July 27 to August 4
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs holds an annual Novena to honor St. John Vianney starting July 27 and concluding on the saint’s official feast day on August 4. Novena times are weekdays and Saturdays at the 12:05PM daily Mass and following the 11:15AM Mass on Sundays.
Please say the novena prayer and ask for the intercession of St. John Vianney to bless our diocese with good parish priests. We encourage everyone to select one of the seminarians of the class of 2004-20025 and make him your prayer intention during this time. There is a prayer sign-up sheet with their names listed in the church.
For the novena’s conclusion on August 4, Father Toby Offiah, a newly ordained priest in our diocese, will celebrate the 11:15AM Sunday Mass and afterward offer a first blessing to the faithful attending.
Click here for a Prayer for Vocations by Pope Francis.
About St. John Vianney, Feast Day: August 4
St. John Vianney, patron of priests worldwide and universally known as the “Curé [Priest] of Ars,” was born in 1786 in Dardilly, France. After serving a short time in the army during the Napoleonic period, he entered a seminary to become a priest. He had a difficult time with Latin, and his formation directors and instructors in the seminary doubted that he had the intellectual gifts suitable for the priesthood. However, John Vianney persevered. He was ordained in 1815 and served as a parish priest in the village of Ars in France. He preached in a simple manner and had a great love of the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Mother and a special devotion to St. Philomena. Through his work as a confessor, he brought about a spiritual renewal that touched not only the people of his parish, but all of France. As the word spread of his extraordinary abilities as a confessor, thousands made the journey to receive his spiritual counsel.
John Vianney, a humble parish priest, is regarded by the Church as one of its great figures simply because he was faithful.
John Vianney was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
Source: Condensed biography from the St. John Vianney Catholic Church (www.sjvroundrock.org).
