THE CURE DARS

The chief labour of the Cure d’Ars was the direction of souls He had not been long at Ars when people began coming to him from other parishes then from distant places then from all parts of France and finally from other countries As early as 1835 his bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder During the last ten years of his life he spent from sixteen to eighteen hours a day in the confessional His advice was sought by bishops priests religious young men and women in doubt as to their vocation sinners persons in all sorts of difficulties and the sick In 1855 the number of pilgrims had reached twenty thousand a yearHis direction was characterized by common sense remarkable insight and supernatural knowledge He would sometimes divine sins withheld in an imperfect confession His instructions were simple in language full of imagery drawn from daily life and country scenes but breathing faith and that love of God which was his life principle and which he infused into his audience as much by his manner and appearance as by his words for at the last his voice was almost inaudibleThe miracles recorded by his biographers are of three classes First the obtaining of money for his charities and food for his orphans secondly supernatural knowledge of the past and future thirdly healing the sick especially childrenThe greatest miracle of all was his life He practised mortification from his early youth and for forty years his food and sleep were insufficient humanly speaking to sustain life And yet he laboured incessantly with unfailing humility gentleness patience and cheerfulness until he was more than seventythree years old