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St. Vincent
St. Vincent
(MALDEGARIUS).
Founder and abbot of the monasteries of Hautmont and Soignies, b. of a noble family at Strepy les Binche, Hainault, early in the seventh century; d. at Soignies, 14 July, 677. That he was not of Irish descent, as stated by Jean du Pont and some Irish writers, has been proved by Mabillon and the Bollandists. About 635 he married the noble Waldetrude, also venerated as a saint, and by her had two sons and two daughters, all of whom are honoured as saints. Their names were: Landric, Bishop of Meaux; Dentelin, who died as a boy of seven years; Aldetrude and Madelberte, both of whom became abbesses of Maubeuge. It is probable that Vincent visited Ireland on a mission of King Dagobert I, who esteemed him very highly, though there is no historical basis for the statement made in his anonymous life, written about the eleventh century, that King Dagobert made him ruler over Ireland. He is said to have brought with him from Ireland a number of missionaries, chief among whom were Sts. Fursy, Foillan, Ultan, Eloquius, Adalgisus, and Etto. About 642 he founded the monastery of Hautmont, near Maubeuge, where he himself became a monk about 643, being invested with the religious garb by Bishop St. Aubert of Cambrai, while his wife took the veil and lived in a cell which later became the monastery of Mons. His holy life and his fame as a spiritual guide attracted to the monastery many of his former friends, who put themselves under his spiritual direction. In the hope of finding great seclusion he erected a new monastery at Soignies whither he withdrew with a few of his monks about 670.
LAILEU, Vie de St. Vincent Madelgaire et de Ste Waudrau, son epouse, princes et patrons du Hainaut (Tournai, 1886); Acta SS., III, July, 628-659; Mabillon, Acta SS. Bened., II, 643-5; Analecta Bollandiana, XII (Brussels, 1893), 422-440; O'HANLON, Lives of the Irish Saints, VII (Dublin, s.d.), 227-234; DU PONT, Memoriale immortale de vita et virtutibus S. Vincentii (Mons, 1649).
MICHAEL OTT
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St. Vincent
St. Vincent
Deacon of Saragossa, and martyr under Diocletian, 304; mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, 22 Jan., with St. Anastasius the Persian, honoured by the Greeks, 11 Nov. This most renowned martyr of Spain is represented in the dalmatic of a deacon, and has as emblems a cross, a raven, a grate, or a fire-pile. He is honoured as patron in Valencia, Saragossa, Portugal etc., is invoked by vintners, brickmakers, and sailors, and is in the Litany of the Saints. His Acts were read in the churches of Africa at the end of the fourth century, as St. Augustine testifies in Sermon 275. The present Acts (Acta SS., III Jan., 6) date from the eighth or ninth century, and were compiled from tradition. Anal. Boll., I, 259, gives another life. All agree in substance with the metric life by Prudentius (P.L., LX, 378). He was born at Saragossa; his father was Eutricius (Euthicius), and his mother, Enola, a native of Osca. Under the direction of Valerius, Bishop of Sargossa, Vincent made great progress in his studies. He was ordained deacon and commissioned to do the preaching in the diocese, the bishop having an impediment of speech. By order of the Governor Dacian he and his bishop were dragged in chains to Valencia and kept in prison for a long time. Then Valerius was banished, but Vincent was subjected to many cruel torments, the rack, the gridiron, and scourgings. He was again imprisoned, in a cell strewn with potsherds. He was next placed in a soft and luxurious bed, to shake his constancy, but here he expired.
His body was thrown to be devoured by vultures, but it was defended by a raven. Dacian had the body cast into the sea, but it came to shore and was buried by a pious widow. After peace was restored to the Church, a chapel was built over the remains outside the walls of Valencia. In 1175 the relics were brought to Lisbon; others claim that they came to Castres in 864. Cremona, Bari, and other cities claim to have relics. Childeric I brought the sole and dalmatic to Paris in 542, and built a church in honour of St. Vincent, later called St-Germain-des-Prés. Regimont, near Bezières, had a church of the saint as early as 455. Rome had three churches dedicated to St. Vincent; one near St. Peter's, another in Trastevere, and the one built by Honorius I (625-38) and renewed by Leo III in 796. A pilaster found in the basilica of Salona in Dalmatia shows an inscription of the fifth or sixth century in honour of the saint (Rom. Quartalschrift, 1907, Arch. 135).
BUTLER, Lives of the Saints; STADLER, Heiligenlexicon; ALLARD, Hist. des persecut., IV, 237; LECLERCQ, Les Martyrs, II (Paris, 1903), 437.
FRANCIS MERSHMAN
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