Before we speak further on this point, we must draw attention to an event that took place in the year 1843. In May of that year, Father Vianney became ill as a result of overwork. So serious was his condition that he received the last Sacraments. There was universal sorrow in the village and the church was constantly filled with parishioners who prayed that he might be spared. But the physicians gave no hope. One of them as he touched the cold hand of the motionless figure, exclaimed aloud: "He has only a few moments to live."
The dying man heard plainly the verdict pronounced over him and at that same moment, as he afterwards declared, he was seized with such terror of the supreme judgment of God, that he besought the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and of St. Philomena, and he implored the Almighty through them to vouchsafe to postpone the awful moment of his appearance before Him. His prayers were heard.
To the great astonishment of those present the vitality of the man, sick apparently unto death, returned and, on May 19th, Father Vianney was able to be carried into the church amidst the rejoicings of his children, and there he prayed at length before the Tabernacle. But at this time he made a resolution which, earlier, he could not have carried into effect. His bishop, seeing the great amount of work which had to be performed at Ars, had sent him an assistant priest, to whom, in his humility, Vianney considered himself subordinate and, knowing that there was some one now to take his place, he decided to retire from his pastoral work and to spend the rest of his "poor life," as he called it, in some remote monastery. To carry out this purpose he planned to flee from Ars under cover of the darkness and mist. But his project was betrayed by his friends at the "Providence" to whom he was obliged to give necessary instructions regarding the future care of the children. Great excitement immediately prevailed among the parishioners and the many visitors, and they quietly surrounded the rectory in order to prevent his escape. The pastor, however, managed to elude them and made his way through a path in the garden which had been overlooked and hastened to his birth-place at Dardilly.
Thereupon the sheep went in search of their shepherd, but as soon as they discovered him in his home he fled farther away, they still following him. At last, moved by the distress which his departure had caused and the appeals made to him by the inhabitants of Ars to return to them, he concluded that it was the holy will of God that he should return and resume the heavy burden of his pastorate, from which he had hoped to be relieved. All thought they had surely won him back, but later on the Blessed Vianney made two other efforts to lay down his pastoral cares and to retire into a monastery, there to work out his own salvation. But God granted the fervent petition of the people of Ars and caused these plans to come to naught.
[C]HAPTER IV.
PILGRIMAGES TO ARS.
NOT only to the villagers, but in a greater degree to the pilgrims who journeyed to Ars, Father Vianney's departure would have been particularly disappointing. As early as the period between 1825 and 1830, these remarkable pilgrimages had taken place. So great was the multitude of people who kept coming that increased traveling accomodations had to be arranged between Ars and the outlying country places.
The pilgrims arrived from every province of France; others came from Belgium and England; some from America. At Ars one met bishops and cardinals, prefects of state, university professors, rich merchants, bankers, men and women of ancient and noble lineage, side by side with an innumerable army of priests and religious. As yet the newspapers had not published any account of the wonders accomplished there. Only by word of mouth was the fame of the curé made known, and this unending procession of pilgrims was merely the result of the personal experience of those who had already come under Father Vianney's influence.
With ever increasing wonder the new arrivals observed the great power which that humble priest exercised over souls. Every day in the aisle of the church two rows of men, numbering from sixty to a hundred, awaited their turn to go to confession in the little sacristy. If the question were put as to how long they had been waiting there the answer sometimes was: "since two o'clock in the morning," or, "since midnight, as soon as the curé had opened the church." The stranger would learn with astonishment that men from the highest walks of life had frequently waited patiently a whole day and night, not in order to assist at some great ceremony, but to submit themselves humbly to the guidance of the curé in the matter of the welfare of their souls.