Library
Reading St Vincent,
and reading about him.
A starter library for anyone who wishes to go deeper: biographies, studies and editions of the sources. Titles are listed in their original languages; most are in Spanish. It is a selection, not an exhaustive catalogue, and it will keep growing.
Where to begin
Biographies
- Pietro Ranzano, Vita sancti Vincentii Confessoris
The first official life, written by the Sicilian Dominican after the canonisation; it is printed in the Acta Sanctorum (April, vol. I).
- Andrés Ferrer de Valdecebro, O.P., Historia de la vida maravillosa y admirable del segundo Pablo apóstol de Valencia, San Vicente Ferrer
The great Baroque life of the saint, reprinted many times (Valencia 1701 and 1702; Madrid 1725 and 1781). Digitised copies are held by the Biblioteca Valenciana Digital and the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
- José Teixidor y Trilles, O.P., Vida de San Vicente Ferrer, apóstol de Europa (2 vols.)
A full life by the Dominican archivist of Valencia, unpublished for more than two centuries and edited by Alfonso Esponera Cerdán with a study by Adolfo Robles Sierra.
- Henri-Dominique Fages, Histoire de saint Vincent Ferrier
For decades the standard documentary biography. A Spanish translation was published in Valencia in the early twentieth century.
- José María de Garganta and Vicente Forcada (eds.), Biografía y escritos de San Vicente Ferrer
A classic volume of the Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, bringing together the life by Vicente Justiniano Antist and a broad selection of his works.
- Alfonso Esponera Cerdán (ed.), San Vicente Ferrer: vida y escritos
An accessible way in, combining his biography with a selection of his texts.
- Philip Daileader, Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life: Religion and Society in Late Medieval Europe
The most recent scholarly biography, attentive to the setting of the Schism. Spanish translation by Vicent Baydal (Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2019).
In his own words
Writings of St Vincent
- Tractatus de suppositionibus and Quaestio de unitate universalis
Works of his youth as a Thomist logician and philosopher, written during his years of teaching.
- Tractatus de moderno Ecclesiae schismate
His treatise on the Western Schism, written in defence of the Avignon obedience he would later help to bring to an end.
- Tractatus de vita spirituali · Treatise on the Spiritual Life
His most widely read work: a short manual of the interior life for religious, translated and reprinted ever since.
- Adolfo Robles Sierra (ed.), Obras y escritos de San Vicente Ferrer
A modern edition of his writings, including the Treatise on the Spiritual Life.
- Josep Sanchis Sivera (ed.), Sermons (6 vols., «Els Nostres Clàssics»)
The great edition of his Valencian sermons, later continued by Gret Schib.
- José Sanchis Sivera (ed.), Quaresma de Sant Vicent Ferrer, predicada a València l'any 1413
The Lenten sermons preached in his native city (Barcelona, 1927; repr. Clàssics Albatros, 1973).
- Francisco M. Gimeno Blay and M.ª Luz Mandingorra (eds.), the Corpus Christi and Perugia sermon collections
Critical editions of sermons preserved by those who heard them.
- Adolfo Robles Sierra (ed.), Colección de sermones de Cuaresma y otros según el manuscrito de Ayora
A further precious witness to his Lenten preaching.
Going deeper
Studies and essays
- Alfonso Esponera Cerdán, El oficio de predicar
On his preaching: method, content and Dominican context.
- Alfonso Esponera Cerdán, Palabra vivida
A useful guide to contemporary scholarship on the saint.
- Mauricio Beuchot, study of the philosophical thought of St Vincent Ferrer
On his work as philosopher and logician, less well known than his preaching.
- Pedro M. Cátedra, San Vicente Ferrer en Castilla
A study of his preaching in Castile and of the sermons surviving from that period.
- Laura Ackerman Smoller, The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
A study of the canonisation process and of the spread of his cult across Europe and the Americas; available open access.
The witnesses
The canonisation process and its witnesses
- Fuster Perelló (ed.), canonisation process
An edition of the inquiries of the process.
- Alfonso Esponera Cerdán (ed.), Proceso de canonización (Valencia–Friburgo)
A bilingual edition, based largely on manuscript 690 of the Biblioteca Histórica of the Universitat de València.
For a fuller bibliography, see the resources of the Junta Central Vicentina and of the Vincentian study centres in Valencia.