The Universal Conversions Produced by St. Vincent Ferrer

God alone knows the number of souls whom our Saint led from sin to penance by a daily course of preaching extending over a period of twenty years. But if we may judge by the exterior signs which everywhere accompanied his presence, we can easily conceive that there would be very few persons, who were privileged to see and to hear him, and could still resist the efficacy of his influence on their souls.

And how was it possible to remain insensible to his touch? He preached with such energy, such vivacity and vigor, that he no longer appeared an old man broken down by age and infirmity, but a youthful herald of the Gospel fired with an impetuous ardor. He could be heard at a great distance round; and he was understood by people of every nation, although he spoke only the Valencian dialect. His sudden display of energy during his preaching was as a miracle which enraptured his hearers. On leaving the pulpit, he became feeble, weary, and infirm; his countenance was pale, his walk slow, and he had need of the assistance of some one to support his steps. No one would have supposed him to be the same individual, nor could it be doubted that the Holy Spirit worked in him during his discourse to reanimate his enfeebled body, and to produce in him this marvelous energy.

Another cause of success was the gift of miracles, which he possessed in a rare degree. They were of daily occurrence. Wherever he went he restored health to a great number of sufferers whose bodily cure was despaired of. We may well imagine then the impression which this wonderful spectacle so often repeated would everywhere produce. He moved rapidly from place to place, so great was his eagerness to evangelize the whole of Europe; but the prodigies which he daily accomplished left indelible traces in the hearts of all.

The procession of Disciplinants was, moreover, capable of itself of softening the most hardened souls. It took place every evening, at sunset, notwithstanding the state of the weather, in rain, snow, wind, and tempest. It consisted of persons of every condition, the nobility and the common people, great and small, even children from four to five years old, who were not afraid to scourge themselves, in order to expiate the sins of the people. They walked two and two with naked feet, their faces veiled, clad in sackcloth, and their shoulders bared in such a manner as not to offend against modesty. Each penitent scourged himself with a discipline, meditating on the Passion of our Lord. Their blood flowed, and, carried away by the impetuosity of their fervor, some even went so far as to cut their flesh in pieces by the violence of the blows. And yet, strange as it may appear, none of these austere penitents ever suffered in their health at the close of this exercise. The Saint himself alluded to it, in order to show how agreeable to God was this sensible display of penance; in the space of twelve years, not a single death occurred among those who formed the special company of Disciplinants.

While this procession traversed the streets of the city, women of disreputable character assembled in the church, and one of St. Vincent's companions preached to them on sin, repentance, and hell. Few of these unhappy women resisted the pressing exhortations that were addressed to them. They were seen on the following day to break asunder the ties which bound them to vice, and to take part in the procession of public penance.

What was the result of all this? This: that from the moment of St. Vincent's entry into a city, it immediately wore the appearance of Nineve when Jonas preached penance to it. People wept when they heard the Saint's Mass, but their tears were most abundant when he exhorted them to repentance. It was then that sighs, groanings, and lamentations filled the air. It might have been thought that each one mourned the death of a first-born, or of a father or a mother. The squares and the plains which were covered by his auditory gave an idea of the universal judgment; it was, in fact, like the future terror and lamentation of all the tribes of the earth gathered together in the valley of Josaphat. But, as Nicholas de Clemangis, an eye-witness, observes, the most lukewarm souls, and hearts of stone, were softened, and gave vent to their sorrow in tears and accents of the bitterest anguish.

We may moreover picture to ourselves the extraordinary confluence of people. The Saint's auditory was not composed solely of the inhabitants of the city where he preached. There were frequently gathered around his pulpit more than fifty thousand people, even when he preached in small villages. They gladly went several leagues to hear him. During his sermon all the artisans abandoned their labour, and the merchants their warehouses. In cities where there were schools the masters suspended their lectures. Neither the inclement season, wind, nor rain prevented the multitudes from collecting in the public squares where the Saint was to preach. The sick who had sufficient strength to walk left the hospitals, others were carried; all hoped that their bodies as well as their souls would be cured at the same time, and this hope was frequently realized.

We may form some idea from the following fact, of the eagerness with which he inspired the people for penance: wherever St. Vincent went, the squares and other public places were invaded by peddlers whose commerce consisted solely in disciplines, hair-cloth, iron chains, sackcloth, and other instruments of mortification.

We shall relate in the "Spiritual Instructions" which follow, many interesting examples of great sinners converted. As to the general fruits of his apostolate, we will quote from an authentic document, a letter written by the Council of Orihuela to the Bishop of Carthagena, in Spain:

"The arrival of Vincent Ferrer has produced immense good in this country; it has been a grand occasion of salvation to all the faithful. This city in particular, at the close of his preaching, and by God's grace, is delivered from every vice and public sin. There is no one, great or small, who dares to swear by the Holy Name of God, the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, or to utter any other oath. Cards and dice are abolished . . . . No one ventures to conjure, cast lots, explain signs, or consult fortune-tellers and sorcerers . . . . All noisy entertainments have been given up . . . . The people of this city have never confessed so frequently as at the present moment; the priests are insufficient to hear the confessions and give communion. On Sundays and Feasts of Obligation all . . . . go to Mass with devotion such as no one could believe, much less expect to witness. Before the arrival of Master Vincent, the churches were large; now they are small . . . . There no longer exist in this city either offenses, or rancor, or enmity against any one; but each one, spontaneously, and for God's honor, pardons the other. We have counted more than one hundred and twenty-three reconciliations; sixty-six deaths and a host of broken limbs have been pardoned. Now every one lives in peace and concord. In the great city of Toulouse, all the women of abandoned character have renounced their disorders." 

In St. Vincent's time heresy took refuge in the high valleys of the Pyrenees and the Alps. These were the strongholds of the Albigenses, Vaudois, Cathari, and the Paterini, who, compelled by the united power of the Church and of the temporal princes to quit the cities and plains, went forth to find in those inaccessible retreats the fatal liberty of error. St. Vincent's zeal led him to climb the mountains that he might carry the torch of faith among the unhappy people who inhabited them. In the process of his canonization it is related that, at the close of only one discourse at Perpignan, an incalculable number of heretics embraced the true faith. This one fact alone gives us the measure of his success in the Pyrenees. As to the Alps, we are told that he traversed them in an almost incredibly short space of time. On the French declivity he undertook the conversion of three valleys in the diocese of Embrun, where heresy and the corruption of morals had made the greatest ravages. Accompanied by his faithful band of Disciplinants and pious pilgrims he penetrated into these valleys, till then rebellious to the Word of God. The Saint's renown and the fame of his miracles brought crowds of heretics to his sermons. A few days only sufficed to work a change in their hearts and to soften their obduracy.

There were, however, many who viewed with bitter jealousy this general enthusiasm, and sought to slay him. Three times they attempted to execute their wicked design, but three times also did the visible protection of God shield him from their malice. Despairing then of ridding themselves of the presence of the preacher, these deluded people came in their turn to hear his sermons. God's grace drew them thither; they were more deeply moved than the rest, and in a short time gave unequivocal signs of a sincere conversion. Wicked customs and gross superstitions soon disappeared from those valleys; they embraced the true faith, and submitted with docility to the Church's discipline. The most criminal of them repaired so effectually the scandals it had given, that it ceased to be called Valpourrie,1 and was henceforth known only by the name of Valpure. 

Most of the valleys on the Italian descent of the Alps were also inhabited by heretics, especially in the diocese of Turin. St. Vincent visited them in order, preaching in each of them the Catholic truth, and attacking error with vigorous and irresistible energy. By the mercy of God, they each received the Divine Word with much ardor, piety, and respect. The Saint's learning, his fervor, and miracles opened the eyes of all. He observed that the chief cause of error and heresy was the total absence of preaching.

He gathered from the inhabitants of the country that for thirty years no one had preached to them except Vaudois who came regularly among them twice a year. In the vale of Loferio, he reclaimed the Bishop of that poor erring flock; in that of Angrogne he destroyed the schools in which the ministers of error were educated; at Val-du-Pont he led the Cathari to renounce their abominations; at Val-de-Lanz he converted the descendants of the murderers of St. Peter Martyr. He discovered in the diocese of Geneva a gross and wide-spread error. It was customary to celebrate every year on the day following Corpus Christi, a feast in honor of the Orient, and confraternities were established under the name of St. Orient (There was a striking resemblance between the St. Orient of the Albigenses and the Grand-Orient of modern Freemasonry.). No preacher dared to declaim against this monstrous error; the religious and the secular clergy were threatened either with death or the withdrawal of offerings and alms. But St. Vincent was above all such servile fear, he spoke freely against this abuse, and effectually put a stop to it. He found matters in a still more lamentable state in the diocese of Lausanne, where the peasantry were wont to offer an idolatrous worship to the sun. He instructed them in the worship of God and put to flight all such superstitious practices.

St. Vincent's mission was not less fruitful among the Jews than among heretics. He converted an incalculable number of them. God seemed to have accorded him a special grace for the conversion of a people who are proverbially hostile to the Christian name. There was at that period a population of Jews both numerous and powerful in Spain. The process of his canonization shows that in the space of thirteen months he converted twenty thousand in Castile alone; that in the year 1415, within six months, more than fifteen thousand were led to embrace the true faith in Aragon and Catalonia, and that on another occasion in the same country over thirty thousand were baptized at the close of his preaching. The historians of the sect do not hesitate to confirm these facts by their own testimony. In a work entitled "Juehasin," it is related that in the year 1412 a Friar named Brother Vincent having preached to the Jews, the latter renounced their law to the number of more than two hundred thousand.

The Saint had an ardent zeal and tender love for these unhappy wanderers. In the cities where he found them, he took care that a place should always be reserved for them, and after his exhortations he treated them with much consideration. These acts full of sweetness gained their hearts. The learning of the great preacher completed their conviction, and they presented themselves in a body to receive holy baptism. Thus at Perpignan seventy families embraced the Christian faith. In other places whole synagogues abjured their errors. Their place of meeting was changed into a church. In Castile, they were so unanimously converted that none remained, and the Bishop of Palencia saw himself deprived of a large revenue, produced by a special impost on them. Among the Jews whom St. Vincent brought to the Divine Messiah, many of them in their turn became the apostles of their co-religionists. Thus one of them, who was afterwards raised to the Episcopate, had the satisfaction of making forty thousand proselytes among his fellow-countrymen.