Merits and Preaching

St Walburge Church, Preston, Lancashire

‘St Vincent Ferrer’s father was an Englishman, who had been knighted at the siege of the city. On February 5th, 1367, having completed his studies in philosophy, he became a Dominican. He was moved to Barcelona in the next year, and in 1370 became lecturer in philosophy at the Dominican house in Lerida. In 1373, when he returned to Barcelona to the “Studium Arabicum et Hebraicum”, he was already a famous public preacher.
 
In 1377 he was sent to Toulouse for further study; there he attracted the attention of the Legate of the future Avignon antipope, Cardinal Pedro de Luna, whose suite he joined, being himself a strong advocate of the claims of the Avignon popes as against those of Rome. He preached a great deal, particularly to Jews and Moors, and converted a rabbi of Valladolid, who, later became Bishop Paul of Burgos, and associated with St Vincent in his strenuous and successful attempts to convert the Jews of Spain.
 
Disillusioned in his attempts to heal the schism between Rome and Avignon, St Vincent saw a vision of our Lord standing between St Dominic and St Francis, commissioning him directly to go about preaching penance. He was released by Benedict XIII in November 1399 to do this, and continued his preaching and wandering throughout western Europe until his death, being followed by a crowd of penitents and flagellants which varied from 300 to 10,000. He was in Aragon when the throne became vacant and with his brother, Boniface, a Carthusian, was instrumental in choosing Ferdinand of Castille as prince.
 
In 1416 he withdrew his own allegiance and that of the kingdom of Aragon from Benedict XIII, because the Avignon antipope had made no serious attempt to heal the schism and had refused the request made by the council of Constance that he should resign in order to make possible a new and undisputed election to the papacy. St Vincent’s decision had the effect of deposing Benedict and of making possible an end to the schism. St Vincent died on April 5th, 1419, at Vannes in Brittany, where his relics are venerated. He was canonised by Pope Calixtus II in 1455’.

from The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, 1958, edited by John Coulson, 1919-1993

O God, who didst vouchsafe to illumine thy Church by the merits and preaching of blessed Vincent thy Confessor: grant to us thy servants; that we may both be instructed by his example, and by his advocacy be delivered from all adversities; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Divine Worship: The Missal.