20 October - Pauline and the Curé of Ars (May 8, 1786 - August 4, 1859)

It is possible to trace the links between St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney, the Curé d'Ars, and Pauline Marie Jaricot, by retracing a few episodes from their lives, apparently connect by Providence and mutual influence. Of course, it is impossible to summarize everything that linked these two extraordinary characters and how they influenced their contemporaries by putting themselves at their service.

One of the encounters with "Monsieur Vianney" that left a lasting impression on Pauline was when he came to say, Mademoiselle, the poor are hungry and I am coming for my poor. “Pauline went out and returned a few moments later carrying a sealed envelope, which she handed to the Curé. The young girl, as if she had foreseen her future trials, felt gently attracted by the priest's kindly gaze... Already, a discreet sympathy for this man who lived only for others was germinating in her. Thus, in the old Jaricot home, for the first time the young curate of Ecully met Pauline”. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d´Ars and Pauline Jaricot, Lyon, Ed. & Imprimies du Sud-Est, 1952).

When Jean-Marie Vianney received his appointment as the Parish Priest of Ars-en-Dombes, he was warned of the difficulties he would encounter: "But, you know, my poor Vianney, this is a very poor parish. They don't like God there. You will have a hard time, and it is a parish with no resources, only 500 francs a year. The answer is clear: "Mr. Courbon, [the vicar general] it is too much honor for me. It is everything I dreamed of. We will make them love the Good Lord. As for money... I have always preferred poverty. I will be in my element." (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 30). Once in Ars, Jean-Marie Vienney spent a lot of time in church, praying in front of the tabernacle, praying for sinners especially in the silence of the night: My God, I agree to suffer, for a hundred years, the most acute pains, provided they convert (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 36). He attacked dances, cabarets and everything that could lead his parishioners away from Jesus Christ. To rout the devil, it is necessary to bring penitence in eating and drinking. He simplified his meals, cooked a week's worth of potatoes in his own pot, and put them in an iron basket hanging on the wall. He only ate two of them, the third would have been for pleasure, and he ate them cold, covered with mold. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d’Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 41)

The Curé d'Ars adopted a simple, poor and even penitential lifestyle. As some people of the time did discreetly, he scourges himself to the point of blood, provoking real suffering and an object of pain. He trembled in every fiber of his being. The fever of the expiation seized him... He bent under the beam of this voluntary test, identified himself with Christ on the cross... in the delirium of forgiveness, of mercy that he implored, he turned his own arm ready to strike on himself.  (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 47) In the village, rumors were spreading. For some, he was a sensation, an extraordinary man who fasted, slept on a plank, and whipped himself practically to death. It is said that he did this for sinners. Some people found this curious, because one has never seen such a priest, never has a priest taken such an interest in the salvation of his parishioners (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 49). Soon, laughter and blasphemy will fade away. No more murders, no more drunkenness. Disputes became rare, but the devil does not admit to being defeated. Moreover, the poor of Ars flocked to the Curé and soon the funds were exhausted.-

When Father Vianney arrived in Lyon, he went to say Mass at Fourvière and asked Pauline Jaricot for help once again. Before answering the priest's request, Pauline shared her thoughts on raising funds for the missions. She said to him: "I have good news to tell you: my brother Philéas, who was a real worldly man, has converted and has vowed to devote his life to the service of the poor. He received a letter from a Mr. Rondet beggning him to provide subsidies for the Missions by setting up a small society to collect funds. This commission embarrasses my brother... I read in a Missions Bulletin that the Protestants have in their temples in England a box in which they are advised to deposit a penny each Sunday for the Missions. You can see the value that this small offering multiplied to infinity can form. If a collection were made every Sunday, and all the people of Lyon put in a penny, what a sum at the end of the year! (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 51).

Vianney encouraged Pauline, even though she was afraid that the money collected would not be enough to meet the unlimited needs of the missions. The Curé d'Ars saw this as a work of God and the beginning of a great work. Leave it to God, Mademoiselle. He will know how to find his instrument. Persevere. Do not be put off by the difficulties. Your work will grow. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 52). Pauline will now have a clear vision of the plan she must adopt. Each person who accepts Pauline's project will have to find ten associates who agree to give one penny each per week. Trusted persons will receive the funds from the ten and then pass them on to There needs to be a trusted person who agrees to receive from ten leaders of tens the collection of their associates and a leader who gathers the collections of ten leaders of hundreds to pay the whole to a common centre.

When Pauline communicated this project to Abbot Würtz, he replied, my dear Pauline, you are too stupid to have invented this plan. So it must come from God. Therefore, not only do I allow you, but I strongly urge you to carry it out. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 53). Later, when Pauline sees herself ousted from her work, in order to reduce the inner revolt of her nature, she mortifies herself following the example of her friend Vianney. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 58).

In all her misfortunes, Pauline was accompanied by her friend, the Curé d'Ars, who had an astonishing knowledge of souls and who so often locked himself behind the screened window [the confessional] eighteen hours in a row  to hear the request for forgiveness from penitents. Sometimes they had to wait several days before the Curé d'Ars was able to hear theri confession. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 61) Astonishingly diverse groups of people crowded in line to the confession box where the poor priest sat, exhausted from fasting and all nigh vigils. There were no holidays for the man chained night and day to his ministry, no walks, no distraction, no entertainment, no friends; only the pain of being immersed in the mud of souls. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 66). This is no doubt a bit of an exaggeration. Indeed, Ars had become the village where people go to see a curé phénomène (op. Cit., pp. 78-79), an extraordinary cure, who works miracles. He reads souls, his word attracts and persuades the sinner to take a path of conversion and repentance. This is how the Curé d'Ars destroyed the kingdom of the devil (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 129).

Pauline was a reliable friend; the Curé d'Ars knew that he could count on her. He thought of her, interceded for her, especially when he knew that she was ill. For the Curé d'Ars, she was the creature whom he saw die to herself and disappear to allow Christ to live in her (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 90). He invited her to do as the poor do when the gloom of financial difficulties threatened her plans to provide for the destitute.  (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 134): Borrow from the Wounds of the Savior to pay your debts. Deny yourself. Do not hold on to anything you do, but to God alone. Suffer annoyances with a cheerful face. We are fiery because we are proud. Be patient. This is the way to renounce yourself. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 92.)

Pauline was generous to the poor, as was the Curé d'Ars, who considered the pocket of his cassock to be like a shuttle. Money is constantly going in and out for the poor. In the evening, he counts his profits. If he has nothing left, he borrows..." (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 68)

Pauline prays constantly for her friend and he prays for her, especially since 1830 when a revolutionary insurgency ignited. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 98) The Curé d'Ars gives and shares with others like the ocean that receives all the waters of the earth and returns them all to heaven (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 99). While Pauline prayed that the evil spirits would leave the city of Lyon, in the small village of Ars, people prayed and did penance (see Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 73).

Pauline and the holy pastor of Ars were alike in many ways, despite the striking contrasts between the poor man from Ecully and the seductive daughter of a silk manufacturer. Between the man chained in his confessional fighting day and night for the salvation of sinners and leading them to forgiveness, and the woman weighed-down by her debts, harassed by her creditors on the streets of Lyons. Between the small patched-up priest who pursued his marathon in the confessional and the victim betrayed by moneymen. They are magnificent in trial, ruin, deprivation, misery, abandonment, destitution, and in the darkness. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 130). The Curé d'Ars was undoubtedly right to say to Pauline, God will one day return to you all that you have sacrificed for him. She, in turn, will have learnt the lesson of her friend, the Curé d'Ars, when he pointed to a wooden cross and asked her to take it as her motto until the end: God alone as my witness and Mary as my support. After that, nothing. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 140.)

Pauline appears as an ardent soul, thirsting for life (to love and to be loved), and a great soul, which does nothing by halves and triumphs over itself.  Either love will be its God or God will be its love. (Jean Barbier, Le Curé d'Ars et Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 148). Like the Curé d'Ars, Pauline built inner castles in silence and love, revealing the power of love, the power of the Gospel, which one can live by if one sincerely welcomes Jesus Christ in the depths of one's heart and allows him to live there.