St.
Vincent Ferrer
image found: Saints' Feastdays
Still trekking across Europe,
I came
to breathtaking Spain. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect in this
country. I mean I had taken foreign
languages in high school, but Spanish was never on my list. This was a culture I was definitely not
familiar with. I chose to first go to Valencia. I ventured into the gardens and never saw so
many different types of exotic plants in my life. I
was admiring the roses when I noticed a
shadowy figure hovering over me. As I
glanced overhead, I couldn’t help but get this eerie feeling.
“Who are you?” I
asked.
“I am Vincent Ferrer,” the figure quickly answered back.
“And who exactly is that?” I asked seemingly confused.
“Well have a seat and I’ll tell you.”
We sat on a garden bench and he began his story.
“I was born right here in Valencia,
many, many years ago. In my early years,
education was of most importance. When I
was eighteen years old, I was professed in the Order of Saint Dominic. A few years later I became a Master of
Theology and taught philosophy. Shortly
after, I devoted myself to preaching. I
was
a member of the church while it was going through a time of complete
devastation. I chose to remain loyal and
continue my studies in order to improve my status within the church.”
“Wow! That must have
been tough. I would have found it really
difficult to keep myself together in a time as fragile as that. How did you get yourself through it?”
“It was tough. But I
did a lot of praying. And I kept telling
myself that it could be worse and that it most certainly was going to
get
better. The best thing you can do in a
situation like that is to think positive.
Because of the division, I did a lot of traveling. I spent much time among many different
European countries. I traveled to Italy,
France,
England,
Switzerland,
and many others.”
“You must have done a lot of sight seeing.”
“I tried not to take too much time for myself. I
did a lot of preaching, performed many
miracles, and converted countless sinners.”
“Converted them to what?”
“Well to Christianity of course.”
“Oh, I see.”
“It took a lot of time, but I was desperately trying to
restore the structure of the Church. I
knew to operate to our full potential we had to come back together as
one
again. Unfortunately, when I was in my
sixties illness struck. I finally saw
the church come back together before my death in 1419.
I was canonized by Pope Calixtus III in
1455. I was declared the patron saint of
builders because of my ability to ‘build up and strengthen the church’. I have been watching over these gardens ever
since.”
“That must get kind of boring.”
“Actually it is very peaceful. This
is where I came into being and it seems only appropriate that this is
where I
should keep watch.”
Author's Note:
I have retold my story from Catholic
Online. I have told
the story in a sort of 'found' storybook frametale. This time the
object wasn't really an object at all but the object kind of came to
the person. It was the figure hovering over the person. I do practice Christianity and
believe that people go to heaven when they pass away, but I thought I
would change things up this week and try something new. I
also retold this original story using personal experience and a
dialogue format. The person who met with the saint was an added
detail, as well as the setting of the story. Again, the saint in
my story had the chance to tell about his own life, from his point of
view. My story had a present setting, looking back on an event
that had occurred in the past. My fifth story, on St. Vincent
Ferrer, occurs in this sequence because this also happens to be the
fifth saint that Val Kilmer impersonates in the movie The Saint. Again, I hope that people realize that
the strenuous lives saints lead. They are extremely dedicated
people who have to give up a lot to get to where they are.
questions
or comments? send me an e-mail: ashley
peters
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thomas more
bibliography of story found: Catholic
Online