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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; Next month, the Diocese of Scranton will host a saint&#8217;s relic &#8212; a piece of his &#8220;incorrupt heart&#8221; &#8212; as it continues a national tour that began in Baltimore in November and is scheduled to conclude in South Orange, N.J., this May.</p><p>The tour is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and is possible courtesy of the Shrine of Ars, France, where the relic of St. Jean Vianney is permanently housed. After his ordination in 1815, Vianney was assigned to the farming community.</p><p>According to a biography on the Knights&#8217; website, the Reign of Terror &#8212; which resulted in hundreds of thousands of arrests and thousands of executions &#8212; had created &#8220;political turbulence, anti-clericalism and religious skepticism&#8221; that made practice of Catholicism &#8220;poor.&#8221;</p><p>Vianney is credited with turning that around through &#8220;a life of heroic penance and prayer to draw his people away from sin and closer to God.&#8221; He was so successful as a spiritual counselor he became &#8220;a prisoner of the confessional,&#8221; spending as much as 18 hours a day hearing confessions. He built an orphanage and routinely helped beggars.</p><p>Vianney died in 1859 at 73, and was canonized into sainthood in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Four years later, the same pope made Vianney the patron saint of parish priests.</p><p>As the patron saint of parish priests, a diocese media release notes, faithful who come to venerate the relic &#8220;are asked to pray for their most heartfelt needs and intentions, as well as for healing within the heart of the Church.&#8221;</p><p>The relic is kept in reliquary designed to look like a church. The diocese plans to welcome it with the celebration of Morning Prayer at 8:30 a.m. April 13. It will be kept on display &#8220;for private prayer and veneration&#8221; through 3 p.m., though the daily 12:10 p.m. Mass will be held, and the sacrament of reconciliations, or confession, will still be offered from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.</p><p>The &#8220;incorrupt&#8221; label essentially means a lack of decay. </p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Diocese of Scranton will host the &#8216;incorrupt heart&#8217; of St. Jean Vianney in April. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_St.JeanVianneyRelicPhoto-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Diocese of Scranton will host the &#8216;incorrupt heart&#8217; of St. Jean Vianney in April. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Saint’s ‘incorrupt heart’ coming to Scranton Diocese