S. VINCENZO FERRER

Vincenzo was born in Valenza January 23, 1350 from Guglielmo Ferrer and Costanza Miguel. It is told that S. Vincenzo's mother, before giving birth to him, heard, like S. Domenico's mother, "the barks of a little dog" in her belly. And so was born in Valenza another great Domini-canis, Vincenzo, the Preacher for antonomasia. He took the religious cloth on February 5, 1367 and took vows the following year. In 1399 he began his mission of wandering apostle in Spain, Italy, France and England. The enthusiasm produced by his preaching was such, that he was followed by large crowds. Many miracles attributed to S. Vincenzo Ferrer; two ovals kept in the S. Vincenzo's Chapel in the Cathedral of S. Maria della Sanità represent, precisely, two of the most popular wonders attributed to him.

The first consists in the saving of a bricklayer who was falling from a scaffold. This prodigy became even more renown since S. Vincenzo , waiting for his Superior's permission to perform the miracle, kept the young man suspended in the air. The other painting narrates the resurrection of a woman to whom S. Vincenzo ordered afterward to attest that he was the Angel of the Apocalypse.

In the first half of the XIX century a cholera epidemic broke out in Naples; the people of the city, and particularly the people of the section Sanità, asked for the intercession of S. Vincenzo Ferrer. The request was granted, the epidemic ended, and from the Basilica of S. Maria della Sanità, to thank the saint, started a solemn procession with his statue through the whole section of the city.

From then on S. Vincenzo Ferrer was added to the patrons of the city of Naples, and after a short time, a silver bust was placed in Treasury Chapel of S. Gennaro in the Duomo of Naples as an ex voto from the city. Still today, after more than 150 years, the cult for S. Vincenzo Ferrer in the section of the Sanità is still very much alive.

Until some decades ago, in the occasion of S.Vincenzo's procession, which takes place the last Sunday of June and the first Tuesday of July, there were also great celebrations, the famous feast of the "munacone" (the great monk), to which took part the most important artists of the time. The celebrations ended with a splendid display of fireworks and with the "burning of the belfry" of Fra' Nuvolo of the Basilica of S. Maria della Sanità. The latter, precisely for the strong ties which the people of the Sanitaà had for S. Vincenzo, is known more as S. Vincenzo's church than that of its original name, the church of S. Maria della Sanità.

The saint died in Vannes on April 5, 1419, and on June 29, 1455 he was elevated to the honors of the altars by the pope Callisto III. It is commemorated on April 5.