Vincent Ferrer
Spanish Dominican preacher and saint (1350–1419)
Vincent Ferrer, OP (Valencian: Sant Vicent Ferrer [ˈsaɱ viˈsɛɱ feˈreɾ]; Spanish: San Vicente Ferrer; Italian: San Vincenzo Ferreri; German: Sankt Vinzenz Ferrer; Dutch: Sint-Vincent Ferrer; French: Saint Vincent Ferrier; 23 January 1350 – 5 April 1419) was a Valencian Dominican friar who gained acclaim as a preacher, missionary and logician. After supporting Antipope Benedict XIII during the Western Schism, Ferrer travelled to preach across Western Europe and the British Isles. His preaching has been credited in some sources as converting 25,000 Jews to Catholicism. Other sources indicate that it involved support for coercive means, such as the forcible conversion of synagogues into churches. He was canonized in 1455.
Early life
Vincent was the fourth child of Guillem Ferrer, a notary from Palamós, and his wife, Constança Miquel, apparently from Valencia itself or Girona.
Legends surround Vincent's birth. It was said that his father was told in a dream by a Dominican friar that his son would be famous throughout the world. His mother is said never to have experienced pain when she gave birth to him. He was named after Vincent Martyr, the patron saint of Valencia.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Vincent Ferrer” is spanish Dominican preacher and saint (1350–1419). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Vincent, Ferrer and Spanish, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “spanish Dominican preacher and saint (1350–1419)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q317131. VIAF identifies the subject as 24639900. The Library of Congress control number is n84058123. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1350, 1419 and 1455.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Vincent Ferrer”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Vincent Ferrer primary sources, Vincent Ferrer archive and Vincent research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Vincent Ferrer”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Vincent Ferrer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.