Saint Vincent: Deacon and Martyr

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Saint Vincent

Deacon and Martyr

 

Vincent, trained by Valerius, bishop of Zaragossa, is known almost exclusively through his martyrdom.  Of its fact there can be no doubt, but of its manner there is much room for speculation.  The earliest witness was Prudentius; while Saint Augustine said, in a sermon in memory of the martyr, that his cult extended all over the Roman Empire and wherever the name of Christ was known.  The Legend is old but not an eyewitness account.  According to this, Vincent was a victim of the persecution caused by the edicts of Diocletian and Maximian.  First he was imprisoned and weakened by semi-starvation.  Then he was commanded to sacrifice, but he refused.  Then he was racked, roasted on a gridiron, thrown into prison, and set in stocks.  He died as a result of his sufferings.

 

Relics were claimed by Valencia and Zaragossa, Lisbon, Paris, and Le Mans.  While his cult in England is ancient, with mention in the OE Martyrology and plenty of pre-Conquest calendars for his usual feast, Abingdon (whose substantial relics of him were acquired in the 12th century by abbot Faricius), graded the feast extremely high with an octave.  There are six ancient church dedications to him in England.  In art he is often represented as a deacon holding a palm or else suffering the torture of the gridiron.

 

Feast Day: January 22

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Saint of the Day, January 22.

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Saint Vincent of Saragossa, Deacon and Martyr

 

Saint Vincent of Saragossa, Deacon and Martyr   St. Vincent, a Deacon of the Spanish Church, was born at Saragossa, and martyred at Valencia, 303 A.D. during the Diocletian persecution, the tenth and last, at about the same time that St. Alban, the first martyr of the British Church, suffered in England. Renowned as a preacher, glorified by the severity of his sufferings, and praised for the fortitude with which he bore them, he is especially remembered for his humility, in that, as a Deacon, the lowest order of the ordained ministry, he served his bishop faithfully.   St. Vincent is one of the few martyrs in the famous fourth century of martyrdom whose acts are quite authentic and documented.  They may be traced to a contemporaneous age.   In art, he is young, mild and handsome: is vested as a Deacon in traditional dalmatic, bearing a palm branch (of victory) and a smoking thurible.  The instrument of his torture is a grid-iron on which his salt-besprinkled body was burned, and broken pottery over which his body was dragged.  Usually near him is perched a crow or raven, symbolic of the restlessness of the saints in the world.   His relics are at Valencia Spain.  St. Vincent’s feast day is January 22nd

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Thanks! I noticed him in the lectionary this morning, but couldn’t place the story. I knew it wasn’t one of the more recent St. Vincents, such as St. Vincent de Paul, because of the martyrdom.

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Saint Vincent, Deacon & Martyr

Saint Vincent, Deacon & Martyr
Optional Memorial
January 22nd

Saint Vincent (+304) was born in Huesca, Spain. He was deacon of the Church of Saragossa and suffered martyrdom in Valencia in the persecution under Diocletian.

Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

 

Collect:
Eternal Father,
You gave Saint Vincent
the courage to endure torture and death for the Gospel:
fill us with Your Spirit
and strengthen us in Your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.

First Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 10:17-22
Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for My sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.