(1350-1419) Vincent was born in Valencia to Spanish nobility. He joined the Dominicans at 18, became a priest, received a doctorate in theology, and was a teacher, missionary, celebrated preacher, and miracle worker. He counseled the antipope in Avignon to end the Western Schism, which weighed heavily on Vincent. He suffered a severe fever when he was 48, during which he had a vision of Our Lord, Jesus, and Saints Dominic and Francis instructing him to preach penance. He was miraculously healed of the fever. Vincent was an excellent preacher and, though he spoke only Spanish, his listeners could miraculously understand him regardless of their native tongue.
Vincent was known as an “apostle of the apocalypse” for his preaching on the coming judgement and the need for penance. Penance is a means of reparation—of making right what we have made wrong. What importance have you placed on making amends in your recovery?
“Let devotion accompany all your studies, and study less to make yourself learned than to become a saint. Consult God more than your books, and ask him, with humility, to make you understand what you read” (Saint Vincent Ferrer).
Reflection by Brad Farmer