Jean-Marie Vianney (1786-1859), also known as 'Le Curé d'Ars', was a Catholic priest venerated by the Church. He was the curé in Ars for forty-one years. He earned great respect for his austerity: he ate little, spent many hours at prayer, and gave away what he had. Ars became a place of pilgrimage, as it indeed is today.
The statue of Vianney next to his presbytery.The presbytery.
A view of the spiral staircase leading down to the huge crypt.
La Basilique d'Ars was built from 1862, and this shot was taken from a field close to the Monument de la Rencontre.
Le Monument de la Rencontre, where, the story goes, Vianney met the young shepherd boy Antoine Givre in 1818 and asked him the way to Ars. The monument reveals that the boy died a few days after Vianney, in 1859.
There is a grave which includes the name of an Antoine Givre, although the dates don't tally. However, there is a grave of Cathérine Lassagne, who was the daughter of agricultural workers. Vianney chose her (along with Benoîte Lardet) to teach the children of the village: he was dissatisfied with the contemporary education in the village. The girls were educated by sisters some short distance away, and returned to teach children at La Maison de Providence, which later became an orphanage.
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