Alberto Ferreiro: “Que tots quants som en aquest món, batallam en grans batalles: Sant Vicent Ferrer’s Catalán Sermon on Saint Antony.”

NACHLEBEN
The Dominican St. Vicent Ferrer (1350-1419) from Valencia was one of the most celebrated preachers of his time. His sermons survive in two collections: in Castilian and Catalan. Many of them many are hagiographic sermons dedicated to saints, male and female. In this sermon he focused on St. Antony, without question one of the most important ascetics of the early Church whose life continued to inspire Christians even in the Late Middle Ages. In this sermon Vicent held up Antony to his audience as a model Christian for all to imitate in the struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil. This paper explores how Vicent adapted the life of Antony and his asceticism to make it relevant to late medieval Christians.