St. Vincent Ferrer: Angel of the Judgment

Description

Santa Caterina da Siena and St. Vincent Ferrer disagreed about who was the valid pope. St. Vincent supported the Avignon one, whom Santa Caterina thought was schismatic; however, they both were united in the Body of Christ and in the Dominican Order.

St. Vincent is also a logician par excellence ; cf. Fr. Bochenski, O.P.'s History of Formal Logic p. 166 fn (part of the § on medieval supposition theory), where he says a "link between deep religious life and a talented interest in formal logic is" seen in "Vincent Ferrer[, who] was the greatest preacher of his time. We would add that Savonarola was also an important logician."

He knew Hebrew so well he could refute the errors of the Talmud to the Jews by quoting the Hebrew Old Testament! He also knew Greek and Aramaic and taught logic and physics!

St. Vincent said: "Avarice and usury increase under the disguised name of contracts." (ch. 5 ¶7)

Ch. 9 ¶¶21-23 explains why St. Vincent can be considered a sedevacantist:

…the King of Aragon detached himself from his obedience to Benedict XIII, and from that moment the cause of the union was accomplished.

The King’s edict was published on the 6th of January, 1416.

Our Saint spent the beginning of the year in traveling through many provinces of Aragon to withdraw the people from obedience to Benedict XIII, and to attach them to that of the Council of Constance, an undertaking by no means easy considering the long period in which those countries had lived under the spiritual dominion of Peter de Luna. But to all their prejudices the Saint opposed solid reasons, which carried conviction to every mind. In a short time, Spain, as well as Italy and the rest of Christendom, awaited with submission the choice of the Council of Constance, ready to acknowledge the elect of the Council as the veritable Vicar of Jesus Christ.

St. Vincent's 1380 Tractatus de moderno ecclesie scismate seems quite good; most of the pages are available for viewing online. Daileader p. 22:

Vincent asked first whether, in a time of schism, it was necessary to accept a single true pope or whether one could accept both or neither. Having established in his response to the first question that one must accept either Urban or Clement as pope, Vincent then posed the second question, namely, which of the two men elected by the College of Cardinals was the true pope. Having established that Clement’s election alone was valid, Vincent then asked whether this truth had to be preached and revealed to the Christian people. To each of these three major questions, the friar assigned five additional questions. Vincent answered all 15 questions within a scholastic framework: he posed his answer; cited his rational arguments (rationes) and his authorities (chiefly Aquinas, named on several occasions, and the Bible, with some references to Augustine and Aristotle); raised objections to his own arguments; and then rebutted the objections.

Thus, it doesn't seem St. Vincent treated the pope-heretic question. I'm wondering if he ever discussed Pope John XXII's material heresy.

cf. this brief write-up on St. Vincent's sedevacantism (both posts)

St. Vincent could also be considered the patron saint of dismembered babies. From ch. 16 ¶9:

Another Religious spread the veneration of the Saint in Sicily. He was from Vannes. When he was fourteen months old, his mother, seized with a fit of madness, cut him in pieces. His father, full of faith in St. Vincent, gathered up the different portions of the body, and carried them to the Saint’s tomb. His child was miraculously restored to him, and it was this same child who, out of gratitude, having entered the holy Order of St. Dominic, spent his whole life in propagating devotion to the Saint who resuscitated him in so marvelous a manner.

ref:24.9:

One day a woman came to him complaining bitterly of the bad treatment she had to endure from her husband. “Teach me, my good Father,” said she, “an efficacious method of preserving peace at home, in order that my husband may cease to ill-use me both by word and deed.” The Saint allowed her uninterrupted speech, well knowing the cause of the evil for which she sought a remedy; it was only her talkativeness and petulance; she irritated her husband by her chattering and provoking answers. Then the Saint quietly said to her: “If you wish to put an end to these disagreeable scenes, go to the Brother Porter of our convent and bid him give you a jug of water from the well which is in the middle of the cloister. When your husband returns home, take at once a mouthful of this water without swallowing it and retain it for a considerable time in your mouth. If you do this, I assure you that your husband will no more be angry with you and will become as meek as a lamb.” The woman immediately hastened to execute the Saint’s advice, seeing that the remedy was by no means a difficult one. When the husband returned home and began to show symptoms of irritation, she ran to the jug and filled her mouth with water, which she retained as long as she was able, the result being that, meeting with no reply, the husband himself was silent. He wondered at this, but said nothing, and thanked God for having changed the heart and closed the mouth from which proceeded all their disputes. Having put this advice into practice many times, and always with the same success, the woman returned to St. Vincent overflowing with thanks to him for having taught her so excellent a remedy. Then the Saint, speaking to her with sweetness, plainly told her: “The remedy which I have taught you, my daughter, is not the water from the well, as you suppose, but silence. By holding your tongue, you have preserved peace between yourself and your husband. He had scarcely entered the house, when you irritated him by your troublesome questions; it was your own fault if this anger increased; your provoking rejoinders were the cause of it. Be silent in the future, and you will always live in peace with your husband.” Hence the common proverb in Valencia when a woman complained of her husband; she was answered: “Fill your mouth with water, and what St. Vincent said will come to pass.”

cf. St. Brigid's dealing with a husband

Commissioned by Our Lord Himself to preach His Gospel, St. Vincent began at age 50 an apostolate of preaching that would extend to France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and a few other countries as well. Travelling with him were as many as 10,000 people, including at least 50 priests. The throngs that gathered to hear him came from many miles around, such that he was forced to preach in the open--no church being large enough to hold all the people. Impr. 205 pgs, 12 Illus.,