The master of the Curé d’Ars
Charles Balley is the youngest of a family of 16 children; they live in Lyon. Charles was born on September 30, 1751. Educated deeply in the Catholic faith, this family gave the Church 5 children: two daughters became nuns; three boys will become priests, including Charles Balley, priest of the Congregation of Génovéfains.
This congregation aimed to form priests who unite in themselves both the benefit of a religious life inspired by the rule of Saint Augustine, and the functions of parish ministry.
Pastoral program of the génovéfains
In the constitutions of the congregation we find the pastoral program which is aimed at by all Génovéfains.
- An attentive care, eager to nourish the people with the divine word;
- a charity which guides the sick and distributes aid to them;
- a paternal concern for the poor and the afflicted;
- provident attention to administering the sacraments;
- a firm constancy in evangelizing minds without culture and without light;
- a tireless ardor to form children in the Christian life and to instruct them in the doctrine of the faith;
- finally, a pious application to giving worship the majesty that suits it.
This is a magnificent program for a pastor of souls: through Charles Balley, it will become that of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney.
Ministries
The ministries will be diverse for Charles Balley, taking care of youth, then master of novices, then country priest in 1785. In this parish, we see an example that the Curé of Ars would later take up, rebuilding the parish church into a worthy place of worship.
It was in this parish, named Choue in the diocese of Blois, that he experienced the beginning of the Revolution, but very quickly he was expelled for having preached Christ in fidelity to the Church. Then came a time of clandestine apostolate for him (as a so-called “refractory” priest) which took him to the surroundings of Lyon, and where he remained, after the restoration, as parish priest of Écully.
Influence of the “master”
In 1805, under the influence of Cardinal Fesch, Abbot Balley established a priestly school for beginner Latinists who should prepare young people for the priestly ministry. Jean-Marie Vianney was one of his students from 1807.
The influence of Abbot Balley on the young Jean-Marie Vianney will be very great and he will speak of him as “his master”. After his training, the future Curé of Ars lived for a little over 2 years with his priest as vicar in Écully, before coming to Ars after the death of Charles Balley in December 1817.
Exemplarity
The example of austerity, of pastoral concern, … everything that Abbot Balley did, we also see in the life of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney. Both wanted to make their lives one filled with the message of the Gospel, a life following Christ through complete self-giving. Someone remarked: “the holiness of the Curé of Ars has its source in the holiness of the Curé of Écully… In the manner of the priests of the first centuries, the Curé of Ars will imitate his spiritual father. He did at Ars what he saw done at Écully. »
Extract from the Annales d’Ars n° 325[mars-avril 2010] .
