The church was equally crowded elsewhere, and it was no unusual thing to find two hundred women or more waiting their turn to confess their sins. The spectacle of those men and women absorbed in prayer continued from hour to hour and from day to day. As a rule Father Vianney heard confessions daily for sixteen and even eighteen hours and this almost superhuman practice continued for a period of thirty years.
At seven or eight o'clock in the morning the curé said Mass and gave Holy Communion. After Mass he blessed the articles of devotion presented to him at the altar rail, as well as the little children that were brought to him. At eleven o'clock he moved through the crowded ranks of those present and, ascending the pulpit, he delivered a plain but impressive sermon on the truths of holy faith. He who formerly could preach a sermon only under the greatest difficulty, now manifested an imperturbable calm and assurance, for the Divine grace so noticeably inspired his addresses that in many cases, according to the evidence of the different pilgrims themselves, it so happened that his words touched the very ones who, up to that time, had remained in their sins, and, his affecting appeal to them to consider the awful state of their souls, removed the last obstacle to their reconciling themselves to God.
At first, indeed, Father Vianney was greatly distressed when circumstances necessitated his preaching without special preparation; yet, as in this he saw only the will of God, he abandoned himself with complete resignation to the Divine plans, and thus became, although he had no suspicion of it himself, a most eloquent apostle. In his sermons he was accustomed to recall the scenes of his early life as a farmer lad, and he employed the analogies and arguments drawn from external nature and, according to his own statements, it was evident that there was nothing in the visible world that had not reminded him of God and of eternity. Besides these expressive comparisons, Father Vianney's sermons frequently described incidents drawn from his personal experience.
Thus, one day, speaking of lukewarm Christians, he said: "You there behold a tepid soul, which for the most paltry excuse starts to gossip while praying. Does this soul really offer to God the day's work? Does it return Him thanks and glorify Him? Without doubt the lips will speak the words, but for the most part no thought is given to what is said. The soul never ceases to busy itself with the things that are only of this world."
"Again," said he, "we notice a man in church, turning his hat round and round in his hand. Or, we observe in her home a woman, who said grace while cutting bread for the children or while putting wood on the fire, or she interrupts her prayers to call the help."
As a man of the people, Father Vianney knew that in order to hold their attention nothing was so serviceable as to give them a faithful portrayal of every day life. In his discourses he always reverted to the fundamental truths of faith and placed vividly before his auditors for their consideration, the four last things. Ever and anon he would return to the necessity of man's loving God; that this love ought to be as natural to men as song was to the bird. It was impossible for him to preach without referring to the unspeakable joys which arise in the soul of man through a self-sacrificing love of God.
As soon as the sermon was at an end the people hastened to the village green, where the good curé was accustomed to pass on the way to the "Providence" and to his home, delaying on the way to give advice and consolation to those who applied to him. Everyone called him "Father," a title readily admitted by all who observed his kindly manner and still, kinder speech. Father Vianney moved, slowly through the surging throng and, although he was gentleness itself, yet unabashed and obtrusive persons were now and again brought to reason by a quiet though firm answer.
Many an ingenious reply has been recorded of the good curé. A young girl who, from spiritual laziness, had submitted the question of her vocation to the good curé, asked him in a loud tone: "Father, what is my vocation to be?" To which he replied: "My child, your vocation is to get to heaven."
At a glance Father Vianney could recognize innocent souls. It was often observed how he would say suddenly to certain individuals: "Dear child, just go home; you have no need of me." Yet sixteen to eighteen hours daily hardly sufficed to allow him to attend to the distressed souls who knelt in his confessional, since for these above all God had sent the curé of Ars.
Here we arrive naturally at the important subject of the conversions that took place at Ars. Time and again the noble priest would say: "Let us pray for the conversion of sinners!" He declared that prayer for this purpose was one of the most pleasing that could be offered to the good God. Without cessation he himself prayed with this intention and took upon himself all kinds of mortification. His petitions ascended to the throne of God, who, during the thirty years of the curé's life at Ars, was pleased to send innumerable sinners to Ars to be reconciled. Many of these sank at his feet already prepared, for they had heard from others that it was sweet and easy to confess one's sins to the saintly priest and under his guidance, to repent of them with their whole heart.