when they were not required to work in the fields. John Vianney began his formal schooling when he was nine. The late start, and the short invernal school "year," made progress very slow. Thereafter, despite much dedication, he would struggle to get anything into what he called his "bad head." We saw in previous columns the enormous academic difficulties he had in seminary.

When Fr. Vianney arrived in Ars, there was no school and no one trained to teach. During the winters, the villagers would try to recruit someone, but even when they succeeded, the "school" was co-ed and Fr. Vianney believed that this was not an optimal situation — amply reconfirmed in our own day by multiple studies — either for boys or for girls to learn. He quickly determined that there was a need for a year-round single-sex school. He decided first to erect a school for girls, anticipating that parents would more easily permit their girls to come to school year round than their boys, whose work in the fields they valued more.

Fr. Vianney took three years to make plans, raise funds and get potential teachers an adequate training. He sent two young women from the village, Catherine Lassagne and Benoite Lardet, to the Sisters of St. Joseph in Fareins, to be formed in both subject matter and pedagogical method. They had agreed to work for nothing but room, board and the knowledge that they were doing good.

As a school building, he bought a new house close to the Church in the middle of the town. It had one large room on the first floor that could serve as a classroom and two small rooms above, where the teachers could live. He dedicated all of his personal assets to its acquisition. Money was so tight that he didn't have any left to pay the notary who drew up the deed. It was fitting that the school be called "La Providence," because it would be dependent on God's care for its daily upkeep and survival.

It was opened in November of 1824. Fr. Vianney had originally intended it as a day school, but, because the school was free — in contrast to even public schools in the villages — parents from surrounding towns soon began to send their girls as well. As a result, one of the upstairs rooms had to be converted into a dormitory.

Once students started to live there and receive 24-hour supervision, however, the school would soon adapt again. Fr. Vianney could not help but be touched by all the orphans and girls from destitute families in the area, who were often exposed to abuse as domestic servants at very young ages. Without an education, they would have little chance in life. He decided, therefore, to found a home for orphaned girls attached to the school.

This was hard to accomplish. He prayed and begged God for help. He implored parishioners for financial assistance, but the only response he got was literally a sack of potatoes. So, despite his reluctance and incompetence as a fundraiser, he started a begging tour, knocking on the gates of the various chateaux in the Lyons region and writing letters to the affluent in places too far to visit. Eventually enough people gave that he was able to purchase the land and the materials and begin building. Vianney himself would serve as the masons' assistant in order to cut costs.

Soon 60 orphans began boarding at the school. To make room for them, Fr. Vianney decided that they would no longer accept children from well-to-do families in the area. When there was no longer a vacant corner for another young waif, he persuaded the teachers to give up their beds. Several children, even newborns, would be left on their doorstep. There was unbelievable need.

The teachers worked very hard to educate in a multi-level environment. Older students, to practice their lessons, were encouraged to pass them on to the younger ones. In addition to the ordinary academic subjects, the girls were trained in sewing, washing, ironing and cooking. Fr. Vianney served as their religion teacher and also taught them proper manners and other things that ordinarily kids should learn at home. When they left La Providence at about 18, he would personally help each one find a good situation.

Everyone in Ars knew that the school was their pastor's favorite work. "Only on the day of judgment will people see how much good has been accomplished in that institution," he once said with pride. He knew that the dividends repaid by such an education not only profited so many girls in this life to become great wives and mothers, teachers, maids and even religious, but would continue to pay returns into eternity.

Next week we will look at how St. John Vianney tried to provide the same investment for boys and for children in other villages. We will also discuss how God, in his Providence, would ask him to sacrifice his favorite work.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.