See previous thesis blog post: Pestilence & Prayer: Third Tier Saints – St. Fabian (18)
St. Vincent Ferrer was born in Valencia in 1350; he was a Dominican friar and preacher. He is best known for his tireless work for the unity of the Catholic Church during the Great Schism (During the Great Schism of 1378-1415, there were two Popes, one in Rome, Italy and the other in Avignon, France.) St. Vincent also worked to convert many heretical groups, such as the Waldensians and Cathars. In art, he is depicted in a typical Dominican habit: a white tunic underneath a long black cloak, and he holds a book and a flame in his outstretched hand. A flame is a symbol of religious ardor.
The book St. Vincent’s has represents his famous treatise on spiritual life, titled Tractatus de Vita spirituali. Mark Zucker theorizes in his article “Problems in Dominican Iconography: The Case of St. Vincent Ferrer” that it is this treatise that provides St. Vincent’s one association to the plague. In his treatise, St. Vincent writes: “I am a plague–spot in soul and body…” Although a small statement, this passage is important because there was an apparent visual connection with St. Vincent Ferrer to the plague.
Note: Zucker doubts the influence of this statement in the 15th century, and if it is sufficient in itself to explain why Vincent came to protect against the plague.
St. Vincent is invoked in plague art. One prevalent type of plague artifact are Pestblätter, or “plague sheets;” they are prayers, or pages printed with the images of popular plague saints used as devotional objects. Pestblätter pages are important because art and formal literature is often written after a plague wave, while these simple, printed plague votives were frequently commissioned while the disease raged. One such plague sheet from Ravenna, Italy depicts two “first–tier” plague saints and two Dominican saints. On the right of center, St. Roch is accompanied by Peter Martyr and on the other side is St. Sebastian is with a Dominican friar, identified as St. Vincent Ferrer. St. Roch is dressed in a pilgrim’s outfit, showing the bubo on his thigh; St. Peter Martyr is identified in art by a sword splitting his skull and his iconic Dominican habit. St. Sebastian stands out as the only semi-nude figure, with arrows protruding from his body and the controversial Dominican friar next to St. Sebastian is identified as St. Vincent Ferrer because of the similar arrangement this plague sheet has to the Altarpiece of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Roch by Andrea da Murano (below).
The format of the plague sheet is the same as the Altarpiece of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Roch. St. Sebastian is on the left with St. Vincent Ferrer, and St. Peter Martyr is on the right wing with St. Roch next to him. St. Roch and St. Vincent Ferrer, as the titular saints of this altarpiece, share the central panel. Below, small-scale donors pray to the four saints and the lunette contains the Virgin Mary and other Dominican friars and nuns (Note: They are included in the altarpiece due to their connection to Sts. Vincent and Peter’s religious community, not the plague). Due to the similar layout and time period, it is then likely that St. Vincent is the Dominican friar holding a book in the plague sheet. Mark Zucker proposes in his article “Problems in Dominican Iconography” that
perhaps the altarpiece was commissioned on the occasion of the plague that swept through Venice and its mainland territories in 1478; and perhaps, on a more popular level, the [plague sheet] woodcut was issued in connection with the same event.
In the Altarpiece of St. Vincent Ferrer by the Ghirlandaio workshop, St. Vincent appears with the two “first–tier” plague saints, Sts. Sebastian and Roch. They flank him on either side, as donors kneel below. The saints are directly in between the human donors and God in the lunette above, emphasizing their role as intercessors. The visual representation of Sts. Sebastian, Vincent Ferrer, and Roch in between the humans and God illustrates the idea of veneration. According to Jacalyn Duffin in Medical Miracles: Doctors, Saints, and Healing in the Modern World:
Invocation establishes a connection between the venerated one, who is already dead, and a sick human being, who is still alive, if only barely. Recall that according to religious tenets, only God can work miracles…The success of an appeal can become a sign that the saint must be with God.
On the other hand, in the Altarpiece of St. Vincent Ferrer by Giovanni Bellini painted for the Dominican Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, St. Vincent appears with the “first-tier” plague Saints Sebastian and Christopher. Zucker argues that because St. Vincent Ferrer does not appear with the two “first-tier” plague saints, Sebastian and Roch, that this altarpiece must not be connected to the plague. As discussed in Chapter I, St. Christopher, although not the primary patron of the plague, is an important “second-tier” plague saint and his appearance in this altarpiece only confirms that it is associated with the plague.
Note: St. Vincent’s position in this altarpiece can be read as a symbol the Dominican church, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, but due to his appearance in the Bern panel and the Altarpiece of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Roch (both of which are not connected to a Dominican church), his position in this altarpiece is also connected to the plague.
See next thesis blog post: Pestilence & Prayer: Third Tier Saints – St. Peter Martyr (20)
Resources:
- Boeckl, Christine, M. Images of Plague and Pestilence: Iconography and Iconology. Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2000.
- Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. Boulder: Westview Press, 2008.
- Zucker, Mark J. “Problems in Dominican Iconography: The Case of St. Vincent Ferrer.” Artibus et Historiae, vol. 13, no. 25 (1992).
