#vincent ferrer

[mioritic]

St. Peter of Verona, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Vincent Ferrer, and St. Catherine of Siena

Ioan Todeschino, Jean Bourdichon, and the Master of Claude de France, Horæ ad usum Fratrum Prædicatorum (the Book of Hours of Frederick of Aragon), 1501-1502

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Latin 10532 (f. 362, 364, 366, 368)

[koredzas]

Ercole de'Roberti - Miracles of Saint Vincent Ferrer. 1473

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT VINCENT FERRER The Patron of Builders and Construction Workers Feast Day: April 5

"If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire."

One of the greatest preachers of the Dominican order and dubbed the 'Angel of the Last Judgment', Vincent Ferrer was born on January 23, 1350 in Valencia.

From his parents (Guillem Ferrer and Constanca Miquel), he learned to love the poor, to fast on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and to have intense devotion to Jesus and Mary. Legends surround Vincent's birth. It was said that his father was told in a dream by a Dominican friar that his son would be famous throughout the world. His mother is said never to have experienced pain when she gave birth to him. He was named after Vincent Martyr, the patron saint of Valencia.

After joining the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) at the age of 18, he soon became a famous preacher, and everywhere, his lectures and sermons met with extraordinary success.

Vincent said to his fellow priests: 'In your sermons, use simple language and precise examples. Each sinner in your congregation should feel moved as though you were preaching to him alone. An abstract discourse hardly inspires those who listen.'

Vincent traveled throughout Europe, preaching mainly on sin, death, hell, eternity and the speedy approach of the day of judgement. He spoke with such energy that most of the listeners confessed their sins and repented from their sinful life. Several priests traveled with him, helping the saint in his ministry.

He instructed them in this fashion: 'When hearing confession, you should always radiate the warmest charity. Whether you are gently encouraging the fainthearted or putting the fear of God into the hardheaded, the penitent should feel that you are motivated only by pure love.'

On April 5, 1419 in Vannes, while delivering his last sermon, Vincent died at the age of 69. He was buried in Vannes Cathedral and was canonized as a saint by Pope Calixtus III in 1455.

[stijenafurormonachus-blog]

Giovanni Bellini, St. Sebastian (Panel of St. Vincent Ferrer Polyptych), circa 1464-68, Tempera on panel, Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Italy

[jewishvirtuallibrary-blog]

Interior of the Ibn Shushan Synagogue in Toledo, Spain; 1899. x

The Ibn Shushan Synagogue is a Sephardi synagogue that was constructed in 1190 for the Jewish community of Toledo.  The building was constructed by Mudéjar architects and combines elements from Mudéjar, Byzantine, and Corinthian architectural styles.  In 1405 however, Dominican priest Vincent Ferrer preached sermons against the Jewish population in Toledo which lead to his Catholic listeners starting a riot against the city’s Jewish population.  The town’s Jewish population was massacred and the empty Ibn Shushan Synagogue was converted into a church, named the Santa María la Blanca church to drive out the perceived "darkness" of the building's Jewish past.  In 2013, a formal request was made by the Jewish community of Toledo to the Catholic church to return the building to Jewish owners but the Catholic church has not responded to this request.  Although appeals have been made through the courts for the return of this property, they were rejected due to the fact that the current Jewish community of Toledo are not the heirs of the property because the heirs were killed.  Today the building is a museum of Sephardi culture, but it is still owned by the Catholic church and not a single museum employee is Jewish.

[catholic-christian]

[quaesumus]

[fidei]

Saint Vincent Ferrer - Franciscan Media

The polarization in the Church today is a mild breeze compared with the tornado that ripped the Church apart during the lifetime of this saint. If any saint is a patron of reconciliation, Vincent Ferrer is. Despite parental opposition, he entered the Dominican Order in his native Spain at 19.