The Incorrupt Heart of St. John Vianney

I found a link to this CNS article at the Spirit Daily web site (for the full article, go to http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0605753.htm):

Thousands visit Long Island church to see sainted priest's heart

By Lena Pennino
Catholic News Service

MERRICK, N.Y. (CNS) -- More than 5,000 people entered Cure of Ars Church in Merrick Oct. 7-9 to pray before St. John Vianney's heart, and the pastor expected thousands more by Oct. 11, when the incorrupt relic of the sainted 19th-century French priest would end its visit and be taken to Boston.

St. John (Jean-Marie Baptiste) Vianney, who died in 1859, is widely known to Catholics as the Cure (parish priest) of Ars. He won over the hearts of his villagers in France by visiting with them, teaching them about God and reconciling people to the Lord in the confessional.

This was the first time that his heart has been brought to the United States. It is usually kept in the basilica in Ars near the incorrupt -- miraculously undecayed -- body of the saint. Pilgrims who wanted to see the relic waited in a long line leading up to the church entrance. After kneeling before the heart in prayer, many stayed to go to confession. In his life St. John Vianney often heard confessions for 16 to 18 hours a day.

I didn't know until I read this that St. John Vianney's body was incorrupt. How interesting that his heart is apparently kept in a separate reliquary near--not in--his body. And what a great priveledge that the relic could be brought to our own shores for veneration! It's a marvelous sign given to us of God's intention to fully restore us in both body and soul.

My own physical heart, like the hearts of many billions descended from Adam, will very probably rot in a grave along with the rest of my body. My spiritual heart is corrupt, in continuous need of repentance and conversion--in which circumstance I am thoroughly grateful for the loving assistance of the Cure's brother priests in the confessional.

[I praise You, Lord, and thank You for Your priests and for Your saints. Please, my God, grant many blessings and favors to all Your priests, but especially those who have served You by their ministry to my loved ones and to me. Protect them, perfect them, and bring them to heaven, where they will be both priests and saints!]