Saint Vincent Ferrer: The Angel of Judgment by Rev. Fr. Andre Pradel, O.P.

 “In the countries of the West the number of Jews and infidels increased, who by their wealth and their culture of letters exercised a fatal influence. The Last Day, the terrible Day of Judgement was almost forgotten, but Divine Providence was pleased to restore and beautify His Church by illustrious men. At a favorable moment He sent into the world, for the salvation of the faithful, Vincent of Valencia, of the Order of Friar Preachers, a skillful professor of sacred theology. He professed all knowledge of the eternal Gospel. Like a vigorous athlete, he rushed to combat the errors of the Jews, the Saracens and other infidels; he was the Angel of the Apocalypse, flying through the heavens to announce the day of the Last Judgment, to evangelize the inhabitants of the earth, to sow the seeds of salvation among all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues and to point out the way of eternal life.”

~ Pope Pius II, Papal Bull of the Canonization of St. Vincent Ferrer 

(Bull S. Ord. Praed. T.V)

I decided to make a book review of “St. Vincent Ferrer: The Angel of the Judgment” by Rev. Fr. Andrew Pradel, O.P. Fr. Pradel originally published the book about St. Vincent Ferrer in the year 1875. Fr. Pradel dedicated his biography of the saint to his Brethren and Sisters in St. Dominic, Spread through England, Ireland and America. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the author except that he was a member of the same religious order of St. Vincent Ferrer, the Dominicans (Order of Preachers). Reading the life of St. Vincent Ferrer through this book, I am filled with wonder and awe about how God used this saint to bring glory to His kingdom.

We should call to mind this wonderful son of the Saint Dominic de Guzman who is one of the brightest lights of the extended family of the Order of Preachers. Armed with Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary, Saint Vincent Ferrer, himself a son of Spain, worked tirelessly to bring back hardened sinners to the practice of the Faith and to convert non-Catholics, including thousands upon thousands of Talmudic Jews and Mohammedans, to the true Faith. Saint Vincent Ferrer sought to convert Jews and Mohammedans. He was possessed of the spirit of Catholicism, and nothing else.[1]  God gave him a very special gift for doing many miracles that stunned his contemporaries, who nicknamed him the Angel of the Apocalypse.

He was born on January 23, 1350 in Valencia. He was a member of the Dominican Order known as Order of Preachers. The zeal of Saint Vincent Ferrer for the conversion of non-Catholics to the true Faith. Although Saint Vincent Ferrer had permission to enter into Talmudic synagogues, he did so to convert the Jews present there. Saint Vincent died on April 5, 1419 at Vannes in Brittany, at the age of sixty-nine, and was buried in Vannes Cathedral. He was canonized by Pope Calixtus III on June 3, 1455.[2]

St. Vincent Ferrer is by far the greatest miracle worker Christianity has ever seen. Over 700 miracles were read during his canonization and they stopped because there were too many documented cases for them to read. He raised over 30 persons from the dead.[3] He delivered over 70 persons from demonic possession. Just the mention of St. Vincent’s name caused devils to flee. ​ He converted over 25,000 Jews, 8,000 Muslims, and many heretics to the Catholic Church. He could go into a Synagogue or Mosque and convert all of them in one homily. He announced that he was the Angel of Judgment from the Apocalypse.[4] When bystanders jeered at him for saying so, he raised a woman back to life who publicly testified that he was indeed the Angel of Judgment. St. Vincent was the greatest preacher of his age, and during the last twenty years of his life he wandered up and down Europe, leading huge crowds too large to fit into a Church to embrace repentance and a life of virtue.[5] St. Vincent travelled all over Western Europe preaching penance, attracting enormous crowds, and followed by thousands of disciples. He converted St. Bernardine of Siena and Blessed Margaret of Savoy. He understood himself to have been given the task of preparing his hearers for the coming Day of Judgment. Many thousands were converted to or renewed in their faith by his strenuous labors. He was sought after for counsel by Kings and Popes as well as by the simplest of folk.[6] Fr. Pradel also narrates the miraculous restoration of a baby that was chopped up and cooked by its mother. Through the intercession of Saint Vincent, the baby was apparently reconstituted and resuscitated after the child’s father took the remains to Saint Vincent. The pieces became united together, the body came to life again, and St. Vincent handed over to the father a living child.[7] Despite all of these accomplishments, there is one particular one that is forgotten.

Fr. Andrew Pradel pointed out the role St. Vincent played during the Great Western Schism (1378-1417). This very difficult period in the history of the Catholic Church is characterized by a succession of antipopes opposed to legitimate popes.[8] However, the confusion reached an extraordinary degree, both for the Catholic states and for the faithful, when Christendom sees three “popes” competing with one another. Only one was legitimate, but which one? In this terrible situation, St. Vincent Ferrer first took the side of the antipope Benedict XIII. Saints are not infallible and they can also make mistakes such is the case of St. Vincent Ferrer. St. Vincent Ferrer was following the wrong pope. Up to three men claimed to be pope at the same time. One was in Rome, one in Avignon, and the other in Pisa. St. Vincent Ferrer was Avignon line’s greatest champion, and his influence led to half of the Catholic world giving allegiance to Avignon.[9] The popes had resided in Avignon for approximately 70 years due to political turmoil. The conclave was held amid scenes of unprecedented uproar. Largely by the influence of Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Bridget of Sweden, Pope Gregory XI had returned to the city of Rome in 1376.[10]  St. Catherine of Siena upheld the claims of Urban, while St. Vincent was convinced that Clement and the Avignon line was the true one. Pope Urban VI was the real pope and lived in Rome, but St. Vincent and many others thought that Clement VII and his successor Benedict XIII, who lived in Avignon, France, were the true popes.[11] Vincent convinced kings, princes, clergy, and almost all of Spain to give loyalty to them.[12]

Saint Vincent came to realize that Benedict XIII is not the real pope. Having understood his error, he moved away from him, after having urged the pope to convert. He approached Benedict in Avignon and asked him to resign. Benedict refused. After years of defending the Avignon papacy, he denounced him as the false pope in the pulpit in front of a big crowd.[13] The great miracle worker had many followers and when St. Vincent Ferrer declared that Benedict XIII is not the real pope, nearly the whole Catholic world pulled away their allegiance to all papal claimants making way for Pope Martin V. He encouraged everyone to be faithful to the one, true Catholic Church in Rome. Later, the Council of Constance met to end the Western Schism.[14] Without St. Vincent Ferrer, the Great Schism would have lasted many more years.

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[1] Rev. Fr. Andrew Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer: The Angel of the Judgment, (TAN Books, January 2, 2001)p. 2.

[2] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 3.

[3] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 31.

[4] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 112.

[5] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 45.

[6] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 89.

[7] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p.167.

[8] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 90.

[9] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 91.

[10] J.N.D. Kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes, (Oxford University Press), 1986, p. 227.

[11] Warren H. Carroll, A History of Christendom, Vol. 3 (The Glory of Christendom), p. 472.

[12] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 132.

[13] Pradel, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer, p. 90.

[14] Fr. James Edmund O’Reilly, The Relations of the Church to Society – Theological Essays, p.289.