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Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
Blessed be God in His humble servant, Vincent Ferrer.

St. Vincent Ferrer lived from 1350-1419. He was one the Church’s greatest missionaries and miracle workers (thaumaturgus). He was a Spanish Dominican, and one of the greatest preachers in the history of the Church. He was known as “The Angel of the Judgment.”

St. Vincent traveled all over western Europe preaching penance, attracting enormous crowds, and followed by thousands of disciples. He converted St. Bernardine of Siena and Blessed Margaret of Savoy.

St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, another learned Dominican about thirty years old when Vincent died, stated that St. Vincent had raised twenty-eight persons from the dead. Others claimed that St. Antoninus’ estimate fell far short of the actual number raised.

Near Palma of Majorca, St. Vincent Ferrer stilled a storm in order to preach from a wharf. At Beziers, he stopped a flood. At the gates of Vannes he cured a great number of the sick. At Guerande, he delivered a man possessed by the devil and more dead than alive. St. Vincent Ferrer had such power over devils that it was often enough for him to touch a possessed person for him to be freed; at other times, a possessed person would be freed from the devil upon going to the same region where Vincent was or by merely pronouncing Vincent’s name. In France, St. Vincent had the British victors at Caen praying together with the defeated French for a sick man, who was then cured — and all of them, enemies or not, shouted for joy. At Leride, he cured a cripple in the presence of the king.

St. Vincent is often pictured with wings. Multitudes of people witnessed him, in the middle of preaching, suddenly assume wings and fly off to help some suffering person; he would return in the same manner and continue preaching. On some occasions, when St. Vincent was exhausted, he would commission someone else to go perform miracles instead; the helper would then do so.

God was marvelously glorified through all the miracles wrought by St. Vincent Ferrer. Venerable Luis de Granada said that performing miracles was as natural to Vincent as for us to lift our hands to our mouths. The grace of performing miracles was given to St. Vincent even before his birth, accompanied his childhood, and attained perfection in manhood. In the latter twenty years of his life, after Our Lord had given him a special mandate to evangelize the world, St. Vincent would perform miracles every morning. After his preaching, he would ask a disciple to ring a bell, called “the bell of miracles,” and he would begin to heal all the sick who came to him. St. Louis of Bertrand says that there was never a Saint since the days of the Apostles who wrought more miracles than St. Vincent Ferrer.

St. Vincent was also well-reputed as a great reconciler. When the Spanish kingdoms were on the verge of warring against each other over the issue of a successor to the throne of Aragon, he selected the true king and brought peace. Without his aid, the completion of the Reconquista would have been delayed many more years. He was tireless in his efforts at helping Moslems and Jews convert to the True Faith, and reconciled thousands of them to the Triune God. It was his understanding that these conversions en masse are a necessary prelude to Our Lord's Second Coming. He lived during the tumultuous time of the Great Western Schism (1278-1417), when there were even three claimants to the pontifical throne. It was largely due to his efforts that this terrible schism was brought to an end and all the parties were reconciled. The Council of Constance Fathers specifically requested his presence, counsel, and aid. There he endorsed the election of Pope Martin V (1417-1431) and preached the sermon at the council's conclusion. With Martin's ascendancy as supreme pontiff, the Church was once again united under one head.

St. Vincent Ferrer died at Vannes. His disciples had attempted to take him home to Spain (Valencia). However, after one day's travel due south they found themselves back a the city gates of Vannes. Vincent due it was the will of Providence that he end his mortal life there. His relics remain at the cathedral of that city in Brittany. It was Pope Calixtus III who canonized him on 3 June 1455 (St. Vincent had actually prophesied to Calixtus' mother that she should rear her son well, for one day her son would become Pope and would raise him to the altars of the Church.) The very day of Vincent's canonization, his cloak was placed over a cadaver and that man was restored to life!

St. Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
Blessed be God in His humble servant, Vincent Ferrer.

Note: If you would like a prayer card or novena to St. Vincent Ferrer, please contact us at info@svfonline.org. We also have a three CD audio set on his life, available in MP3 format or electronic download. Please contact our foundation for these and other resources that help recover and restore our Catholic tradition.

Suggested Bibliography:
- St. Vincent Ferrer, The Angel of the Judgment by Fr. Andrew Pradel, OP. TAN, Rockford IL, 2000 (originally 1875).
- St. Vincent Ferrer by Stanislaus M. Hogan. Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1911.
- St. Vincent Ferrer by Henri Ghéon. Translated by F. J. Sheed. Sheed & Ward, London, 1939.

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