St. Vincent Ferrer

Photo of St. Vincent Ferrer

April 5

St. Vincent Ferrer was an evangelist to the Jews. But more, he was an evangelist for all seasons. He lived during a terrifying period in salvation history. The Second Exodus apostolate invites this great priest to intercede for it, for us all, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

An Evangelist to the Jews

St. Vincent Ferrer, a powerful and effective Dominican, traveled extensively through Europe vividly preaching the Last Judgment. He spent much time preaching to Jews regarding the fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy in Christ. He helped to put down an uprising against the Jews in Valencia in 1391 AD and also diffused a later persecution in Toledo. These Sephardic Jews erected monuments to him throughout Spain. Ranzano, his first biographer, estimates that he brought 25,000 Jews into the Catholic Church. At Valladolid he helped a rabbi to become complete in the Catholic faith; the rabbi later became well known as Bishop Paul of Burgos. Once when St. Vincent Ferrer entered a synagogue with a cross in his hand, he made so moving a sermon that the Jews, who were at first surprised, at the end of his discourse, desired baptism and changed their synagogue into a church which they called “The Holy Cross.”

An Evangelist for All Seasons

Vincent Ferrer was born in Valencia, Spain, on January 23, 1350 and baptized the same day. The family could not agree on a name, so the priest who baptized him named him for St. Vincent Martyr, the patron saint of Valencia.

Vincent entered the Order of St. Dominic in a monastery near his native Valencia in 1367. Soon afterward he was commissioned to deliver lectures on philosophy. On being sent to Barcelona, he continued his scholastic duties and at the same time devoted himself to preaching. At Lerida, the famous university city of Catalonia, he received his doctorate. After this he labored six years in Valencia, during which time he worked to perfect himself in Catholic life.

Fr. Vincent was offered the post of bishop but declined, sensing that he was the messenger of penance sent to prepare men for the judgment. For twenty years he traversed Western Europe carrying a large cross, preaching penance and awakening the dormant consciences of sinners by his wondrous eloquence. His austere life was but the living expression of his doctrine. The floor was his usual bed; perpetually fasting, he arose at two in the morning to chant the Office, celebrating Mass daily, afterwards preaching, sometimes three hours, and frequently working miracles. After his midday meal he would tend the sick children; at eight o’clock he prepared his sermon for the following day. He usually travelled on foot, poorly clad.

Everywhere he went, tens of thousands of sinners were reformed; infidels and heretics were converted, and great miracles supported his words. Speaking only his native Spanish, he was understood in all tongues. St. Vincent chanced to meet the corpse of a man who had been murdered, which was being carried on a bier. In the presence of a multitude, St. Vincent Ferrer commanded the deceased man to rise, which he instantly did. It is said that a wooden cross was erected on the spot as a monument that can still be seen.

The turmoil of the age affected Fr. Vincent’s health and he fell seriously ill. St. Dominic, accompanied by St. Francis of Assisi, appeared to comfort him. Then came Our Lord himself, in the midst of a great host of angels. Touching Vincent on the cheek, Our Lord told him to rise and preach the Last Judgment. Miraculously, Vincent emerged completely cured. The mark of Our Lord’s sacred fingers on his cheek remained with him for the rest of his life.

Fr. Vincent began his apostolate with the title Legate of Jesus Christ on November 22, 1399. Large numbers of people became his disciples and followed him from place to place, up to 10,000 from every walk of life. Fr. Vincent preached in Limousin, the language of his native Valencia, yet all his hearers -- Germans, Greeks, Sardinians, Italians, and English -- understood him perfectly. For twenty years his efforts brought him to evangelize nearly every province of Spain. He also went to France, Italy, Germany, Flanders, England, Scotland and Ireland. He was even invited to Mohammedan Granada where he converted almost 8,000 Muslims. Even the caliph was interested, but when his nobles threatened him with civil war he reluctantly asked Fr. Vincent to leave.

Father Vincent spent the last two years of his life in Brittany, where he instructed many souls. Approaching age 70, still at the height of his mission, he fell ill with a fever. In Vannes, Brittany on April 5, 1419, he passed into heaven. On June 3, 1455, he was canonized by Pope Calixtus III at the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

A Season for All Evangelists

St. Vincent lived at a time when the world was falling apart.

The Hundred Years War raged from 1337 to 1453, during St. Vincent’s entire lifetime. It was primarily fought between England and France, but all of Europe was involved. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen while defending France.

The Black Death was a devastating plague that began in 1348 and killed some 25 million people, about a third of Europe’s population. It was widely reported that Jewish leaders in the city of Toledo had initiated a plot to kill off Catholics and that a Rabbi Peyret who from his headquarters in Chambéry, Savoy, dispatched poisoners to France, Switzerland, and Italy. People were dying everywhere. Many Catholics, frightened and angered beyond reason, gave Jews a choice of being baptized or burned to death. Although Avignon was hit hard by the plague, Pope Clement VI reflected true Catholic teaching on love for God’s image and likeness by protecting the Jews in their hour. He opened the Papal States to Jews and excommunicated those who attacked them.

The greatest uncertainty was the Western Schism. (1378-1417) It reminds us of the Babylonian Captivity because it involved a forced religious relocation and because the time from the Temple’s destruction to its restoration was about the same seventy years. During the thirteenth century in Rome a dispute between the powerful Colonna and Orsini families made Rome unstable. To protect the Holy See, Pope Clement V moved the papal court to Avignon, France. Clement V intended the move to be for a brief duration but it lasted from 1309 to 1378. As a result, most of the cardinals were French, and they elected several French Popes. At the urging of St. Catherine of Siena, Pope Gregory IX left Avignon and returned to Italy where he died the same year. The cardinals met to elect a new Pope. Many Italians, concerned that a French Pope might return to Avignon, gathered outside the conclave demanding the election of an Italian Pope. The cardinals canonically elected an Italian, Urban VI. The new Pope, intent on Church reform, offended many of the cardinals. Some French cardinals claimed that Urban VI was invalidly elected due to Italian pressure and gathered to elect an antipope, Clement VII, who promptly took up residence in Avignon. After that, two lines claimed papal authority. The Roman Popes were Urban VI (1378-1389), Boniface IX (1389-1404), Innocent VII (1404-1406) and Gregory XII (1406-1415), while the Avignon antipopes were Clement VII (1389-1404) and Benedict XIII (1394-1417). In 1409 the false Council of Pisa declared that Gregory XII and Benedict XIII were not true popes and elected antipope Alexander V, who was soon succeeded by antipope John XXIII. The Council of Constance (1414-1418) was convened by theologians without papal authority, but after Pope Gregory XII authorized it, subsequent sessions were recognized by the Church as the 16th ecumenical council. These sessions deposed John XXIII. Gregory XII resigned. Benedict XIII tried to hang on, but after a trial held in his absence the Council deposed him. That ended the schism. The Council then elected Pope Martin V.

An antipope is a person claiming to be Pope who was not duly elected or proclaimed while a duly elected Pope was still in office. To begin with, it is vital to understand that there is no power on earth which may depose a Pope. Any duly elected Pope remains therefore in office until he dies or resigns (as has happened just seven times). Anyone, therefore, who claims to be Pope while a duly elected Pope is living and has not resigned is an antipope. There are even a few in our own time.

St. Vincent’s Lesson

St. Vincent Ferrer has a powerful lesson for us. The Hundred Years War, the Black Death, and the Western Schism convinced many then that the world was falling apart and that there was no use pressing on. It was always possible, though difficult at that time, to recognize the true pope. St. Catherine of Siena, another great Dominican, defended the true pope, Urban VI, as vigorously as St. Vincent Ferrer defended the antipope Benedict XIII. Troubled times and confusion in the Church do not keep us from becoming holy. Neither does making mistakes. The twentieth century, so recently closed, has been, even more than the fourteenth century, a time of widespread death and grave spiritual confusion. More Christians died as red martyrs during this century than in all the preceding nineteen combined, including the Roman persecutions of the early Christians. Stalin killed some 20 to 60 million Russians, and at least 5 million more in the Ukraine. Mao killed tens of millions of Chinese. Hitler killed six million Jews and five million Christians and others. Abortions have killed 40 million children in the womb in the United States alone since 1973, and hundreds of millions more around the world. Even greater numbers have fallen to their spiritual death in the sudden worldwide disappearance of Christianity from public life during the past half-century. May this great missionary obtain for us the grace to become zealous missionaries like him to those around us.

St. Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Note: Because St. Vincent evangelized Jews so effectively, liberal Jews occasionally call him an anti-Semite. He was, of course, exactly the opposite. How to respond.