Quigley Preparatory Seminary - La Petit Seminaire Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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X 61 Wt 'W CLUQ eelfl . Ufl CL CU1 On the thrrd floor of the Lrttle Semrnary at the south end of the East wrng stands the ascetrc Cure d Ars sculptured rn stone l.rke a guard ran angel he seems to be watchrng over the senror classes When a senror kneels before hrs shrme the Cure peers down the long corrrdor hrs merry eyes seem to twrnkle beneath hrs heavy eyelrds when he notrces semrnarrans rokrng laughrng or roshrng each other On other occa srons when small knots of students drscuss some rmmrnent tests or examrnatron wrth worrred looks and anxrous questions the Cure s deep sunk eyes almost appear to share therr concern He too knew what rt meant to struggle wrth l.atrn and wrestle wrth Greek On strll other occasrons when a semrnarran rs harrred wrth doubt or tempta tron the Cure s eyes shoot forth sparks ol anger armed at the Tempter for darrng to rnterfere wrth the work of God rn a semrnarran s soul Through out hrs lrle even as a prrest the Cure had many 10 vrctorrous tussles wrth the devrl One of the rm portant lessons we can learn from the parrsh prrest of Ars rs hrs technrque of passrng success fully the test ol temptatron St ean Vranney rs one of Qurgley s specral patrons Throughout our frnal year we have darly passed hrs shrrne on our way to class to chapel to lunch or to play Many a trme we saluted hrm wrth a whrspered eraculatron or a frrendly gesture when we had no trme for a longer chat We have looked to hrm as our lrrend we have consulted hrm as a drrector we have held hrm up as a model and we have prayed to hrm as asarnt From our study of hrs lrfewe realrze that there can be more rmportant goals than hrgh grades and scholarshrp Among these goals are love ol goodness and attarnment of sanctrty other names lor love of God Lrke the Cure we hope to burn out our lrves lrke vrgrl lrghts rn the servrce of God and men Complete dedrcatron to God complete rdentr hcatron of hrmself wrth Chrrst these are the marks of a holy man These are frngerprrnts of a sarnt Even the ungodly can recognrze holrness and thrs happened also to St ean Vranney Une day there came to Ars an athrest who was both acynrc and skeptrc Thrs man had heard of hrs power to read and move hearts and ol hrs nearness to God Thrs cynrc came to see the Cure to whose conlessronal thousands of people from France and Europe had worn a prlgrrm path of penrtence However the athrest came not as a penrtent to honor the Cure as a man of God but rather as an un belrever to expose the man of Ars as a fraud and hypocrrte After spendrng a week at Ars scrutrnrzrng wrth a frne crrtrcal lens the work of thrs holy prrest a week durrng durrng whrch he searched only for flaws and shortcomrngs the cynrc returned home He was asked by an acquarntance Well what drd you see at Ars7 Aftera pause the cynrc sard rn a hush of awe l have seen od rn a man' But the work of holrness the purpose ol a semrnarran and prrest rs the task of a lrletrme Even the sarnts started lrlerust as one of us Thrs obvrous fact startles us rnto the realrzatron that we too can become sarnts wrth the help of God Lowly unausprcrous begrnnrngs seem to be the normal thrng for sarnts as well as For m M 1 - ' A .Q I 1' h' in ' -J QQ .I . .I . 92061. .' I . ' . . .

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EWU HHS

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most men So rt was wrth ean Marre Vranney Throughout hrs lrfe he felt a revulsron for srn, rt was only frttrng that on the same day of hrs brrth he should be relreved of orrgrnal srn through the sacrament of Baptrsm Drvrne Provr dence frttrngly arranged that the man who spent the best part of hrs lrfe rn forgrvrng the srns of others would be freed from all starn of srn soon after hrs brrth On that occasron hrs lrfe was dedrcated to God by hrs good parents a dedr catron that he fostered untrl rt blossomed rnto the prresthood and later rnto sarnthood For ean Marre however lrfe was not to be easy even though he was destrned one day to be revered by Catholrcs all over the world as a great warrror of God ln 17th century France rt was not easy for a person to be a Catholrc much less a sarnt A worldly antr clerrcal attr tude held France rn a paralyzrng grrp of materralrsm cholcrng even the best rntentroned efforts to rarse the sprrrtual level of the people The crvrl constrtutron of the clergy sent the truly good Catholrc prrests rnto hrdrng Yet from such a darlc sprrrtual frrmament ean Marre would eventually emerge lrlce a star of hope to show men the way to God Fortunately the future sarnt had as the frrst seed bed of hrs vocatron a holy fhrrstran home Hrs were God fearrng parents There were srx chrldren rn the Vranney famrly each one of whom had been dedrcated even before brrth to the Blessed Vrrgrn Such chrldlrlce devotron to the mother of God was rnstrlled early and fostered frequently by the recrtatron of the famrly rosary rn therr humble farmhouse From hrs own famrly lrfe the Cure realrzed the rmportance of sanctrty rn the home l medrately after hrs apporntment to Ars he strove to brrng the Chrrstran sprrrt rnto the famrlres of the parrsh Holrness comes from God but God worlcs through human agents and one of the chref agents rn the natural order rs the home Here the soul rs prepared for the seed of voca tron as the farmsorl rs ploughed and furrowed and sweetened for the sprrng plantmg Often rt rs the good example and prayers of hrs parents that rnclrne a boy to enter the semrnary Count less sacrrfrces are made by the parents of sem rnarrans for therr sons On hrs part the semrn arran ne cl only turn to hrs model the Cure to see what rt means to be a grateful and good son Characterrstrc of the sarnt were perfect obedrence and ready submrssron to the wrll of hrs parents From the trme he was only erghteen months old ean Marre was accustomed to kneel wrth hrs famrly at nrght prayers Truly the famrly that prays together not only stays together but draws closer to Almrghty God The boy s respect and reverence for the prresthood was deepened by a dramatrc rncrdent when he was about twelve Because of the antr clerrcal sprrrt prrests were forced to say Mass and confer sacraments under cover of secrecy But even though the open practrce of relrgron was not permrtted good Catholrcs and devoted prrests managed to frnd means and meetrng places to carry on drvrne worshrp The prrest would send word ahead of hrs comrng to a communrty then the news was buzzed from one farmhouse to another by word of mouth On the appornted day the prrest rn cognrto would be met at a predesrgnated spot and talcen to a farmhouse that had been chosen as the meetrngplace The Vranney home very often was the spot at whrch the prrest was rn vrted to stay when he came to that farm drs trrct After Mass confessrons baptrsms and marrrages the prrest would stay a short trme and malce arrangements to move on ean Marre was chosen to lead the prrest away at dusk rn order to allay susprcron and to avord undue danger of drscovery and embarrassrng questrons Even as a young lad ean was actrng as a Commando for Chrrst So far as exercrse was concerned most of the young boys trme was spent rn farm chores ploughrng plantrng weedrng seedrng or har vestrng rn mrllcrng cows groomrng horses feed rng chrclcens or gatherrng eggs Although hrs chores drd not permrt hrm trme to engage rn many sports the Cure as a young man was slcrlled at quorts a game srmrlar to horseshoes and very popular rn France at that trme l'le was an example of what today we mrght term a good sport Andre Provrn one of the Cure s playmates sard He was very good at the game and won wrth ease When we lost we were sad and when he saw our depressron the Cure would say Well you should not have played Then to comfort us he would grve baclx what he had won always addrng a sou over 11 1 ' 1 . . . 1 , . Af 1 1 ' 1 1 - 1 , . - 1 ' ' I 1 1 ' - 1 ' - 1 1 - ' 1 1 1 1 1 . . r . . 1 1 1 1 ' . m' j , , ' , . . . r - 1 1 I 1 . . . as rr r . r 1 ' 1 . . . u . , . - ' 1 .. u 1 ' 1 1 . . . . . u . . , - . . - r . as an Q '- 1 1