VINCENT, Saint, Martyr. - Spanish deacon, victim of the Diocletianic persecution probably in 304; he is among the few martyrs remembered in the calendar of Polemius Silvius
(CIL, I, 2nd ed.,
p. 259).
The poetic account of Prudentius in the hymn dedicated to him (Peristephanon, V) is not substantially different from that of the Passio (BHL, II, 1247 ff.; suppl., pp. 306, 307; BHG, p. 263); but the original Passio is different from the one that has come down to us. V., deacon of Valerius, is brought to Valencia to be judged; subjected to many cruel torments, the martyr's body is exposed to wild beasts, then thrown into the sea and given back by the waves; the sand is his first tomb («sacra fovens harenis viscera vicem sepulcri praebuit» [Prudentius, loc. cit., 506-508]; when peace came «altar quietem debitam praestat beatis ossibus»); a basilica is erected and very soon his veneration spreads. Prudentius also commemorates V. in hymn IV of his «Peristephanon» in honor of the 18 martyrs of Saragossa (vv. 77-78, 89-108). Notable is a sermon in his honor by St. Justus of Urgel, in which the holy deacon is called «nobis vernula, noster ex genere... noster in tumulo», etc. (B. De Gaiffier, Sermons, cited in bibl.).
His deposition is on Jan. 22 in the calendar of Carthage, in the Hieronymian Martyrology and in the Synaxarium Eccl. Constant.; in the second he is also remembered on Jan. 11 and 22, Apr. 19, Aug. 21 and Oct. 31; in the third on Nov. 11 together with St. Victor and St. Menas and on Aug. 6 for the dedication of his church ἐν τῷ κάμῳ under the walls of Constantinople. He is the most famous of the martyrs of Spain; his veneration had immediately spread so widely that St. Augustine asks himself: «quousque vel romanum imperium vel christianum nomen extenditur natalem non gaudet celebrare Vincentii?» (Serm. 276; PL 38, 1257). Indeed, 6 sermons «in natali o in festo Vincentii martyris» by St. Augustine are known (PL 38, 1252-68), delivered by him on Jan. 22 of the years 410 (serm. 274), 411 (serm. 275); 412 (serm. 276); 413 at Carthage in the basilica Restituta (serm. 277); furthermore the sermon De Esau et Jacob (PL 38, 33-52) delivered between 410 and 412. From one of them we learn that in Africa the Passio of the Saint, in the time of St. Augustine, was read in church («quae nobis hodie recitata est» [PL 38, 1255]). Another Sermo in natale sancti Vincentii is in Miscellanea Agostiniana, I. Rome 1930, pp. 243-45. Paulinus of Nola remembers him «Vincentius extat Iberis» (Carm., XIX, 153 and XXX, 7: PL 61, 520, 673; likewise Venantius Fortunatus: PL 88, 270); Eugenius of Toledo ca. 650 dictated an epigram in his honor (PL 87, 361); Hildbert dedicated a poem to him (PL 171, 1301); St. Peter Damian a hymn (PL 145, 947), as later Adam of Saint Victor (PL 196, 1475 ff.).
The Liber Sacramentorum mozarabicus (ed. M. Férotin, Paris 1912, coll. 112-21) has a mass in honor of St. V. in which the tunica desuper totum contexta is remembered; with this mass is connected the sermon «cunctorum» falsely attributed to St. Augustine, to St. Leo or to St. Maximus of Turin; in 531 Childebert brought the tunic to Paris to the monastery of St. V. later St-Germain-des-Prés (Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, III, 29); in Rome his image was painted in the 6th-7th century in the cemetery of Ponziano (SCS BICENTIUS) with a large tonsure, dressed in a paenula and in the attitude of one praying (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. 258). Another image of St. V. is in the Expositio in Evangel. S. Lucae of St. Bede, a codex of the 10th century now in the National Library of Turin (ms. D.III, 16). The Provincial Museum of Painting in Valencia has a statue of the martyr from the 12th century, coming from the ancient monastery de la Roqueta.
St. V. was honored at once at Saragossa, at Salona (F. Bulid, L'iscrizione di s. V. m. Caesaraugustano trovata a nord della basilica urbana a Salona, in Bull. d'arch. e storia dalmata, 29 [1906], pp. 246-56), at Sagunto, at Béziers, at Toulouse, at Vaison (CIL, XI, 499), at Agen, at Chalon, at Ugento, in Switzerland, etc.
His relics (brandea) were venerated at Carmona (CIL, XII, n. 374), in Africa (P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigraphie chrét. d'Afrique, Paris 1909, nn. 193, 262, 304) and especially at Tamalla, today Tocqueville in Algeria (Bull. arch. du Comité, 1909, p. 56). Monasteries were founded in his honor at Mans (PL 72, 638-40), at Volturno (v. VINCENZO AL VOLTURNO, SAN), at Metz (PL 160, 713), at Conques in the time of Charles the Bald.
Bibliography5 works
Enrico Josi