Born at Huesca, Spain, he became a deacon and served St. Valerius at Saragossa until their martyrdom at Valencia during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305). St. Valerius was exiled, but Vincent was cruelly tortured because he would not surrender the holy books. While imprisoned, he was racked until his limbs became disjointed, then pressed between plates of heated metal and...