Despised as a scholar with no promise.
Rejected at first as a priest.
Accepted not for knowledge but devoutness.
He refused from his vocation to desist.

Your priest, O Lord, shall be clothed with justice.
Your holy ones shall ring out their joy.
In the obscure village of Ars en Dombes, he was just as us.
They were slow at first to trust this poor boy.

Such was his poverty, his honesty as a preacher and orator.
He would spend eighteen hours a day in the confessional.
He refused any promotion or any honour.
His ability to understand people’s fears and regrets was exceptional.

He tells us that careers’ achievements can end in tatters.
It is what we are not what we do that matters.