St. Vincent was born at Saragossa to Eutricius and Enola. He studied under Valerius, the bishop of Saragossa, and excelled at his studies. When he was ordained as a deacon, he was asked to do the preaching in the diocese since the bishop had a speech impediment.
The governor Dacian ordered Vincent and Bishop Valerius to be brought in chains to Valencia, where he kept them imprisoned, as part of the persecutions under the emperor Diocletian. Valerius was banished, but Vincent was tortured with the rack, the gridiron, and scourging. After he survived these, he was imprisoned in a cell covered in potsherds. To keep him off balance, he was then taken to a soft, luxurious bed, but he died there.
Vincent’s prisoners threw his body out to be eaten by vultures, but a raven defended it. Dacian then ordered his body to be thrown out to sea, but it returned to shore. A pious widow buried Vincent’s body, and after the persecutions were ended, a chapel was built over his remains.
St. Vincent is represented in the dalmatic of a deacon, and has emblems of a cross, a raven, a grate, or a fire-pile. He is the patron of Valencia, Saragossa, and Portugal.
