St. Vincent Ferrer, Dominican Preacher

St. Vincent Ferrer—also known as the “Angel of the Last Judgment”—was a Dominican preacher endowed with extraordinary gifts. If you want proof of his holiness, consult the Acta Sanctorum. This monumental critical collection of saints’ lives, legends, and related documents is organized by each day of the liturgical calendar. In it, the compilers record that St. Vincent Ferrer performed more than eight hundred miracles during his lifetime: healing cripples, restoring speech to the mute, and granting sight to the blind.

How could one man perform so many wonders? The only true answer is that God chose him as an instrument of preaching, conversion, and salvation. Above all else, St. Vincent Ferrer was humble, studious, and passionately devoted to calling people to repentance. Through this friar, God transformed thousands of lives and reshaped the spiritual landscape of Europe.

Like Jonah before him, Vincent Ferrer received the courage and zeal to preach even in foreign lands where people hungered for the message of repentance. God gives saints for every age, and St. Vincent Ferrer was the perfect man for his moment in history. We can hold the same hope for our generation: that God will raise up men and women to meet today’s challenges.

If we, too, humble ourselves and allow God to work through us, we can preach conversion wherever we are—no street corner or placard required—simply by speaking words of love and reminding others that sin is never better than a life of grace. But we cannot undertake this task with just our strength. We must be constantly nourished by the greatest miracle of all: the Eucharist—the source and summit of all grace and power. It was this source that empowered St. Vincent Ferrer to preach across nations and work wonders. If we draw upon the same source, we, too, can accomplish whatever God calls us to, for He will never ask more of us than He gives us the grace to fulfill.