Saint Vincent Ferrer
(Valencian: Sant Vicent Ferrer, IPA: [ˈsam viˈsɛm feˈreɾ]) (23 January 1350 – 5 April 1419) was a Valencian Dominican missionary and logician. Early life
Vincent was the fourth child of the Anglo-Scottish nobleman William Stewart Ferrer (descended from the English Ferrer family and the Stewarts of Scotland) and his Spanish wife, Constantia Miguel. His mother is said never t
o have experienced pain when she gave birth to him. He would fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and he loved the Passion of Christ very much. He would help the poor and distribute many alms to them. Vincent decided to join the Dominicans when his father gave him a choice whether to enter into secular, ecclesiastical, or a religious state. Ferrer entered the Dominican Order at the age of eighteen and studied philosophy and theology. He prayed and practiced penance. For a period of three years, he read solely Sacred Scripture, and eventually committed it to memory. He published a treatise on Dialectic Suppositions after his solemn profession. He eventually became a Master of Sacred Theology and was commissioned to deliver lectures on philosophy. He was then sent to Barcelona and eventually to the University of Lleida, where he earned his doctorate in theology. Religious gifts and missionary work
Vincent later claimed that the Great Schism had such a depressing effect on his mind that it caused him to be seriously ill at the age of forty. He claimed that God healed him and instructed him to go out and convert many. For twenty-one years he was said to have traveled to England, Scotland, Ireland, Aragon, Castile, France, Switzerland, and Italy, preaching the Gospel and converting many. Many biographers believe that he could speak only Catalan, but was endowed with the gift of tongues. Conversion of Jews and controversy
Vincent is said to be responsible for the conversion of many Jews to Catholicism, often by questionable means; for instance, he is said to have made their lives difficult until they converted and to have "dedicated" synagogues as churches on the basis of his own authority. One of his converts, a former rabbi by the name of Solomon ha-Levi, went on to become Bishop of Cartagena and later Archbishop of Burgos. Vincent is noted to have contributed to anti-Semitism in Spain, as violence accompanied his visits to towns that had Jewish communitiesHe promulgated various anti-Jewish laws banning Jews from trading food with Christians, having Christian employees, changing their residence, or cutting either their hair or beards. Vincent also showed up at the Disputation of Tortosa to convert Jews. Sources are contradictory concerning Vincent's achievement in converting a synagogue in Toledo, Spain into the church of Santa María la Blanca; one source says he preached to the mobs whose riots led to the appropriation of the synagogue and its transformation into a church in 1391; a second source says he converted the Jews of the city who changed the synagogue to a church after they embraced the Faith, but hints at the year 1411; a third source identifies two distinct incidents, one in Valencia in 1391 and one in Toledo at a later date, but says he put down an uprising against Jews in one place and defused a persecution against them in the other. Political work
Vincent intervened during a political crisis in his homeland, which resulted in the Compromise of Caspe, by which the Crown of Aragon was given to a Castilian prince, Ferdinand of Antequera. According to two sources Vincent was very loyal to the Avignonese Antipope Benedict XIII, better known as "Papa Luna" in Castile and Aragon, remained in steadfast loyalty to him, and believed that Benedict XIII was the true Pope. According to another source, Vincent labored to have Benedict XIII end the schism, and after an extended period of receiving empty promises, Vincent encouraged King Ferdinand of Castile to withdraw his support from Benedict XIII. Death and legacy
Vincent died on 5 April 1419 at Vannes in Brittany, and was buried in Vannes Cathedral. He was canonized by Pope Calixtus III on 3 June 1455. His feast day is celebrated on 5 April. The Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a Pontifical religious institute, is named after him. Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Ferrer
