On Monday, we visited Ars.
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| Our tour guide, Veronique, is very good and has a great sense of humor. |
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| As she got used to us, we kidded back and forth a lot |
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| In Ars, we went to the church where Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (known in English as St John Vianney) was the Parish Priest or Curé |
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We had mass in the church
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| As always, Fr Mitch gave a great homily, relating the readings to ST John Vianney's life |
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| A side altar dedicated to St Joseph. (You can tell St Joseph since he usually is depicted hold a walking staff that has bloomed - as here - or with carpenter's tools) |
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| The Sacred Heart of Jesus was important to St John Vainney |
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| St John Vianney had a great devotion to St Philomena, an early church woman who was martyred when she rejected the advances of the Emperor himself as she had dedicated herself to God. The cupola has a series of frescoes telling her story. Here Philomena rejects the Emperor |
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| The Emperor ordered her shot with flaming arrows but they reversed course and killed the archers! |
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| She was bound with chains and imprisoned |
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| She was weighted down with chains and thrown into the river only to be rescued by angels! |
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| She was imprisoned in a lightless dungeon |
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| She was ultimately beheaded |
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| Her headless body was entombed, to be forgotten for centuries! |
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| Finally, Philomena was welcomed to heaven with a martyrs welcome! |
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| There are other frescoes that are useful for telling the story of our faith |
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| At the back of the church is the original church as when St John was pastor |
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| The confessional he used |
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| His desk from which he taught |
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| The ambo from which he preached |
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| In the chapel of St Philomena, evidence of miraculous cures hang on the walls |
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| St Philomena |
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| The outside of the church. The small stone portion to the left was the original church. |
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| This large crucifix is behind the church |
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| In wandering about, I discovered a large subterranean church! |
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| Mass was going on so I did not enter but shot these through the windows on the doors |
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| The top of the underground church |
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| The church in Ars |
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| Bill takes five! |
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| Behind the church was this small chapel where you could inscribe the names of priests in the intentions book (St John Vianney is the patron saint of priests - not just parish priests) |
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| Ann, to the right, is standing just where the book of intentions is. I entered every priest's name I could think of including Archbishop Daniel, our pastor Fr Vince, and Bishop Christopher, our apostolic administrator |
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| A tour through St John's house, right next to the church. He reported that he had physical altercations with Satan while in Ars! |
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| A center "patio" was where St John would give young people religious instructions. |
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| The kitchen was seldom used by St John who ate very little |
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| St John slept here and was physically thrown out of bed by Satan |
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| St John had quite a library for instruction |
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| A second bedroom where St John originally slept |
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| St John was laid out here in this room and was buried in this coffin |
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| This device helped him keep his busy schedule - look carefully and you'll see there is no time allotted to sleep! |
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| St John Vianney |
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| This small chapel offered perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament |
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| Art in the adoration chapel |
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| A statue of Mary across from the adoration chapel |
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| Jeff waves from above! |
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| Three generation"gedunk" stop (Navy word for sweets) from L-R Amy, Mary, Emily, Katie |
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| Back in Lyon along Rhone (or is it the Saone?) River |
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| A stop downtown to let the adventuresome off the bus - we went back to the hotel! |
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| The main plaza in Lyon |
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| An interesting sculpture near the square from the bus |
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| This tower (also near the square) caught my eye from the bus |
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| And finally this ball of flowers sculpture |
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| This old rusty bucket looks like it is ready for the scrap heap! |
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| Veronique joked that this high end hotel look like a pencil! |
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| Along the river |
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| Lyon seems to have many amenities for her citizens |
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| Back at our own hotel |
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| The plaza behind our hotel featured a theater and this large orange sculpture of a man on a cell phone! |
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| A pleasant walkway accommodates folks who want to stroll |
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| A city bus that runs to the center of town stops right behind the hotel |
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| Our hotel from the bus stop |
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| A pleasant area with shops and restaurants adjoins the hotel |
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| From our room |
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| Back on the road - headed for dinner. We never ate in a hotel dining room the entire trip! |
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| The city Tramway provides inexpensive service over a wide area (Indianapolis needs to send me back for an extensive study of the Lyon Tramway! ;-) |
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| Once again, the food was almost too pretty to eat! |
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| This evening we sat across from Fr Mitch |
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| When we returned to the hotel, someone had parked in our bus's spot. With assistance from Jeff, Willy pulled the bus to within six inches! Too bad the jerk had no one behind and could still get out! |
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