VINCENT (or VINCENTIUS), ST

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 90 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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VINCENT (or VINCENTIUS), ST , deacon and

martyr

MARTYR (Gr. pimp or ľaprvs)

, whose festival is celebrated on the 22nd of January. In several of his discourses St

Augustine

AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430)
AUGUSTINE, SAINT (d. c.613)

pronounces the eulogy of this

martyr

MARTYR (Gr. pimp or ľaprvs)

, and refers to Acts which were read in the church. It is doubtful whether the Acts that have come down to us (Ada Sanctorum, January, ii. 394397) are those referred to by St

Augustine

AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430)
AUGUSTINE, SAINT (d. c.613)

, since it is not certain that they are a contemporary document. According to this account, Vincent was born of noble parents in Spain, and was educated by Valerius, bishop of

Saragossa

, who ordained him to the diaconate. Under the persecution of Diocletian, Vincent was arrested and taken to Valencia. Having stood firm in his profession before Dacianus,
the

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

, he was subjected to excruciating tortures and thrown into prison, where angels visited him, lighting his

dungeon

DUNGEON

with

celestial

CELESTIAL, OR STELLAR

light and relieving his sufferings. His warders, having seen these wonders through the chinks of the

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

, forthwith became Christians. He was afterwards brought out and laid upon a soft mattress in order that he might regain sufficient strength for new torments; but, while Dacianus was meditating

punishment

PUNISHMENT (from Lat. punire, to punish, from poena, punishment, Gr. 7rocvil)

, the saint gently breathed his last. The tyrant exposed his

body

BODY

to wild beasts, but a raven miraculously descended and protected it. It was then thrown into the sea, but was cast up on the shore, recovered by a pious woman and buried outside Valencia. Prudentius devoted one of his hymns (Peristeph. v.) to St Vincent, and St Augustine attests that in his lifetime the festival of the saint was celebrated throughout the Christian world (Seem. 276, n. 4).
See T. Ruinart, A eta martyrum sincera (Amsterdam, 1713), pp. 36466; Le Nain de Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a l'hisloire ecclesiastique (Paris, 1701, seq.), v. 215-225, 673-675. (H. DE.)

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