Hail, Saintly Preacher and Priest

"St. Dominic," El Greco

                                              

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Dominic (1170 AD-1221 AD).  St. Dominic founded the Ordo Praedicatorum, or Order of Preachers, popularly known as the Dominicans.  The Dominicans were a new type of religious congregation which combined the dedication to learning of older monastic congregations with a more flexible structure.  Monks are bound to their monasteries, whereas Dominicans are free to move about, preaching wherever the need is greatest, relying upon alms for support.  The Dominicans enjoyed great success in combatting the Albigensian heresy.  They were also instrumental in spreading devotion to the holy rosary, which, according to tradition, St. Dominic received from the hands of Our Lady herself.

The Dominicans spread rapidly throughout Europe.  The priories the Dominicans established to educate members of their order often became great seats of learning.  In England, the Dominicans played an important part in the histories of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.  Cambridge's American offshoot, Harvard, retains the Dominican motto, "Veritas."

St. Dominic, pray for us.

BONUS: A Dominican joke:

Two men considering a religious vocation were having a conversation. "What is similar about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders? " the one asked.

The second replied, "Well, they were both founded by Spaniards -- St. Dominic for the Dominicans, and St. Ignatius of Loyola for the Jesuits. They were also both founded to combat heresy -- the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians, and the Jesuits to fight the Protestants."

"What is different about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders?"

"Met any Albigensians lately?"