Ars France was the poorest of parishes, more a mission than a parish, impoverished spiritually as well as materially.

The people were not hostile to the Church.

The Curé would almost have preferred this to their apathy and indifference.

No one, with the exception of one devout, very charitable and very influential lady, wanted or cared if there was a priest or a church there in Ars France.

Their fame for dances and drunkenness was widespread. People came from miles around, even on Sundays and holidays, to join in with the townspeople, to go wild in the four taverns in town.

The village was too small for even their one church, they claimed, but not for four taverns. And this is where The Curé was to practice his ministry!

The Curé, John Vianney, looked older than his thirty-two years. He was thin and emaciated, short, shorter than the average Frenchman (5ft. 2in.).

His auburn hair, the only remnant of his youth, would soon turn prematurely white as he carried the weight of his spiritual children’s sins and lack of love for the Lord.

He was helplessly lost. He spotted a young shepherd and asked him the way to Ars France.

As the young boy directed him, the Curé spoke the words that revealed his purpose, and that of His Father in Heaven, for coming to Ars,

"You have shown me the road to Ars; I will show you the road to Heaven!"

Right from his first Sunday Mass, he spoke of his love for them, how he longed to bring them the Food with which they would never know hunger or thirst or death.

The mayor, who would become his staunchest advocate and support system in Ars, recognized his holiness immediately: "We have only a poor church, but we have a holy pastor."

The benefactress of the village, in a wave of appreciation, bestowed the most beautiful furnishings for the Curé’s lodgings. He returned everything but the strictest necessities.

This village of Ars France, mockingly looked upon as the bottom of the barrel, became the focus of world-wide pilgrimages.

When questioned about the miraculous conversion of Ars and the flow of thousands of pilgrims to that afore unknown village, he would always attribute it to the intercession of St. Philomena, a young unknown martyr of the early Church.