The friar sent to tell a king his son died

BARCELONA, September 1409 AD — People took their places in the garden of the Dominican convent from one in the morning. They did not want to miss his Mass and his sermon. The man they were waiting for was Saint Vincent Ferrer. He had come into Barcelona on June 14 this year with a great crowd of men and women who had followed him from many countries. Eight days later the city council voted three hundred florins to feed them.

On July 14 word reached Barcelona that the king’s son had beaten rebels in Sardinia. The son was called Martin too, and he ruled Sicily as its king. The city held parties for the victory. Eleven days later the king’s son was dead at Cagliari. He was a king already, and he would have been king of Aragon after his father. His death left Sicily with no king and his father with no heir.

Breaking the news

Benedict XIII, the pope at Avignon, had the news first. He thought it would be too much for King Martin to hear from him. So he travelled to Barcelona and sent St. Vincent Ferrer to tell the king. The king loved the friar like a father. St. Vincent Ferrer had worked in the pope’s own household.

The men who ran the city went with him to the king, and so did the chief nobles. St. Vincent Ferrer told him: “Sire, the kings of the earth are not immortal; their birth and their death resemble those of other men, though they are venerated as fulfilling divine offices here below. The King of kings has called the king of Sicily to himself… all your vassals weep your misfortunes; they will not be consoled unless they see Your Highness resign himself to the will of God.” The king did not break down when he heard it.

The king marries again

When the days of mourning were over, the king’s counsellors asked him to marry again. A new wife could give his lands an heir. A new marriage would also stop the men hoping to take his throne, they said, and keep his lands quiet. The king was fifty-one, and his wife had died several years before. He took the advice and chose Margaret of Prades, a princess of the Aragonese royal family.

This month the king married her in the tower of Bellesguard at Barcelona. Benedict XIII performed the marriage. Aragon was his own country: his name was Pedro de Luna, and he came from Aragon. St. Vincent Ferrer sang the wedding Mass in front of him. The moment the wedding was over, he hurried away to preach.