Cocks, trumpets, sparks...: notes about the vision of preaching in the sermons of master Vicent Ferrer

Abstract

The present work aims to study some of the refl ections that Vicent Ferrer makes, through his sermons, on the preaching and on the role of the preacher. Its focus is the way in which Ferrer explains to his audience what does it mean to preach, how to make a sermon and what should be the features of a good preacher. At the same time, it tries to situate the images and the resources used by the preacher – similarities, allegories, etc. – in the context of the cultural and exegetic tradition that nourished his preaching. All of this portrays and analyzes how a preacher of the

highest prestige strives to explain in an understandable way to his audience what should be the task of any preacher – and, therefore, also his own.