Sermon 275
SERMO 275
ON THE BIRTHDAY OF THE MARTYR VINCENT
The strength of Vincent in sufferings comes from the assistance of Christ. Martyrs are distinguished by the cause, not the suffering.
Our spirit received a great and very remarkable spectacle: not the most empty and pernicious one, as is customary in the theaters of various trifles, but we indeed drank the most useful and fruitful pleasure with our inner eyes, when the glorious passion of the blessed Vincent was read. It was to see the unconquered soul of the Martyr striving against the snares of the ancient enemy, against the cruelty of the impious judge, against the pains of mortal flesh, with very sharp conflict, and overcoming all in the aid of the Lord. Indeed, dearly beloved, it was so plainly and truly: let us praise this soul in the Lord, that the meek may hear, and be glad. What voices he had heard, what he had answered, what torments he had overcome, the completed reading declared, and placed before us as if in sight what had been done. There was such pain in his limbs, such security in his words, it was as if another was being tortured, another was speaking. And indeed it was another: for the Lord had foretold this, and promised it to His martyrs, saying: It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Therefore, this soul is to be praised in the Lord. For what is man, except that he is mindful of Him? Or what strength has dust, except by Him who helps us, who made us from dust? So let him who glories, glory in the Lord. For if the diabolic and deceiving spirit often fills either false prophets or his false martyrs, so that they either inflict bodily torments on themselves or disregard those inflicted: how great is it for our Lord God to confirm the preaching of His name, to indeed deliver the flesh of the preachers into the hands of persecutors, but to take the mind to the fortress of liberty; so that while the former suffers injustice, the latter asserts the truth? Surely so that victories are made not by endurance but by justice: for it is the cause, not the punishment, that distinguishes martyrs. For many have endured pains with obstinacy, not constancy; by vice, not by virtue; by wrong error, not by right reasoning; possessed by the devil, not persecuted. However, in our victorious Vincent, he indeed conquered, who possessed: but He possessed, who had sent the prince of this world out, so that even fighting outwardly, he who had already been defeated would not dominate within. He who had been sent out still does not cease, as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But He fights for us, who reigns in us, having cast him out.
The Devil more tormented in the tortures of Vincent than Vincent himself.
Finally, the devil was tormented more by the unconquered Vincent than Vincent was by the persecuting devil. The more savage and exquisite the torments were, the more the tortured one triumphed over the tormentor, and from that body, as if from earth irrigated by its own blood, from which the enemy suffered more, a palm grew. For while the devil raged secretly and was secretly afflicted by his defeat, it clearly appeared in the human governor, what the devil endured in secret, and the invisible adversary was revealed through the cracks of the vessel he had filled. For the man's voices, eyes, face, and the turbulent motion of his whole body indicated that he felt more severe torments within than the ones he inflicted outwardly on the Martyr. If we consider the perturbation of the tormentor and the tranquility of the one suffering torments, it is very easy to see who was under the pains and who was above them. What joys there will be in the strength of those reigning when so great is the truth of those dying. What will it be when the body's incorruption becomes the fountain of life, when its dew is so sweet among torments? And what will the eternal flame do to the impious, who are ravaged by the madness of an angry heart? What will they suffer when judged, who are already tormented as they judge? What power will the future judgments of the saints wield, when in this life the judge's tribunal twisted the Martyr’s scaffold?
The lifeless body of the Martyr was not abandoned by divine protection. Divine honor was conferred upon the relics of the saints.
However, the Lord provides great testimony to His witnesses, when He who has ruled the hearts of those who contend does not abandon the bodies of the dead, as He exhibited the most illustrious miracle from the body of this blessed Vincent; so that what the enemy had wholly sought, strived, and made to be invisible would be revealed by such present divine will, and be demonstrated as more religiously to be buried and venerated, so that the renowned memory of conquering piety and defeated impiety would endure in it. Truly, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints: when neither the earth is disdained by the life of the flesh leaving it, nor when the invisible soul departs from the visible house, the dwelling place of the servant is kept by the Lord's care, and is honored to the glory of the Lord by faithful fellow-servants. For what does God do, by performing marvelous works around the bodies of the deceased saints, if not to bear witness that what dies does not perish to Him; and so that from this it may be understood in what honor He keeps with Him the souls of the slain, when lifeless flesh is adorned with such great effect of divinity? Just as the Apostle, speaking of the members of the Church, used the analogy of the members of our body, for those parts which are less honorable, we bestow upon them more abundant honor: so the providence of the Creator, by providing such illustrious testimonies of miracles to the bodies of the martyrs, bestows more abundant honor on the lifeless remains of men, and where what remains as deformed by the departure of life, there more evidently appears the present giver of life.