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

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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

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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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and above This rncrdent rs typical of the Cure he was both a good wrnner and a good loser He found time to do all hrs dutres and chores and strll had trme left over for sports He prayed hard worlced hard and played hard This attr tude of frrst things frrst rs an rndrcatron of pru dence that should be associated wrth every good semrnarran Even games can be excellent prayers rf offered to God As regards studres the Cure can be consrd ered the patron of students who have trouble rn passing It seems that hrs drffrculty stemmed from the fact that hrs theology subjects were taught mostly rn Latrn whereas hrs baclcground rn this language was consrdered wealc Consequently he often missed Id9GS or proofs because of the language problem ln fact rt was only because of the persistent efforts of hrs frrend and pastor that the seminary continued to carry hrm and to re examine hrm Even before hrs ordrnatron the Seminary authorrtres submitted the case of the Cure to the Bishop Because of the great need of prrests rn France and because of the lads holmess obedience and marlced devotion to Mary the Bishop made an exception rn hrs for all eternrty The tendency of some students rs to conclude from this case that only the prayer ful side of the Cures nature counted But rn addrtron to hrs effrcacrous prayers the young man studied hard and worlced hard He met wrth farlure after farlure but he never qurt He didn t leave the taslc of passrng completely to hrs prayers and to God He drd all rn hrs power That rs why God went to such great lengths to help hrm God saw that the perseverance of the Cure could be put to important sprrrtual use rn parrsh lrfe For the same perseverance whrch he had once applied to studres the Cure later applied to rooting out srnful dances talcrng place rn hrs parrsh That Flght agarnst srn seemed even more hopeless than hrs frght agarnst studres It toolc hrm twenty frve years to stop srnful dancrng com pletely but he never gave up Eventually he had the consolation of seeing that another occa sron of srn had been abolished Lrlcewrse the worlc we do now the vrrtues we practrce the lcnowleclge we acqurre will be used rn ods Providence for the accomplrshment of Hrs worlc 17 rn Hrs way That rs why the student who has troubles wrth studres must persevere no matter how many farlures he recerves That rs also why the Grade A student must contrnue to grve hrs best effort God wrll malce use of hrm and hrs lcnowledge and hrs vrrtues just as He made such effective use of the sarntly Cure s perseverance The foundation of a priestly lrfe rs holmess therefore the desrre to be holy and the effort to attarn sanctity are a sure barometer of the candidate s srncerrty Devotion to the Mass to the Sacraments to the Real Presence to the Blessed Lady to prayer and medrtatron the prompt repellrng of temptatrons all these are telltale clues that help to solve that beautrful mystery of sanctity How drd the Cure meet the challenge of our Lord Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father rs perfect 7 First of all the Mass rs the most important part of a semrnarran s day This fact must be come a deep seated convrctron my day my lrfe revolves around the Mass Hrs thought should be gurded to flow from one day s Mass to the next hrs lrfe must be channeled to lrve out the exhortatrons of each day s Mass The eternal as the humble Cure drd rn hrs country church can grve hrm strength endurance wisdom and rncentrve to contrnue hrs studres It rs rnterestrng to note that although the Cure lrved rn com plete poverty hrmself he insisted that only the most beautrful vestments avarlable be bought for the celebratron of the Holy Sacrifice How rnsprrrng rt would be to watch the Cure cele bratrng Mass enraptured rn what he was doing' Hrs deep convrctron would certainly rnsprre us to be more devout whrle attending the daily sacrrfrce and while recervrng our Lord rn Holy Communion Besides Mass and Communion a srncere sem rnarran realizes rt rs necessary to malce a weelcly confessron to a regular confessor The Cure felt most strongly that a regular confessor was neces sary for concernrng one penrtent he sard that he would rather that She should not malce her Easter dutres than that she should go to another confessor Besides regular confessors Quigley semrnarrans are fortunate enough to have sprrrtual drrectors to help them Through therr trmely rnstructrons fatherly gurdance and . I , ' I I. - . I - - I - . I . - f ' I I - - , , , I - ' 1 I I ' : ll . . . . .. I . . . . . . . . , . case, an exception for which we can thanlc God Sacrifice which he one clay hopes to offer, just I I - ' 1 . . . . . . . , . I . I , - 1 . . . . . . . I I - I ll I , I . , . , , , . . - G 7 . . . , ,