St. Vincent Ferrer

St. Vincent Ferrer

St. Vincent Ferrer is a wonderful Saint who is not well known. He was born in Valencia, Spain, in the year 1350, where he is known for many miracles. The first miracle was before he was born, when he healed a blind woman. His mother, Constance, asked a blind woman to pray for a safe delivery of her child. When the blind woman did this, she was completely healed of her ailment, and Vincent leaped in Constance's womb, much like what St. John the Baptist did in Elizabeth’s womb. The next miracle was when he made rain fall after a long drought. He was a baby when he performed this miracle, where he spoke to his mother and told her that if the town wanted rain, the people would have to go around the town with Vincent and pray for rain to come. The town of Valencia did this, and then instantly clouds formed and it rained. St. Vincent Ferrer was an extremely smart child. At around six years of age, he started learning at the seminary of Valencia to become a priest. When he was fourteen years old, he was one of the top scholars in the seminary, knowing as much as the oldest teacher there. After he graduated, St. Vincent Ferrer began to preach in Valencia and other towns that the bishop of the area had instructed him to visit. When he preached, he sometimes levitated, and God gave him the gift of a loud voice so that all could hear when he preached. During this time frame, he went to visit the Pope of Avignon. When he was about thirty-one years of age, he was appointed to be a priest and was appointed to be the confessor of the princess of Spain. After some time, St. Vincent Ferrer retired from preaching because the church was in such a grave state that he would start sobbing. After he retired, he got very sick, and just when the doctors said that he was going to die, Jesus spoke to Vincent and told him to go out and preach to the people again.

Some unique things about St. Vincent Ferrer are that his miracles started before he was even born, he was an extremely smart child who studied philosophy before the age of nine, and Jesus spoke to him and told him not to die. He became beatified by the miracles of casting out demons from people with a word or touch. St. Vincent Ferrer became canonized by the miracles of raising at least twenty-eight people from the dead. I first learned about this saint from a wonderful person, Henry Cordonnier, from Russia, Ohio. At a Disciples of our Eucharistic Lord meeting that I went to, Heny talked about his favorite saint, Saint Vincent Ferrer. His story has really inspired me to try to become a saint.