Saint Vincent of Saragossa

Vincent was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa (Zaragoza) in Spain, serving under Bishop Valerius, who had difficulty speaking and entrusted the preaching to him. During the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, the governor Dacian had both men arrested and taken in chains to Valencia. Valerius was sent into exile, but Vincent, who answered for both of them with great boldness, was subjected to cruel tortures.

According to the ancient account, he was stretched on the rack, torn with iron hooks and laid on a red-hot grid, yet he remained calm and even joyful. Thrown into a dark cell strewn with broken pottery, he sang praises to God, and his jailer was converted. He died in Valencia in 304. Saint Augustine preached several sermons on his feast, and devotion to him spread throughout the Christian world.

He is the patron of Valencia, Lisbon and many towns in Spain and Portugal, and of winemakers, whose vineyards are blessed on his feast in France and Spain. Lisbon's coat of arms shows the ship with two ravens that, according to legend, guarded his body and accompanied his relics to the city. In the United States his optional memorial is kept on January 23, because January 22 is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.