St. John Vianney’s feast day is Monday, Aug. 4, and EWTN is celebrating in a big way by airing three programs about the saint.

The lineup begins with Saints of Europe: St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, which airs at 4:30 p.m. ET, Monday, Aug. 4. In the course of this half-hour program, host Jesuit Father Bernard McGuckian shares little-known stories about the saint’s life and life-changing wisdom. Did you know that, as a young man, the budding saint was mistakenly called up to Napoleon’s army even though he had already signed up to be a seminarian?

“When he should have been joining his regiment,” explained Father McGuckian, “he went to pray in a chapel and … got carried away in prayer, and when he came out, the army had disappeared.”

Almost everyone knows that the saint spent many hours a day hearing confessions, but why? Observed Father McGuckian: “He knew that repentance was the secret of salvation.”

By the end of his life, the saint was hearing the confessions of more than 100,000 penitents a year. “He made himself available to those who had a spark of sorrow. He showed an extraordinary gentleness, and people, even the most hardened sinners, were attracted by him because … those who are closest to God and who seem so different from everyone else … are those who attract sinners,” explained Father McGuckian.

Here’s one more nugget about how St. John Vianney became the patron saint of parish priests worldwide.

“He was a simple country priest. He never preached in any cathedral in the world. He never traveled outside his own parish. He had enough work here [in Ars] dealing with the ordinary people at the beginning of his apostolate, but he did this so well that he’s an extreme example of that old saying, ‘Do one thing well and the whole world will be attracted to your door,’” said Father McGuckian. “What he did was say Mass with extraordinary devotion. The normal period to say Mass in those days was a half-hour. He never went over that, although, at times, tears streamed down his face because he was so aware of the extraordinary thing he was doing.”

Bonus for this program: View the saint’s incorrupt body!

Also airing is the four-part series Saint John Vianney: Heart of the Priesthood with Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, England. These half-hour programs air at 5:30 p.m. ET, Monday through Thursday, Aug. 4-7, with an encore at 1:30 a.m. ET the following day. This series highlights the importance of good priests, deacons and religious and the vocation of the laity.

In Episode 1, Bishop Davies explains that the Shrine of the Heart of St. John Vianney is placed outside the church and basilica of Ars: “That might seem a little strange … but it points to a heart which is completely given. The giving of our hearts lies at the foundation of every Christian vocation.”

St. John Vianney said that vocational problems begin when our hearts are not in the right place.

Observed Bishop Davies: “The Second Vatican Council would repeat this insight and conclusion in its teaching that … it is from the sacrifice of the Mass that the whole priestly ministry draws its strength. If we begin to become careless or neglectful of the mystery and reality of the Eucharist, then it is from this coldness, this indifference, this loss of a sense of vocation of apostolic energy follows.”

Prefer an action-packed movie about the saint? You can’t do better than The Curé of Ars. This award-winning film, which premiered on EWTN last month, re-airs at 1:30 a.m. ET, Monday, Aug. 4. Too early? Catch it via EWTN On Demand.

Happy feast of St. John Vianney!

This is a shortened adaptation from the “EWTN Wings” weekly programming email. To have info about EWTN shows and specials sent directly to your inbox, sign up at EWTN.com/wings.