WELCOME PROGRAMME WHY A VISIT? CORK • Sunday, 25 April 2010 The visit of the relic of St is an occasion to gather and to enter into prayer for three main intentions: St Francis Church, Liberty Street The Year for Priests, which began on the Feast of the Theme: Vocations to the Priesthood 1. An invitation to holiness for all ‘I will show you Sacred Heart 19 June 2009, is a call to renewal and Every priest, every consecrated person, faithful to his or her the way to heaven’ J-M Vianney. conversion. Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his hope vocation, radiates the joy of serving Christ and draws all 2. Prayer for priests (by the priests themselves and that the Year for Priests will support the faithfulness Christians to respond to the universal call to holiness. the People of God for priests) ‘The priesthood is the and holiness of priests, and deepen their commitment POPE BENEDICT XVI, love of the heart of Jesus’ J-M Vianney. to ‘interior renewal for the sake of a more forceful and MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS (2010) 3. Prayer for vocations to the priesthood ‘The Curé of Ars remains for all countries, a model without incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world’. DUBLIN • Monday, 26 April 2010 equal for the achievement of his ministry and the The Year for Priests is an opportunity for the whole holiness of the minister’ John Paul II. Church to seek a holier and renewed priesthood. The Church of St John Vianney, Ardlea shameful acts that have come to light in recent times Theme: Social Outreach of the Curé of Ars As we pray through the intercession of John Vianney we have caused much scandal and distress. The Year, …he regularly visited the sick and families, organised remember that by baptism we are all a priestly people, all therefore, offers laity and priests a chance to become popular missions and patronal feasts, collected and called to holiness of life, whether lay or ordained. Since no truly a ‘chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a managed funds for charitable and missionary works, priest is ordained in isolation but belongs to a whole people of God’s own’ that St Peter talks about in his embellished and furnished his parish church, cared for the network of relationships in the Church, the visit of the Letter. orphans and teachers of the Providence (an institute he relics reminds us to pray especially for those who are This Year for Priests was declared so as to founded); provided for the education of children; founded ordained to preach the Gospel, lead us in faith, and confraternities and enlisted lay persons to work at his side. minister the sacraments so as to make God’s grace visible commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of POPE BENEDICT XVI, in the world, that they will be faithful, joyful, and life-giving the Curé of Ars, St John Mary Vianney, patron of parish LETTER PROCLAIMING THE YEAR FOR PRIESTS, 2009 servants of God’s Kingdom. priests worldwide. He was a humble and sincere priest who carried out his ministry in the spiritual decline KNOCK • Tuesday, 27 April 2010 following on the French Revolution. He lived a life of Our Lady’s , Knock service, penance and prayer, transforming his parish WHAT IS A RELIC? and making it a centre of pilgrimage and healing. Theme: The Sacrament of Reconciliation • A relic is a physical and personal memorial of a . It is a tangible reminder of the life of the saint who, ultimately, It is in this context that the Bishops of Ireland have It is not the sinner who returns to God to beg his forgiveness, but God himself who runs after the sinner points beyond him-herself to God. The are arranged a visit of the Relics of the Curé of Ars to our honoured as intercessors with God and we can pray to and makes him return. country. We welcome these sacred relics and pray God asking the support and assistance of their prayers. ST JOHN VIANNEY that this visit will offer all of us an occasion to renew Our belief in the Communion of Saints is an important the priesthood in Ireland. aspect of our faith. It makes us conscious of our fellowship ARMAGH • Wednesday, 28 April 2010 with holy men and women down through the ages. May the visit of his relics to Cork, Dublin, Knock St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh • The relic of the Curé of Ars (his heart) is a sign: it is an and Armagh be moments of grace and renewal for invitation to prayer and an invitation to follow the saints. priests and people. Theme: The Eucharist and Pastoral Leadership The Curé does not draw us to himself but to the Lord. Consequently, the nature and mission of the ministerial The heart symbolises the whole person, especially that ✠ priesthood cannot be defined except through this multiple which is deepest in the person, the place where God Philip Boyce OCD gives himself and where he pours out his love for us. and rich interconnection of relationships which arise from Bishop of Raphoe • The veneration of relics is not an end in itself just as the Chairman of Episcopal Commission for Clergy the Blessed Trinity and are prolonged in the communion of saints’ lives do not find their complete end in themselves. the Church, as a sign and instrument of Christ, of They have God as their reference point and it is only communion with God and of the unity of all humanity. from this perspective that we can appreciate their lives. POPE JOHN PAUL II, PASTORES DABO VOBIS, 1992 YEAR FOR PRIESTS BIOGRAPHY

• The Year for Priests was declared by Pope Benedict XVI and began on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday St John Vianney 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy – and will finish on 11 June 2010.

• The Pope inaugurated the Year by presiding at Vespers in St Peter’s Basilica Curé of Ars • John Vianney where the relics of the Curé of Ars were Born 8 May 1786 (Dardilly, near Lyons, ), the third of six brought for the occasion by Bishop Guy children, son of Matthieu Vianney and Marie Beluze. The Vianneys Bagnard of Belley-Ars, France. were Catholics who helped the poor and gave hospitality to Saint Benedict Joseph Labre who passed through Dardilly on his pilgrimage to . • The Year for Priests is meant to deepen By 1790 the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide the commitment of all priests to interior from the government in order to carry out the sacraments in their renewal for the sake of a stronger and parish. The Vianneys continued attending Mass, even though it was illegal. In order to attend Mass, the Vianneys travelled to distant farms more incisive witness to the Gospel in where they would pray in secret. today’s world. John Vianney encountered great difficulty with the academic lessons necessary to be ordained. His preparations for ordination • ‘The priesthood is the love of the heart of were also interrupted by conscription into the Imperial Army of Jesus’, was an expression of St John Napoleon Bonaparte. After much difficulty he was ordained a priest on 12 August 1815. Vianney. He was appointed parish priest of Ars, a town of 230 people. As the pastor of Ars, John Vianney realised that the Revolution’s For further information on the aftermath resulted in religious ignorance and poor religious practice, © MCzarnecki 2010 www.seraphicrestorations.com Year for Priests see due to many years of the destruction of the in France. John Vianney came to be known internationally and people www.catholicbishops.ie travelled from distant places to consult him as early as 1827. By 1855, and the number of pilgrims had reached twenty thousand a year. During www.annussacerdotalis.org the last ten years of his life, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day in the confessional. He also had a great devotion to Saint Philomena. He yearned for the contemplative life of a monk, and four times ran Visit of the Relics away from Ars, the last time in 1853. On 4 August 1859, John Vianney died at age 73. He became internationally notable for his priestly and pastoral Ireland work in his parish (Ars) because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortification, and persevering ministry 25–28 April 2010 in the sacrament of confession. On 8 January 1905 Pope Pius X beatified him; in 1925 Pope Pius XI canonised him, and assigned 8 August as his feast day. He was Year for Priests finally made of parish priests in 1929.