VINCENT FERRER (VINCENTE FERRER), SAINT: Spanish Dominican preacher and leader of the flagellants; b. at Valencia Jan. 23, 1350; d. at Vannes (84 m. n.w. of Nantes) Apr. 5, 1419. He entered the Dominican order Dec. 5, 1374, and in his monastery quickly won recognition Life as a by asceticism and application to the Monk. study of philosophy and theology. Except for a visit to Toulouse in 1377, he remained in the cloister at Valencia until 1380, when he went to the universities of Barcelona and Lerida, studying at each two years. A fruit of his studies there was his (unpublished) Tractatus de moderno ecclesice schT.smate, which was occasioned by the schism of 1378. In this treatise he took the side of Clement VII., who had been elected at Fondi, and declared Urban VI., who had been chosen at Rome, an apostate and an enemy of the Church. In 1384 Vincent returned to Valencia, where he taught and preached until 1391. Such was his dis tinction in these duties that he served as councilor to John I. of Aragon and confessor to his queen, Yolanda, until 1395, when he was summoned to Avignoff by Benedict XIII. as grand penitentiary and magiater sacri palatii, but returned to his mon astery at Valencia 1398. His distress at the con tinuance of the schism was intense, and seems to have been instrumental in leading him to adopt a roving prophetic and apostolic life. This is shown by his apocalyptic treatise De eversione Europce, in which he laments bitterly over the decay of eccle siastical discipline, order, and morality, and proph esies the speedy coming of Antichrist. While it is not proved that Benedict endeavored to dissuade Vincent from his resolve and offered him various bishoprics and even a cardinalate, it is true that he appointed him apostolic preacher with the title of legatos a la tere and gave him full power to loose and bind on his journey.

In 1399 Vincent began the travels which were to occupy the remainder of his life, and within a short time he was accompanied by multitudes who came

to form a regular itinerant community Activity as with their own usages and rules. Their as Itinerant first requirement was the self-castiga-

Preacher. tion in which their leader surpassed

them all, which they performed by scourging themselves on their bared shoulders with thick knotted cords to the accompaniment of such cries as, "God have mercyl" (see Flagellation, Flagellants). Vincent was accustomed to preach in almost every place which he visited, frequently delivering two and three sermons in a single day, which were transmitted by his hearers, for Vincent himself never committed them to writing. These addresses were ethical rather than dogmatic, although the preacher adhered closely to orthodox Roman Catholicism. He was one of the most successful missionaries to the Jews of his time, particularly in Valencia, Toledo, and Valladolid. The scene of his activity was the Spanish peninsula, northern Italy, and France. Various miracles are recounted in his honor by his earliest biographer and fellow Dominican Pietro Razzano, who wrote about a generation after Vincent's death:

Vincent frequently took part in the affairs of his time, both ecclesiastical and secular. In 1412 he exercised a decided influence for Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia in the election of a king held in the

Catalonian castle of Daspe. Four His Clo- years later he was invited to attend sing Years. the Council of Constance., but declined.

In the later yearn of his life he withdrew from association with the flagellants, although his activity as a preacher suffered no diminution, and in Feb., 1418, he is said to have had some 70,000 auditors in Nantes. The closing months of his life were spent in Brittany. Until the Revolution the anniversary of his burial in the cathedral of Vannes was celebrated on Sept. 8, but since that

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time it has been held on the first Sunday of September. Vincent was canonized by Calixtus III. on June 29, 1455, although the bull of canonization was first published by Pius II. on Oct. 1, 1458. His chief works, in addition to those already mentioned, are his Tractatus de vita spirituali (Magdeburg, 1493); Define mundi et tempore Autichristi (Venice [7], 1475); and his sermons, delivered in the Spanish dialect of Valencia, and repeatedly translated into Latin (first at Lyons, 1490).

(O. Zöckler†.)

Bibliography: Besides the account by Razzano in ASB, April, i. 47rr529, lives have been written by V. J. Antist, Valencia, 1578; F. Diego, Barcelona, 1600; V. Gomez, Valencia, 1618; B. Guyard, Paris, 1634; F. Gavalda, Valencia, 1668; M. Marchese, Naples~, 1869; L. Coelho, Lisbon, 1713; S. T. Miguel, Valencia, 1713, new ed., Madrid, 1856; G. M. F. Ferrarini, Milan, 1732; A. Teoli, Naples, 1738, new ed., Rome, 1828; A. Valdecebro, Madrid, 1740; P. Fuesi, Oedenburg, 1749; L. Heller, Berlin, 1830; L. Donin, Vienna, 1844; anonymous, Bologna, 1850; M. A. Bayle, Paris, 1855; A. Ferrante, Turin, 1876; and M. S. Hogan, London and New York, 1911. Consult further: P. Fagea, Hist. de S. Vincent Fewer, 2 vols., Paris, 1894; A. Pradel, SI.'Vincertt Fewer, .

his Life, Spiritual Teaching, and Practical Devotion, London, 1875; O. Zöckler, Zur 1Viird%gung des römischen Mirakelglauberts, in Beweia des Glaubena, 1897, pp. 257-269; J. Rohr, in Historisches Jahrbuch der Görresgesellschaft, 1898, i. 32 sqq.; KL, xii. 978-983.