ON ST. VINCENT, MINORITE, CONFESSOR.
At Aquila among the Vestini.
1504.
CommentaryVincent, of the Order of Minors, at Aquila among the Vestini of Italy (B.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
A man celebrated among his own people of Aquila for the praise of sanctity, His sanctity is proved I had almost marked among the Passed Over, just as our Elders judged that Apollonius of the same place and Order should be referred to the thirtieth of March, for want of proof of a legitimate cult; but this the Itinerary of our Janning most opportunely suggested to me, when in the year 1686, returning from Rome to his fatherland, he observed at Aquila those things which seemed sufficient for the purpose. I had read Gonzaga's eulogy and what after him Wadding, Arthur, Hueber, and others wrote — distinguished testimonies indeed of his most holy life, virtues, and miracles; but, as I was already saying, it was not expressed clearly enough by them that that Vincent was honored with the honors of the Saints
is legitimately celebrated, which the praised Janning has abundantly testified. Of the Blessed's deeds nothing, so far as I know, survives, besides those things which are recounted in the said eulogies, of all of which Wadding's sufficiently distinct narration at the year 1504, volume 8, page 57, will stand as an equivalent. Arthur reported him on the twenty-eighth of April, and others followed him; but from Janning it will be sufficiently plain that he departed on this very day on which his feast is kept. Have now Wadding's text:
[2] We have said elsewhere that we would treat of Blessed Vincent of Aquila, a lay brother, from the eulogies of Gonzaga whom Gonzaga says migrated to heaven in this year, distinguished by very many virtues, and who subjoins this eulogy of him. He was a man, he says, endowed with the highest sanctity, abstinence, and humility, and moreover with singular patience in bearing labors and injuries inflicted, most watchful in prayer, so that on account of it he passed whole nights sleepless. He received moreover from God a prophetic spirit, of which this is a notable proof, that when Ferdinand of Aragon, king of Naples, was preparing war against Innocent VIII, and asked him whether he would conquer, Vincent replied, by no means, and accordingly that he should look to his own affairs, and not join hands with the Pontifical forces. But the King, despising these things, went down to battle, in which he paid the penalties of his unbelief, being put to flight by the enemy. He died in the convent of St. Julian near Aquila, where, the sepulchre having been dug up by chance, in the fourteenth year after his death, his body was found entire, on every side incorrupt, breathing forth a most sweet odor, and, becomingly laid in a chest of walnut and crystal, it was translated to a place of honor. Thereupon it began to shine with many miracles, memorials of which are seen in the offerings and votive tablets hung at the tomb. Thus Gonzaga, to which Wadding adds the following from Marco of Lisbon:
[3] and of Wadding: He always led a harsh and solitary life, not only fleeing the company of seculars, but also avoiding conversations with the brethren. He lived on bread and water, sometimes eating raw herbs, more often wormwood. To the king of Naples he foretold the coming of Charles VIII into Italy for his destruction. He called back from death the Bishop of Sulmona, who had died, and who after twenty-two days departed again from the living. He wrought many miracles: a certain man of Aquila, for four months tongue-tied and mute, he caused to speak perfectly. In the city of Penne he straightened a little boy distorted in both legs. In the city of St. Angelo he cured a young man who crept on hands and feet, another limping on one foot, and a third unable to stand on his feet. Passing through the city of Francavilla he healed a young man, lame and mute, who was presented to him.
[4] his cult from Janning These things indeed did not permit me to doubt concerning Blessed Vincent's sanctity and miracles; but that which was lacking I found expressed thus in the aforesaid Itinerary, where, treating of Aquila, Janning expressly notes: In the church of the Reformed Franciscan Fathers near that same city, called St. Julian's, is preserved the entire and very beautiful body of Blessed Vincent, a lay brother of the same Order, whose feast is kept on the seventh of August, on which day likewise he died in the year 1504. He is buried in the first chapel occurring on the left as one enters, with a very becoming ornament, an inscription being set beside it, here appended:
5TO GOD THE BEST AND GREATEST
and by a distinguished inscription. In the time of Urban VIII, Supreme Pontiff, and in the reign of Philip IV, Catholic King, and with the Most Excellent Lord Manuel de Fonseca y Zúñiga, Count of Monterrey and Fuentes, Viceroy of the kingdom of Naples, the body of Blessed Vincent of Aquila, after 130 years entire and incorrupt, long since enclosed in a crystal case and laid in a more eminent place, and from time immemorial always held in the greatest veneration and devotion,
the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Gaspar de Gayoso, bishop of Aquila and royal Councillor, most devoted to the Seraphic Order, and a most pious Father toward the poor Reformed brothers of this monastery, out of his singular piety and religion, took care that it should be preserved and enclosed more honorably and more safely, and by pious and liberal alms reduced the altar, the tomb, and the chapel to a more becoming and more magnificent form, and rendered them more venerable,
In the year of the Lord 1634.
[6] Another likewise for the day of his death. That we may be made more certain about the already asserted day of his death, he subjoins an Italian inscription, from the place where the sacred body had earlier been buried. This, turned into Latin, runs thus: In this burial rests the body of blessed Vincent of Aquila, who passed to a better life on the seventh day of August 1504.