This work comprises the lives of Saint Vincent Ferrer, who lived
during the Western Schism, Saint Bernadine of Sienna and Saint John
Capistran also known as San Juan Capistrano. Of Saint Vincent
Ferrer we read: "Two circumstances however proved to Constance that
there was something unusual about the child she was going to bring
forth. One was the entire absence of the physical suffering which
she had experienced in other pregnancies; the other, that, strange
as it may seem, she often heard a sound like the barking of a dog
proceed from her womb. This last sign was interpreted as.
betokening the coming of a great and holy preacher, for, as the
Bishop of Valencia remarked to her, a dog is a not inadequate image
of a preacher." The following story is instructive: "A tavern
keeper came to beg the support of his preaching on the duty of
paying debts, for the man had sold some wine on credit and could
not get his money. 'Very good, ' answered the Saint, 'I shall say
how guilty those people are who keep their neighbour's goods. But I
should like to know what sort of wine it is that you sell.' The
publican fetched a bottle, saying, 'Taste and see how good it is.'
'Pour some of it on my scapular.' 'But I shall spoil it, ' replied
the man, perhaps m some trepidation. 'That is my affair. Do as I
tell you.' To the publican's great astonishment the bottle produced
wine and water: the wine fell on to the ground, whilst the water
remained on the scapular. Then Vincent remonstrated strongly with
the man for his unjust adulteration, and the publican, touched with
contrition, made good his cheating, and entered the Saint's
company." Of Saint Bernadine of Sienna we read: "THERE was more
than an ordinary connection between St. Vincent Ferrer and the
Saint who shares with St. Catherine the patronage of the city of
Siena. In 1408,1 that is in the tenth year of his own ministry,
when the great Spanish Apostle was preaching at Alexandria in
Lombardy, he foretold that his mantle should descend upon one who
was then listening to him, and he bequeathed to this Eliseus those
parts of Italy which his ardent voice was not to reach. 'Know, my
children, ' these were the words of his prophetical spirit, 'that
there is amongst you a religious of. St. Francis, who will shortly
become famous throughout Italy." The wisdom of Saint Bernadine can
be seen in the following: "Obedience and silent communings with God
were his rest, the oasis of his ministry, for there is an absence
of hurry, a calmness about the occupations of the busiest saints
which is not one of the least marks of holiness. They made unto
themselves inner lives independent of outward circumstances, so
that when God saw well to alter these, or even to take away what
might seem to be the daily bread of their working faculties, they
proved happiness to be distinct from all this, and realized the
observation of a great thinker, who says that it is in us and in
God." Let us consider this question: "IT is a question which admits
of a variety of judgments amongst Catholics whether God shows
greater love for a soul when He causes it to be born in the true
faith, or when He seeks it out in the darkness of heresy and brings
it to the knowledge of Himself as the true Light The same sort of
question applies to vocations. Is it more blessed for the soul by,
as it were, a spontaneous and uniform growth of holiness, which is
itself the gift of God, to make choice of Him, or to be singled out
as the object of a special predilection by His breaking in with
loving violence upon a course of previous indifference or
worldiness?" And then we come to Saint John Capistran: "St. Vincent
Ferrer and St. Bernardine of Siena were both marked with their
vocation from their earliest years of reason, but St. John
Capistran was one of those to whom God vouchsafed to do violence.
His natural character made him a hero, his correspondence with
unusual grace made him a saint."
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