The Secret of the Curé de Ars Compiled, Partially Rewritten, and Arranged by Pauly Fongemie SOURCES USED: Secrets of the Saints, Henri Ghéon, 1944; From the Housetops Magazine, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, Serial No. 53; The Life of the Curé de Ars, Abbé Alfred Monnin, 1861; and Eucharistic Meditations, Curé de Ars, Eccles. Appr. 1923 HOLY PURITY For his flock's salvation our Saint instituted daily catechesis, which in after years, was listened to to rapt attention by pilgrims of all classes and states of life, from France, Germany, Belgium, and England. Every day at noon, after the Angelus into the common room of the parish and leaning against a table he instructed children, mainly poor orphans for an hour  on the chief truths of the faith, and the fear and love of Almighty God. His concentration was on the utter happiness of serving God, the beauty of holiness, the frightful deformity of even the slightest fault, the duty to shun any occasion of sin, resisting temptation, frequenting the Sacraments, prayer, the nothingness of this world, the dignity of the soul, reverence and love for all men, and compassion for the poor. He denounced with vigor sins against holy purity: In order  to understand the full horror of these sins, which the devils tempt us to commit, but which they do not commit themselves, we must know what it is to be a Christian,---a Christian, created to the image of God! a Christian, the child of God, the brother of God, the heir of God! a Christian, the object of the complacency of the Three Divine Persons! a Christian, whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost: this is what is dishonoured by sin. We were created to reign one day in Heaven; and if we are so miserable as to fall into this sin, we become the abode of devils. Our Lord has said that nothing impure shall enter into His kingdom. And how, indeed, shall a soul which has wallowed in this filth appear before the pure and holy God?  There are some souls so utterly dead and corrupt, that they grovel in their pollution without perceiving it, and without having any power to free themselves from it. Everything leads them to evil; everything, even the most holy things, reminds them of evil: they have these abominations continually before their eyes, like an unclean animal which delights and wallows in filth. Such souls are abhorrent to the eyes of God and His holy Angels.   See, my children, our Lord was covered with thorns to expiate our sins of pride; but for this accursed sin He was scourged and torn to pieces, for He tells us Himself, that after His scourging they might have numbered all His bones. O my children, were there not a few pure souls here and there to make amends to the good God, and disarm His justice, you would see how we should be punished! For now this crime is so common in the world, it is enough to make one tremble.   We may say, my children, that Hell is vomiting its abominations upon earth, as a steam-vessel pours forth its smoke. The devil does all he can to pollute our soul, and yet our soul is our all; our body is but a mass of corruption: go to the churchyard, and see what it is we love when we love our body.    As I have often told you, there is nothing so vile as an impure soul. Those who have lost their purity are like a piece of cloth steeped in oil; you may wash it and dry it, but the stain will always come out again upon it. and so it needs a miracle to cleanse the impure soul.   There is nothing so beautiful as a pure soul. Did we but understand this, we should never lose our purity. The pure soul is disengaged from matter, from earthly things, and from itself. Therefore it is that the Saints have always ill-treated their bodies; therefore did they refuse them all but what was strictly necessary; such for example as to rise five minutes later, to warm themselves, to eat any thing they liked. See, what the body loses, the soul gains; and what the body gains, the soul loses. Purity comes from Heaven; we must ask it of God. If we ask it, we shall obtain it. We must take great care lest we lose it. We must shut our heart against pride, sensuality, and all other passions, as we close our doors and windows against the entrance of robbers. What joy is it to a guardian Angel to have the care of a pure soul! My children, when a soul is pure, all the court of Heaven looks upon it with joy.   Pure souls shall form a circle round our Lord. The purer we have been on earth, the nearer shall we be to Him in Heaven. When the heart is pure, it cannot help loving, because it has found the source of love, which is God Himself. 'Blessed,' says our Lord, 'are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.'  My children, we do not understand the power which a pure soul has over the heart of God. It does not do the Will of God, but God does its will. Look at Moses, that most pure soul! When God would have punished the Jewish people, He said: 'Pray not for them; for Mine anger must burst forth against this people.' Yet Moses did pray, and God spared His people. He suffered Himself to be appeased. He could not resist the prayer of that pure soul. O my children! a soul which has never been stained by that accursed sin obtains all it will from God. To preserve purity, three things are necessary: the practice of the presence of God, prayer, and the Sacraments; and again, the reading of holy books---this nourishes the soul." Of pride he would speak as one who well knew the human heart: "Pride is that accursed sin which drew the Angels out of Paradise, and cast them down into Hell. This sin began with the world itself. "See, my children, we sin by pride in many different ways. One person will show pride in his dress, in his language, in his manner, even in his way of walking. Some people walk in the street with an air which seems to say to all who look at them. 'See how tall I am; how stately I am; how gracefully I walk!' Others, when they have done any thing well, are never tired of talking of it; and if they fail are miserable, and think that people will have a bad opinion of them. Others are ashamed to be seen with the poor, and always seek the society of the rich. If by chance they are admitted into some great house, they boast of it, and take pride in it. Others take pride in talking. If they are going to visit some rich person, they examine what they are going to say, they study fine language; and if they are at a loss for a word, they are mortified, and fear to be laughed at. But, my children, this is not the way with a humble person. Whether he is laughed at, or esteemed, or praised, or blamed, or honoured, or despised, or attended to, or neglected, it is all one to him. "My children, there are some again who give large alms, to gain credit by it. You must not do so. These people will gain no fruit by their good works. On the contrary, their alms will turn into sin.   "My children, a proud person always thinks that what he does is done well. He wishes to domineer over all who come in his way; he is always in the right; always thinks his own opinion worth more than other people's. This is not the way to go on. A humble, well-informed person, if his opinion is asked, gives it in all simplicity, and then leaves others to give theirs. Whether they are right or wrong, he says no more. "St. Aloysius Gonzaga, when he was a student, if found fault with on any occasion, never tried to excuse himself. He said what he thought, and never troubled himself about what others might think; if he was wrong, he was wrong; if he was right, he would say to himself, I have often been wrong before.' "My children, the Saints were so dead to themselves, that they cared very little whether others were of their opinion or not. People in the world say, 'Oh, the Saints were simple!' Yes, they were simple in the things of the world; but as to the things of God, they understood them well. They knew nothing about the things of the world,---true enough; because they thought them of so little importance that they paid no attention to them." [Monnin] SIN "See, my children, how sin degrades man. Of an Angel, created to love God, it makes a demon who will curse Him throughout all eternity. Oh, if Adam, our first father, had never sinned, and if we did not sin daily, how happy should we be! We should be as happy as the Saints in Heaven. There would not be an unhappy person upon earth. Oh, how blessed would this be! "It is sin, my children, which brings all calamities upon us, and every kind of scourge,---war, pestilence, famine, earthquakes, fire, hail, storms, tempests,---every thing which brings suffering and distress upon us. See, my children, a person in a state of sin is always unhappy. He may do what he will, but he is weary and disgusted with every thing; while he who is at peace with God is always content, always joyful. O blessed life! and blessed death!   "My children, we are afraid of death,---and no wonder. It is sin which makes us fear death; it is sin which makes death fearful and terrible; it is sin which affrights; the sinner at the moment of that last dreadful passage. And, O my God, there is cause enough for fear. To think that he is accursed---accursed of God! The thought makes one tremble. Accursed of God! And why? Why do men run the risk of being accursed of God? For a blasphemy, an evil thought, a bottle of  wine, a moment of pleasure. For a moment's pleasure, to lose God, the soul, and Heaven forever! We shall see our father, our mother, our sister, our neighbour, who dwelt so near to us, ascend to Heaven, body and soul; while we shall descend body and soul into Hell, there to burn for ever and ever. The devils will seize hold of us. All the devils whose counsels we have followed will come to torment us.   "My children, if you were to see a man preparing a large pile, heaping fagots one upon another, and he were to tell you, 'I am making ready a fire to burn myself,' what would you think of him? And if you were to see this same man approach the pile when lighted, and throw himself into the flames, what would you think of him? We do the same when we commit sin. It is not God Who casts us into Hell; we throw ourselves into it by our sins. The lost will say, 'I have lost God, my soul, and Heaven, by my fault, by my fault, by my grievous fault.' He will spring upward from the furnace, only to fall back into it again. He will feel an eternal craving to rise, because he was created for God, the greatest and most exalted of beings, the Most High,---as a bird in a room flies up to the ceiling and falls back again. The justice of God is the ceiling which imprisons the damned. "There is no need to prove the existence of Hell. Our Lord speaks of it Himself in the history of the wicked rich man, who cried, 'Lazarus, Lazarus!' We know very well that there is a Hell; but we live as if there were none; we sell our souls for a few pieces of money. We put off our conversion till the hour of death; but who can assure us that we shall have time and strength at that fearful moment, which all the Saints have dreaded, and at which the powers of Hell, knowing that it is the decisive point on which eternity depends, gather themselves together for their last assault? "There are many who have lost faith, and never see Hell till they enter it. They receive the last Sacraments; but ask them whether they have committed such or such a sin. Oh, get an answer if you can! "The elect are like the ears of corn which escape from the reaper's hand, and like the bunches of grapes left after the vintage; the damned are like the sheaves piled up in the granary, or the grapes pressed down in the wine-vats. They fall into Hell fast as the snow-flakes on a winter's day. A Saint was asked, at the moment of death, at what he was looking so fixedly. " 'Oh,' replied he, 'how terrible are the judgments of God!' "St. Hilarion said, "'Therefore dost thou fear, O my soul? For eighty years hast thou served the Lord.' "And we,---perhaps we have never served the good God as we ought for two days! There are some who offend God every moment of their lives; their heart swarms with sins, as an ant-hill with ants. "No, truly, if sinners would but think of eternity,---of that terrible for ever,---they would be converted at once. Cain has been in Hell these six thousand years, and he is but at the entrance. Those who do some good, who have some virtue, spoil it all by self-love; these are good works lost. My children, we sprinkle pride, like salt, over all that we do. We like our good works to be known. If your virtues are seen, you rejoice; if your defects are perceived, you are sad. I observe this in a great many people; a single word of blame disturbs and disquiets them. This was not the way with the Saints; they were pained if their virtues were known, and pleased that their imperfections should be seen. The devil writes down our sins, our Angel guardians all our merits. It is certain that all the thoughts and actions of our life are written down; let us labour that the Angel guardian's book may be full, and the devil's empty." [Monnin] VIEW THE IMAGE PLAIN IN FULL COLOR Our Saint belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis, thus the background. Continued forward. Mail HOME-----------PRIESTS-------------SAINTS www.catholictradition.org/Priests/vianney4.htm