The life of St. Vincent Ferrer, OP is one rich source of guidance and inspiration. He earned the title “the Angel of the Apocalypse” for preaching the Gospel of the coming of the Antichrist and the Final Judgment.

 

Pope Pius II, in his Papal Bull during the canonization of St. Vincent, described him as “flying through the heavens to announce the day of the Last Judgment to evangelize the inhabitants of the earth.”

 

As a prophetic legacy, he indicated in his sermons and in his letter to Pope Benedict XIII that “If the words of Christ and of His Blessed Mother are well studied, these three lances for the destruction of the world are: first, the persecution of Antichrist, second, the destruction of the world by fire, third, the Last Judgment.”

 

Lifted from Matthew 24:21-22 he quotes “there shall be great tribulation, never been seen since the beginning of time,” and “except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

 

From Daniel 12:11-12, he mentioned that the Antichrist will reign for three and a half hears, 1,290 days. And after his death, the earth will exist for no more than 45 more days, and the end of the world will occur.

 

In the Last Days, lifting the passage from Luke 17, he warns us that “it will be like in the days of Noah and Lot, when people never heeded the signs and went about as usual,” deep within the quagmire of materialism.

 

“Therefore,” Vincent Ferrer warns, “do penance now, forgive injuries, make restitution of any ill-gotten goods, live up to and confess your religion; If it were certain that in a short time this town was going to be destroyed by fire, would you not exchange all your immovable goods for something that you could take away with you?” He exhorts that nobody can take anything of this world, except those treasures already piled up in heaven.

 

While Vincent only preached in Spanish or Latin, everyone who heard his sermons could understand him. His sermons had the power of conversion that only comes through great sanctity and devotion to prayer and sacrifice. His words changed hearts because God was able to speak through him.

 

His fiery preaching style moved sinners by the thousands to repentance. With his popularity, a Moorish king invited him, and after giving three sermons, 8,000 Moors were converted and wanted to be baptized. With this evident success, he was asked by the Muslim leaders to leave.

 

In Spain alone, he converted around 25,000 Jews, city after city.

An account was spoken about St. Vincent’s sermon at a major Church conference that saw 14 of 16 rabbis converted on the spot.

 

Among his popular miracles in his lifetime was raising of the dead. One time Vincent stopped a funeral procession and commanded the corpse to rise, restoring the dead man back to life. He restored 28 dead people back to life. And even after his death, two dead people placed on his tomb came back to life.

 

He was a devotee to the Blessed Mother. He preached and demonstrated the power of the Rosary for immediate conversion.

 

Vincent combatted temptations to impurity with prayer, penance, and a constant watchfulness over his passions. His heart was always focused on God. He offered everything he did as a prayer—his studies, his work, and his preaching.

 

In his “Treatise on the Spiritual Life,” he writes, about studying:

“Consult God more than your books and ask Him, with humility, to make you understand what you read. Study fatigues and drains the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh them at the feet of Jesus Christ under his cross. Some moments of repose in his sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights.”

During an illness, Vincent had a vision of Christ, St. Dominic de Guzman, and St. Francis of Assisi. After this vision he received many supernatural gifts.

 

Vincent detailed five virtues revealed in Scripture that distinguishes the sheep: “simple innocence, ample mercy, steadfast patience, true obedience, and worthy penance.”

 

St. Vincent was living the gospel message before he spoke of it.