April 5: Saint Vincent Ferrer
The Angel of the Apocalypse
He was called the Angel of the Apocalypse for his fiery sermons on the end times and the eternal destiny that awaits humanity. Recalling his contemporaries to coherence in life via the professed faith and announcing the Gospel with vigor and courage, he did not fear the powerful of his time. He is Saint Vincent Ferrer, born on January 23, 1350, in Valencia, Spain, to Don Guillermo Ferrer and Lady Costanza Miguel.
From an early age, he was drawn to the things of God and prayer. After completing his studies brilliantly, on February 6, 1368, he decided to enter the Dominican Order. He perfected his studies in Barcelona, Lerida, and Toulouse and, from 1385, he taught theology in Valencia.
The historical moment in which he lived was turbulent for the Church. Upon the death of Pope Gregory XI on March 27, 1378, the Cardinals, mostly French, elected Bartolomeo Prignano, who became Urban VI. However, in the city of Fondi, five months later, the Cardinals, in a subsequent conclave, declared the previous election invalid and elected Robert of Geneva, who took the name of Clement VII and who returned the Papal court to Avignon, France.
Thus began the Western Schism. The division was triggered between those who supported the Pope of Rome and the antipope of Avignon. The population, in good faith, followed the Pope for whom their sovereign sided. Vincenzo was subject to the king of Aragon, so he was on the side of the antipope in Avignon. In the early years of the schism he became an advisor to the Aragonese Cardinal Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez, a close collaborator of Clement VII. Upon the antipope’s death in 1394, the Cardinal was elected antipope with the name of Benedict XIII, and chose Vincent Ferrer as his confessor.
After three years, disappointed by the antipope's conduct, he abandoned the Avignon Curia to devote himself to preaching. He worked to resolve the Western Schism, attempting mediation between the Pope of Rome, Gregory XII, and the antipope Benedict XIII. He failed, and then tried to convince the antipope of Avignon to withdraw and, faced with his refusal, convinced the king of Aragon to no longer support him. In fact, Ferdinand I, in 1415, during the Council of Constance recognized the election of Martin V, abandoning Benedict XIII to his fate.
Faithful to his motto: "Fear God and give him honor", Vincent spent his life preaching in the public squares and churches, to recall the faithful to the teachings of the Gospel. Authentic conversions occurred following his sermons and he performed authentic miracles. There were so many that the Superior of his convent forbade him from performing any more. It is said that one day, passing by on the street, a bricklayer fell from a scaffold. Then, Vincent stopped him in mid-air with his finger held high and went to ask the Prior for permission to save him. This is why in iconography he is depicted with his arm raised and his finger pointing upwards. A position that is also intended to indicate the goal of Heaven. He died on 5 April 1419 in Vannes, Brittany, in whose Cathedral some of the Saint’s relics are preserved.