Icon honours priests

EMMA DANGERFIELD

WORK OF ART: This icon, produced for the Year for Priests, is touring Catholic parishes in New Zealand

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This year the Catholic Church is celebrating the Year for Priests and to commemorate the occasion an icon of St John Vianney is touring the country.

The icon arrived in Kaikoura last Saturday week and was on display at the Sacred Heart parish church until last Thursday.

Created by an art studio in Auckland, it is decorated with gold leaf, which represents the uncreated light of gold, or the eighth day of the creation, and an egg yolk pigment known as tempera.

It depicts a young version of St John Vianney and stands about five feet tall.

Kaikoura parish priest, Father Eric Urlich said the icon had created quite a stir in Kaikoura and there had been good interest in the piece, which was quite an impressive sight.

It was taken to Blenheim last Thursday to continue its tour of the South Island, before moving on to tour the North Island.

Once it has finished the tour it will come to rest in the chapel at the National Seminary in Auckland.

St John Vianney, born Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney in 1786, was a Frenchman who became the patron saint of priests. Ordained as a priest in 1815, he took up a position in the town of Ars, which has since become the centre of Catholic pilgrimage.

Through his work as a confessor he brought about a spiritual renewal that touched not only the people of his parish but all of France.

He is said to have regularly spent 14 to 18 hours a day in the confessional surviving on only a few hours sleep and a diet of boiled potatoes. As the word spread his extraordinary abilities as a confessor, thousands, including bishops and aristocracy made the journey to Ars to receive his spiritual counsel.

A humble parish priest, he is regarded by the church as one of its great figures simply because he was faithful. John Vianney was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and is the only diocesan priest to be canonised.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Jane Hyder nee Urlich.   #1   01:49 pm Dec 28 2011

good to hear about my Uncle Father Eric Urlich and Art and faith .Jane Knox Hyder nee Urlich, Artist, Grad Diploma Fine Arts,Massey University.

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