Page:The sermons of the Curé of Ars - Vianney, tr. Morrissy - 1960.djvu/28

 more of that undeserved reputation for ignorance, even for stupidity, which some had given him during his lifetime.

1. Baroness de Belvey, Apostolic Process, ne pereant, p. 178.

2. Guide for Pious Souls is dedicated to the Curé of Ars. It is impossible, among the numerous prayers contained in this little volume, to distinguish those which would have been dedicated to M. Vianney. M. Peyronnet had subjected them to a few revisions. It is true that The Delights of the Pilgrims at Ars (Lyons znd Edit. 1857) contains, under the name of M. Vianney The Blessing of Sleep and a Prayer to the Blessed Virgin. Also in this are Spiritual Reflections of the Servant of God, J.M.B. Vianney. But how far are these reflections and prayers authentic? Two little works have been attributed to the Curé of Ars which are certainly by another hand than his: The Guide for Pious Souls and the Considerations on the necessity of knowing Jesus Christ and of imitating His virtues (Approved under his name by the Bishop of Belley (Guyot, Lyons, 1851).

3. Brother Athanasius, director of the school at Ars, Apostolic Process in genere, p. 204; Abbé Toccanier, assistant to M. Vianney and then his successor in the parish of Ars, Apostolic Process ne pereant, p. 333. Actually no one possesses a sermon on the Eucharist by M. Vianney. There are, indeed, among the manuscripts preserved in Rome, instructions on Commmunion, on the Holy Mass, on Corpus Christi, on the Unworthy Communion, but the pages which treat ex professo of the Real Presence—the best of the Saint’s work perhaps—have disappeared. It is also probable that several sermons on the Blessed Virgin have not come down to us.

4. Process of the Ordinary, p. 337.

5. Process of the Ordinary, p. 1336-1338.

6. Apostolic Process continuative, p. 790.

7. According to manuscript notes of Msgr. Convert.