Much of this little village of just 1,500 people is a shrine to the former parish priest and cure, Jean-Marie Vianney, who served in Ars sur Formans during and after the Napoleonic era and is now revered by the Catholic faith as Saint John Vianney.
The village is dominated by the 19th century Basilica of Saint Sixtus (Saint Sixte in French) which was built just three years after his death around the original 12th century church where he ministered. The body of the priest is held in a glass reliquary inside the Basilica. Close by are 3 other significant buildings being (i) the Chapel of the Heart where the Saint’s heart is kept in a second more magnificent reliquary (his heart was removed for veneration, it being normal practise in those days to bury the heart of aristocracy separately) and (ii) the presbytery (which contains many of his personal possessions) where he lived during his time as a parish priest and (iii) a semi underground church, Notre Dame de la Misericorde, which was built in 1959 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Saint.
Also near the centre of Ars sur Formans is the Monument de la Recontre , a life-size statue symbolizing the arrival of Father Jean-Marie Vianney in the village in 1818 and meeting the little shepherd Antoine Givre – “You showed me the way to Ars and I will show you the way to heaven”. There is also a superb model depicting the village as it was at that time and a Grevin Wax Museum (a bit like Madame Tussauds) which was created in 1994 and comprises 17 lifelike scenes of the Saint’s life in Ars.
All credit to Jean-Marie Vianney but, so far as I am concerned that would have been it about Ars sur Formans except that, over a cup of coffee and a crepe in the Creperie des Dombes, I got talking to a visiting Irish American priest by the name of Father Edward Murphy. ‘Father Ted’ (I mean no disrespect) talked to me a little about the life of the Saint and explained how it was that this modest little cure came to be the Patron Saint of Priests and why more than 350,000 people now make a pilgrimage to this village every year. Father Ted’s enthusiasm and love for the cure prompted me to do some research and, I’ll not go into too much detail here (you can always google him yourself), but; yes, I can see why he is revered as the Patron Saint of Priests. It is said the priest “had the power of healing and to read the hearts of his penitents”. I don’t know about that but his drive, dedication and total commitment towards his congregation appears second to none. He believed that he could do penance for his parishioners and he lived his life that way. Within a few years of arriving in Ars, his fame had spread throughout France sufficient to attract 300 visitors a day to the parish and in 1858 an estimated 100,000 pilgrims flocked to Ars. Seems to me he proved to be a legend in his own lifetime.
Vanya doesn’t have the same interest in such matters as I do but, we were never going to keep her out of the villages only creperie…
Thanks again to Father Edward Murphy for making my visit to Ars sur Formans that bit more interesting… and safe travels.