De sancto Vincentio
The Victory of Faith
Vincent is introduced as a conqueror of worldly vices and fears through his steadfast devotion.
Vincent, as if burning away vice or overcoming the fires of trial, or holding the victory, himself burned—that is, he consumed his vices through the mortification of the flesh, conquered the fires of torture through his constant endurance of pain, and held the victory over the world through his contempt for it. For he conquered the three things that were in the world: namely, false errors, impure loves, and worldly fears. These he overcame through wisdom, purity, and constancy. Regarding these, Augustine says: the martyrdoms of the saints teach, and have taught, that this world is conquered through all errors, loves, and fears. Some claim that the blessed Augustine compiled his passion, which Prudentius describes quite brilliantly.
The Deacon and the Judge
Deacon Vincent and Bishop Valerius are arrested and brought before the governor Dacian, where Vincent boldly speaks for the faith.
X. Vincent, noble by birth but even more noble in faith and religious life, was a deacon to the blessed Bishop Valerius; because the bishop was less fluent, he had entrusted his duties to Vincent, while he himself gave his time to prayer and contemplation; by the order of the governor Dacian, therefore, they were dragged away and thrown into a grim prison. When he saw that they had nearly wasted away from hunger, he ordered them to stand before him; seeing them healthy and joyful, he flew into a rage and burst out with this: "What do you have to say for yourself, Valerius, you who act against the decrees of the princes in the name of religion?" But when the blessed Valerius answered him quite gently, Vincent said to him, "Venerable father, don't murmur as if you have a fearful mind; speak out with a free voice. If you command it, holy father, I will approach the judge with my response." To which he replied, "I have long since entrusted the task of speaking to you, my dearest son, and now I entrust the response to you for the sake of the faith in which we stand." Then Vincent turned to Dacian and said, "Up to now, you have spoken about denying the faith, but you should know that in the judgment of Christians, it is wicked to blaspheme by denying the worship of the Deity." Then the angry Dacian ordered the bishop to be sent into exile, but Vincent, as a stubborn and presumptuous young man, he ordered to be stretched on the rack and his limbs torn apart, so that others might be terrified by his example. And while his body was being torn apart, Dacian said, "Tell me, Vincent, where do you see your wretched body now?"
Endurance Under Torture
Vincent remains joyful and defiant while enduring horrific physical torments, ultimately finding divine comfort in prison.
But he smiled and said, "This is what I've always wanted." Then the angry governor began to threaten him with every kind of torture unless he gave in. Vincent replied, "How happy I am! The more you think it's a grave matter to be angry with me, the more you actually begin to show mercy. So get up, you wretch, and rage with all your spirit of malice; you will see that, through the power of God, I am more capable while I am being tortured than you are, who are doing the torturing." At this, the governor began to shout and to beat the executioners with words and clubs, and Vincent said, "What are you saying, Dacian? You yourself are avenging me against my torturers." Then the governor, having lost his mind, said to the executioners, "You wretches, you're doing nothing! Why are your hands failing?" "You were able to overcome adulterers and murderers so that they could hide nothing under the tortures inflicted, and now Vincent alone has been able to overcome your tortures." Then the executioners drove iron combs deep into his ribs, so that blood flowed from his whole body and, with the joints of his ribs broken, his internal organs were exposed. And Dacian said, "Have pity on yourself, Vincent, so that you can recover such a beautiful youth and gain the rewards that are above." And Vincent said, "O poisonous tongue of the devil, I don't fear your tortures, but I fear this alone: that you pretend to want to show me mercy." The angrier I see you, the more I rejoice. I don't want you to lessen the tortures at all, so you'll have to admit you've been defeated in every way. Then, taken down from the rack and dragged to the iron grill, he hurried eagerly toward his punishment, rebuking the executioners for their delay. He climbed onto the grill of his own free will and was roasted, scorched, and burned; iron plates and burning sheets were driven into his limbs, and as the flame was stirred, wound was pressed upon wound, and salt was thrown into the fire so it would leap up against his body, wounded on every side, and burn him more cruelly with its hissing flames. Now the weapons were aimed not at his limbs, but at his vitals, and his inner organs were already slipping out of his body; yet through all this, he remained unmoved, and with his eyes lifted upward, he prayed to the Lord. When the ministers reported this to Dacian, he said, 'Alas, you are being defeated! But now, so that he might live longer in pain, lock him in the foulest prison, pile up the sharpest shards of pottery there, fasten his feet to a wooden block, leave him stretched out on the shards without any human comfort, and when he dies, let me know.' The cruel ministers obeyed at once. But the Lord, who is more cruel to the tyrant, changed the soldier's pain into glory.
The Martyr's Final Triumph
After miraculous comfort in prison, Vincent passes away, leaving the tyrant Dacian frustrated and defeated in his attempts to dishonor the saint.
For the darkness of the prison was driven away by an immense light, the harshness of the potsherds was changed into the sweetness of all kinds of flowers, the shackles were broken, and he enjoyed the venerable comfort of the angels. And as he walked upon the flowers, singing psalms with the angels, a sweet melody and the wondrous fragrance of flowers spread far and wide. The guards, terrified when they saw through the cracks of the prison what was happening inside, were converted to the faith. Hearing this, Dacianus became frantic and said, "And what more shall we do to him?" Look, we are defeated. "Let him be moved to a bed and laid on softer bedding, so we don't make him more glorious if he happens to die under torture; but after he is refreshed, let him be punished again with new torments." When, therefore, he had been carried to a softer bed and had rested there a little while, he immediately gave up his spirit around the year of our Lord 287, under Diocletian and Maximian. Hearing this, Dacianus was terrified, and grieving that he had been defeated in this way, he said, "Even if I could not overcome him while he was alive, I will punish him even when he is dead, and thus I will be satisfied with the punishment, and in this way, victory will be able to come to me."
The Unconquered Saint
Even in death, Vincent's body is protected by divine power, and his legacy is celebrated by the Church fathers as a total victory over the world.
At Dacian's command, his body was exposed in the field to be devoured by birds and beasts, but it was immediately protected by the guard of angels and kept untouched by the animals; finally, a raven, though usually gluttonous, drove away other larger birds with the beat of its wings and chased off an approaching wolf with bites and cries, and it was seen standing with its head turned, fixed on the sight of the holy body, as if it were marveling at the guard of angels there. Hearing this, Dacian said, "I suppose I won't be able to overcome him even when he's dead." He ordered a huge millstone to be tied to his body and thrown into the sea, so that what the earth could not be consumed by beasts, might at least be devoured by sea creatures in the deep. The sailors therefore took his body out into the deep and sank it, but the body reached the shore faster than the sailors themselves; it was found by a certain matron and some others, revealed by the saint himself, and was buried by them with honor. Augustine says this about the martyr: "Blessed Vincent conquered in words, he conquered in punishments, he conquered in confession, he conquered in tribulation, he conquered when burned, he conquered when drowned, he conquered when born, he conquered when dead." The same author says: Vincent is tortured so that he may be exercised, he is whipped so that he may be instructed, he is beaten so that he may be strengthened, and he is burned so that he may be purified. Ambrose also says in his preface about him: Vincent is tortured, beaten, whipped, and burned, but his unconquered spirit, standing for the holy name, is not shaken. He burned more with the fire of zeal than of iron, he was more bound by the fear of God than of the world, he wanted more to please God than the court, and he loved more to die to the world than to the master. Augustine: A marvelous spectacle has been set before our eyes: an unjust judge, a cruel torturer, an unconquered martyr, and a contest of cruelty and piety. Prudentius, who flourished in the time of Theodosius the Elder—who began his reign in the year of our Lord 387—also says that Vincent replied to Dacian: "Torture, prisons, iron claws, the plate hissing with flames, and even death itself, the final penalty, are just a game to Christians." Then Dacian ordered: "Stretch him out, bound and twisted by his arms, upward and downward, until his joints are pulled apart and crack, so that his liver is exposed and throbs through the gaps in his wounds." This soldier of God laughed at the bloody hands of his torturers, complaining that the iron claw didn't sink deeper into his limbs. While he was in prison, an angel said to him: "Rise, noble martyr, rise without fear, and join our companion in the blessed choirs; O most invincible soldier, stronger than the strongest, now you..." The most savage and harsh tortures tremble before the victor; Prudentius exclaims: "You alone, distinguished one, you alone have carried off the palm of a double prize; you have prepared for yourself two crowns at once."
Read the original Latin
Vincentius quasi vitium Incendens vel vincens incendia vel victoriam tenens, Ipse cnim incendit, id est, consumsit vitia per carnis mortificationem, vicit incendia suppliciorum per constantem poenarum perpessionem, victoriam tenuit mundi per ipsius despectionem. "Vicit enim tria, quae erant in mundo, scilicet falsos errores, immundos amores, mundanos timores, quos vicit per sapientiam, munditiam et constantiam, De quibus dicit Augustinus: ut um omnibus erroribus, amoribus et timoribus vincatur hic mundus, sanetorum martiria docent et docuerunt. Ejus passionem quidam beatum Augustinum asserunt compilasse, quam Prudentius Mise luculenter exsequitur.
X. Vincentius, nobilis genere sed fide ac religione nobilior, beati Valerii episcopi dyaconus fuit, cui episcopus, quia expeditioris erat linguae, vices suas commiserat et ipse orationi et contemplationi vacabat, Jussu igitur Daciani praesidis Valentiam trahuntur et diro carceri mancipantur. Cumque eos fame paene defecisse cerneret, eos suo adspectui jussit adstare, quos cumque sanos cerueret et gaudentes, iratus in hanc vocem prorupit: quid dicis tu Valeri, qui sub nomine religionis contra decreta principum facis? Cum autem beatus Valerius lenius responderet, dixit ei Vincentius: noli pater venerabilis quasi mente timida submurmurare, sed libera voce exclama; si ergo jubes pater sancte, responsis judicem aggrediar. Cul ille: jamdudum tibi, fili carissime, loquendi curam commiseram et nunc pro fide, qua adstamus, responsa committo. Tunc Vincentius conversus ad Dacianum: hactenus, inquit, a te sermo de neganda fide peroravit, sed nefarium apud christianorum prudentiam esse cognosce, deitatis cultum abnegando blasphemare. Tunc iratus Dacianus episcopum in exsilium mitti praecepit, Vincentium vero, tamquam contumacem et praesumtuosum juvenem, ut ejus exemplo alii terreantur, in equulenm distentum membris omnibus jussit dissipari. Cumque corpore totus dissiparetur, ait Dacianus: dic mihi Vincenti, ubi nunc tnum miserrimum corpus conspicis?
At ille subridens ait: hoc est, quod semper optavi. Tunc iratus pracses coepit ei omnia genera tormentorum minari, nisi ei assensum praeberet, Cui Vicentins: o felicem me, quo mihi irasci te gravius putas, eo melius incipis misereri; insurge ergo miser et toto malignitatis spiritu debacchare: videbis, me Dei virtute plus posse, dum torqueor, quam possis ipse, qui torques. Ad hoc praeses coepit clamare et carnifices verbis et fustibus verberare, et ait Vincentius: quid dicis Daciane, tu ipse ine vindicas de tortoribus meis. Tunc praeses amens factus dixit carnificibus: miserrimi nihil facitis: cur deficiunt manus vestrae? adulteros et parricidas vincere potuistis, ul nihil inter illata supplicia celare possent, et nunc solus Vincentius vestra potuit superare tormenta. Tunc carnifices pectines ferreos usque ad intima costarum fixerunt, ita ut de toto ejus corpore sanguis efflueret et solutis costarum compaginibus viscera interna paterent. Et ait Dacianus: commiserere tui, Vincenti, ut possis tam pulchram recuperare juventutem et ea, quae supra sunt, lucrari tormenta. Et ait Vincentius: o venenosa dyaboli lingua, tormenta tua non timeo, sed hoc solum valde metuo, quod te mihi fiugis velle misereri.
Nam quo te magis iratum video, eo amplius et magis exsulto. Nolo ut aliquid minuas de suppliciis, ut te victum in omnibus fatearis. Tunc ex equuleo depositus atque ad ignis craticulam raptus moras carnificum arguendo ad poenam alacriter properabat. —Craticulam ergo sponte conscendens ibidem assatur, exuritur et crematur membrisque omnibus unvini ferrei et ardentes lamináe infiguntur, dumque flamma respergitur, vulnera vulneribus imprimuntur, sal insuper in ignem spargiitur, ut in corpus ejus undique vulneratum resiliens stridentibus flammis crudelius comburatur. Jamque non ad artus, sed ad viscera tela jaciuntur jamque intima viscera de ejus corpore extra labuntur: inter haec ille manet immobilis et sursum erectis luminibus dominum precabatur. Cumque ministri haec Daciano retalissent, heu, ait Dacianus, vincimini, sed jam nunc ut ig, poena diutius vivat, ipsum teterrimo carceri includite et ibi testas acutissimas congerite, pedes ejus ligno affigite, sine omni humano solatio extensum sic super testas relinquite et, cum defecerit, nuntiate. Favent quantocius ministri crudeles. domino crudeliori, ed eece rex, pro quo miles patitur, poenam commutavit in gloriam.
Nam tenebrae carceris ab immensa luce expelluntur, testarum asperitas in omninm florum suavitatem mutatur, compedes dissolvuntur et angelorum solatio venerando perfruitur. Cumque super flores cum angelis psallens incederet, modulatio dulcis et mira suavitas florum procul diffunditur. Perterriti custodes cum per rimas carceris, quod intus, vidissent, ad fidem conversi sunt. Haec audiens Dacianus amens factus ait: et quid ei amplius faciemus? Ecce enim victi sumys. 'Transferatur ad lectulum et stramentis mollioribus reponatur, ne plus eum gloriosum faciamus, si forte defecerit in tormentis, sed postquam recreatur, novis iterum suppliciis puniatur. Cum igitur ad stratum molliorem deportatus esset et ibidem paululum quievisset, statim spiritum tradidit cirea annos domini CCLXXXVII sub Dyocletiano et Maximiano. Quo audito Dacianus vehementer expavit et se sic victum dolens ait: etsi non potui eum superare viventem, puniam vel defunctum et sic satiabor de poena et sic poterit mihi provenire victoria.
Jussu ergo Daciani corpus ejus in campum ab avibus et bestiis devorandum exponitur, sed statim angelorum custodia praemunitur et intactum a bestiis conservatur, denique corvus ingluviei deditus alias aves se majores impetu alarum abegit et lupum accurrentem morsibus et clamoribus effugavit, qui reflexo capite in aspectu corporis sacri fixus cernitur, utpote qui ibidem angelorum custodiam mirabatur. Quod audiens Dacianus ait: puto, quod neque defunctum potero superare. Jubet ergo corpori ejus ingentem molam alligari et in pelago projici, ut, quod terra à bestiis consumi non potuit, saltem in pelago a marinis bellus devoretur. Nautae ergo corpus ejus in pelagus deferentes submergunt, sed ipsis nautis velocius littora corpus petit, quod a quadam matrona et quibusdam aliis ipso revelante invenitur et ab iis honorifice sepelitur. De hoc martire sic dicit Augustinus: beatus Vincentius vicit in verbis, vicit in poenis, vicit in confessione, vicit in tribulatione, vicit exustus, vicit submersus, vicit ortus, vicit mortuus. Idem: torquetur Vincentius, ut exerceatur, flagellatur, ut erudiatur, tunditur, ut subsolidetur, exuritur, ut repurgetur. Ambrosius in praefatione quoque de ipso sic ait: torquetur Vincentius, tunditur, flagellatur et exuritur, sed iuvictus pro saucto nomine animus non concutitur, plus ardens igne zeli quam ferri, plus neetitur timore Dei quam saeculi, plus voluit placere Deo quam foro, plus dilexit mori mundo, quam domino. tem Augustinus: ante oculos nostros mirandum spectaculum constitutum est, judex iniquus, tortor cruentus, martir invictus, crudelitatis pietalisque certamen.
Prudentius quoque, qui claruit tempore Theodosii senioris, qui coepit anno domini CCCLXXXVII, ipsum Daciano respondisse ait: tormenta, carceres, ungulae, stridensque flammis lamina atque ipsa poenarum ultima mors christianis ludus est. — Tunc Dacianus: vinctum, ) retortum brachiis sursum ac deorsum extendite, donec compago ossium divulsa membratim crepet, ut per lacunas vulnerum jecur detectum palpitet. —Ridebat hic miles Dei manus cruentas increpans, quod fixa non profundius intraret artus ungula. Cum essel in carcere, angelus dixit ad eum: exsurge martir inclite, exsurge securus et almis coetibus noster sodalis addere: o miles invietissime fortissimorum fortior, jam te. ipsa saeva et aspera tormenta victorem tremunt, Exclamat Prudentius: tu solus insignite, solus bravii duplicis palmam tulisti, tu duas simul paravisti laureas.
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