Dominican Order
The Dominican Order,, originally known as the Order of Preachers is a Catholic religious order created by Saint Dominic in the early thirteenth century in France. Dominic established a religious community in Toulouse in 1214, officially recognized as an order by Pope Honorius III in 1216. Founded under the Augustinian rule, the Dominican Order is one of the great orders of mendicant friars that revolutionized religious life in Europe during the High Middle Ages.
Established to preach the gospel and to combat heresy, the Order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers. Important Dominicans include Saint Dominic, St. Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, St. Catherine of Siena, and Girolamo Savonarola. Four Dominican cardinals have become popes.
In England and some other countries the Dominicans are referred to as Blackfriars on account of the black cappa or cloak they wear over their white habits. In France, the Dominicans are also known as Jacobins, because their first convent in Paris bore the name "Saint Jacques," or Jacobus in Latin. They have also been referred to using a Latin pun, as "Domini canes," or "The Hounds of God," a reference to the order's reputation as most obedient servants of the faith, with sometimes with a negative connotation or reference to the order's involvement with the Inquisition.
The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, who is currently Brother Carlos Azpiroz Costa. Members of the order often carry the letters O.P. after their name.
Foundation of the Order
Dominic saw the need to establish a new kind of order when traveling through the south of France when that region was the stronghold of heretical Albigensian thought—also known as Catharism—centered around the town of Albi. To combat heresy and other problems in urban areas, he sought to establish an order that would bring the systematic education of the older monastic orders such as the Benedictines to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of cities. His was to be a preaching order, trained to preach in the vernacular languages, but with a sound background in academic theology. Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the monasteries had done, the new friars would survive by persuasive preaching and the alms-giving of those who heard them. They were initially scorned by more traditional orders, who thought these "urban monks" would never survive the temptations of the city.
The Dominicans were thus set up as the branch of the Catholic Church to deal with heresy. The organization of the Order of Preachers was approved in December 1216 by Pope Honorius III.
History of the Order
Middle Ages
The thirteenth century is the classic age of the order. It reached all classes of Christian society, fighting heresy, schism, and paganism. Its schools spread throughout the entire Church. Its doctors wrote monumental works in all branches of knowledge and two among them, Albertus Magnus, and especially Thomas Aquinas, founded a school of philosophy and theology which was to rule the ages to come in the life of the Church.
An enormous number of its members held offices in both Church and state—as popes, cardinals, bishops, legates, inquisitors, confessors of princes, ambassadors, and paciarii (enforcers of the peace decreed by popes or councils). A period of relaxation ensued during the fourteenth century owing to the general decline of Christian society. The weakening of doctrinal activity favored the development here and there of the ascetic and contemplative life and there sprang up, especially in Germany and Italy, an intense and exuberant mysticism with which the names of Meister Eckhart, Heinrich Suso, Johannes Tauler, and St. Catherine of Siena are associated, which has also been called "Dominican mysticism." This movement was the prelude to the reforms undertaken, at the end of the century, by Raymond of Capua, and continued in the following century. It assumed remarkable proportions in the congregations of Lombardy and the Netherlands, and in the reforms of Savonarola at Florence.
Remarkable proportions? Perhaps a few remarks about this are in order.
At the same time the order found itself face to face with the Renaissance. It struggled against pagan tendencies in humanism, in Italy through Dominici and Savonarola, in Germany through the theologians of Cologne but it also furnished humanism with such advanced writers as Francesco Colonna (writer of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) and Matteo Bandello. Its members, in great numbers, took part in the artistic activity of the age, the most prominent being Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo.
The Inquisition
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The Dominican Order was instrumental in the Inquisition. In the twelfth century, to counter the spread of Catharism, prosecution against heresy became more frequent. As the Dominicans were particularly trained in the necessary skills to identify heretics and deal with them, in the thirteenth century, the Pope assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to the Dominican Order. Dominican inquisitors acted in the name of the Pope and with his full authority. The inquisitor questioned the accused heretic in the presence of at least two witnesses. The accused was given a summary of the charges and had to take an oath to tell the truth. Various means were used to get the cooperation of the accused. Although there was no tradition of torture in Christian canon law, this method came into use by the middle of the thirteenth century.
The findings of the Inquisition were read before a large audience; the penitents abjured on their knees with one hand on a bible held by the inquisitor. Penalties went from visits to churches, pilgrimages, and wearing the cross of infamy to imprisonment (usually for life but the sentences were often commuted) and (if the accused would not abjure) death. Death was by burning at the stake, and was carried out by the secular authorities. In some serious cases when the accused had died before proceedings could be instituted, his or her remains could be exhumed and burned. Death or life imprisonment was always accompanied by the confiscation of all the property of the accused.
Alonso de Hojeda, a Dominican from Seville, convinced Queen Isabel of the existence of Crypto-Judaism among Andalusian conversos during her stay in Seville between 1477 and 1478. A report, produced at the request of the monarchs by Pedro González de Mendoza, Archbishop of Seville and by the Segovian Dominican Tomás de Torquemada, corroborated this assertion. The monarchs decided to introduce the Inquisition to Castile to uncover and do away with false converts, and requested the Pope's assent.
Anything on Spanish Inquisition and the Dominicans' role?
In 1542, Pope Paul III established a permanent congregation staffed with cardinals and other officials whose task it was to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false doctrines. This body, the Congregation of the Holy Office (now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, became the supervisory body of local inquisitions. There are usually 10 other cardinals on the Congregation, as well as a prelate and two assistants, all chosen from the Dominican Order.
Dominicans versus Franciscans
Can you say more about Aristotelian Dominicans and the Franciscan Platonists—beyond the poverty issue?
In the Middle Ages, theological debates took place at the University of Paris before the Reformation between the Aristotelian Dominicans and the Franciscan Platonists. Unfortunately, many of these encounters lacked what could be called Christian love in their search for truth. In the discussions, pointed differences occurred on the Mendicant Orders: the Dominicans adopted the existing monastic rule, while the Franciscans refused personal property.
After the death of the founders, St. Dominic and St. Francis, re-discussions and reinterpretations of the notion of poverty continued. The quarrel continued for some 70 years, and can be broken into six phases: 1) interpretation of the rules and of poverty (1240-50), 2) common defense of the mendicant way of life (1250-60), 3) Dominicans vs Franciscans (1270), 4) the compromise of Nicholas III (1279), 5) Franciscans vs Franciscans (1280-1310), and 6) The final decision by John XXII (1322-3).
The debate subsided as the Franciscans gradually came to terms with the use of material goods by the poor, the usus pauper doctrine, which became the basis of “Franciscan economics”: A friar must establish whether his behavior is consistent or not with his choice of living in poverty. The debates also had profound implications for philosophy far beyond the issue of ecclesiastical poverty.
Modern Period
Steve — is this "heresy" protestantism?
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the progress of heresy cost the order six or seven provinces and several hundreds of convents, but the discovery of the New World opened up a fresh field of activity. One of the most famous Dominicans of this period was Bartolomé de Las Casas, who argued forcefully for the rights of Native Americans in the Caribbean. The order's gains in America, the Indies and Africa during the period of colonial expansion far exceeded the losses of the order in Europe, and the seventeenth century saw its highest numerical development.
In modern times, the order lost much of its influence on the political powers, which had universally fallen into absolutism and had little sympathy for the democratic constitution of the Preachers. The Bourbon courts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were particularly unfavorable to them until the suppression of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). In the eighteenth century, there were numerous attempts at reform which created, especially in France, geographical confusion in the administration. Also during the eighteenth century, the tyrannical spirit of the European powers and the spirit of the age lessened the number of recruits and the fervor of religious life. The French Revolution ruined the order in France, and the crises which more or less rapidly followed considerably lessened or wholly destroyed numerous provinces.
Contemporary Period
The contemporary period of the history of the Preachers begins in the early nineteenth century. During this critical period ,the number of Preachers seems never to have sunk below 3,500. The statistics for 1876 give 3,748 religious, but 500 of these had been expelled from their convents and were engaged in parochial work. The statistics for 1910 give a total of 4,472 both nominally and actually engaged in the activities of the Order. They were distributed in 28 provinces and five congregations, and had nearly 400 convents or secondary establishments.
In the revival movement in France, Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire (1802-1861), became a Friar Preacher at Rome (1839), and the province of France was canonically erected in 1850. From this province, were detached the province of Lyon, called Occitania (1862), that of Toulouse (1869), and that of Canada (1909). The French restoration, likewise, furnished many laborers to other provinces, to assist in their organization and progress. From it came, Père Vincent Jandel (1850-1872), the master general who remained longest at the head of the administration during the nineteenth century. The province of St. Joseph in the United States was founded in 1805 by Father Edward Fenwick, the first Bishop of Cincinnati, Ohio (1821-1832). Afterwards, this province developed slowly, but now ranks among the most flourishing and active provinces of the order. In 1910, it numbered 17 convents or secondary houses. In 1905, it established a large house of studies at Washington, D.C., called the Dominican House of Studies.
The province of France (Paris) has produced a large number of preachers, several of whom became renowned. The conferences of Notre-Dame-de-Paris were inaugurated by Père Lacordaire. The Dominicans of the province of France furnished most of the orators: Lacordaire (1835-1836, 1843-1851), Jacques Monsabré (1869-1870, 1872-1890), Joseph Ollivier (1871, 1897), and Thomas Etourneau (1898-1902). Since 1903, the pulpit of Notre Dame has again been occupied by a Dominican. Père Henri Didon (d. 1900) was one of the most esteemed orators of his time. In France, the chief center was the house of studies, which is presently situated at Kain, near Tournai, Belgium.
French Dominicans founded and administer the École Biblique et Archéologique française de Jérusalem ["French Biblical and Archæological School of Jerusalem"] founded in 1890 by Père Marie-Joseph Lagrange O.P. (1855-1938), one of the leading international centers for Biblical research of all kinds. It is at the École Biblique that the famed Jerusalem Bible (both editions) was prepared.
Likewise Yves Cardinal Congar, O.P., one of the emblematic theologians of the twentieth century, was a product of the French province of the Order of Preachers.
The province of the Philippines, the most populous in the order, is recruited from Spain, where it has several preparatory houses. In the Philippines, it has charge of the University of Sto. Tomas, recognized by the government of the United States, two colleges including the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and six establishments; in China it administers the missions of North and South Fo-Kien; in the Japanese Empire, those of Formosa (now Taiwan) and Shikoku, besides establishments in New Orleans, Caracas, and Rome. The province of Spain has 17 establishments in the Peninsula and the Canaries, as well as the missions of Urubamba, Peru.
In 1910, the Order had 20 archbishops or bishops, one of whom, Andreas Frühwirth, formerly master general (1892-1902), was Apostolic nuncio at Munich (Sanvito, Catalogus omnium provinciarum sacri ordinis praedicato).
Since 1910, the Order has published an important review in Madrid, La Ciencia Tomista. The province of the Netherlands has a score of establishments, and the missions of Curaçao and Puerto Rico. Other French provinces also have their missions, including: Piedmont, with establishments in Constantinople and Smyrna; Toulouse, in Brazil; Lyon, in Cuba; and Ireland, in Australia and Trinidad and Tobago. Belgium is represented by the Order in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), and so forth.
In 1992, the followers of St. Dominic from 90 countries sent representatives to the General Chapter of 1992 in Mexico. They were engaged in every imaginable work, from running an ecological farm in Benin to exploring Coptic verbs in Fribourg, Germany. Recent General Chapters have tried to help the Order focus its priorities in face of such endless demands and possibilities. In particular, the apostolic commitment aims to achieve four main objectives: intellectual formation, world mission, social communication, and justice.
Over the past 20 years, there has been a decline in numbers throughout the Dominican Order that has been most severely experienced in its emerging churches. Provinces which once sent big numbers too evangelize in other countries are no longer able to do so. This has led to an acute shortage of key personnel in a number of mission vicariates and provinces. The Order website (http://www.op.org/international/english/index.html) notes that, “In certain cases the addition of just two or three would alleviate a critical situation.”
The website points to the Order’s continual need for obedience: “I suppose that in all our congregations, in one way or another, the crunch comes when you put yourself into the hands of your brothers and sisters and say, `Here I am; send me where you will.’"
The four ideals of the Dominican spirit and heritage
The Dominican heritage intertwines a dynamic interrelatedness of four active ideals:
Study: Dominican tradition and heritage of study is freedom of research. Dominic set study in the service of others as his ideal when he made study an integral part of the life of the Order. Study and concern was focused on contemporary social issues, so that one would go from study of the world as it is to a commitment to envision and work for a world as it should be; to try to put right what is wrong in the world. Each person has to determine her/his own area of commitment, and then establish the desire and challenge to make this a better world. Dominic believed that you learn how to do something by doing it, not by formulating theories beforehand. Experience was the key.
Prayer/Contemplation/Reflection: For example, love of the Gospel of Matthew.
Community: To work for a better, more just and loving world. If we try to do this alone, we can feel overwhelmed. We can help one another—that is the point of community and family, to enable us to do what we cannot do by ourselves.
Service: Compassion was one of Dominic’s outstanding qualities. For example, as a student in Palencia he said, “I refuse to study dead skins while men are dying of hunger.”
These ideals developed as the Order developed under Saint Dominic and his successors. Dominic differed from founders of other religious orders of his time in that he sent his followers to engage in the life of the emerging universities of the thirteenth century. While they studied, they realized that there must be a spirit of prayer, contemplation, and reflection that would connect the world of ideas, the life of the mind, and the spirit of truth, to the reality of the goodness of the Creator. This reflection and prayer could not be done in a vacuum, but must be done in and through the sharing of communal life. Coming full circle, the Dominicans were commissioned to share their knowledge and love of God with the people of the world. Thus, the Order of Preachers continues to share the Good News of the Gospel through the service and ministry they perform.
Mottos
1. Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare
- To praise, to bless and to preach
(from the Dominican Missal, Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
2. Veritas
- Truth
3. Contemplare et Contemplata Aliis Tradere
- To study and to hand on the fruits of study (or, to contemplate and to hand on the fruits of contemplation)
Important Dominicans
Important Dominicans include: Saint Dominic, St. Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Raymond of Peñafort, St. Rose of Lima, St. Martin de Porres, Pope Saint Pius V, Beato Jordan of Saxony, Bartolomé de las Casas, Tomás de Torquemada, and Girolamo Savonarola.
Four Dominican cardinals have reached the Papacy: Innocent V, Benedict XI, Pius V, and Benedict XIII. Currently, in the College of Cardinals there are two Dominican cardinals: Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna; and Georges Marie Martin Cardinal Cottier.
Dominican Sisters
As well as the friars, Dominican sisters , also known as the Order of Preachers, live their lives supported by four common values, often referred to as the Four Pillars of Dominican Life, they are: community life, common prayer, study and service. St. Dominic called this fourfold pattern of life the "holy preaching." Henri Matisse was so moved by the care that he received from the Dominican Sisters that he collaborated in the design and interior decoration of their Chapelle du Saint-Marie du Rosaire in Vence, France.
Dominican-founded schools
- Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MI
- Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, MO
- Barry University of Miami, FL
- Dominican University, River Forest, IL
- Colegio de San Juan de Letran-Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
- Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC
- Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA
- Fenwick High School, Oak Park, IL
- Jordán de Sajonia School, Bogotá, Colombia
- Newbridge College, IRL
- Providence College, Providence RI
- Siena Heights University, MI
- University of Santo Tomas/ Manila, Philippines
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Alemany, J.S. The Life of St. Dominic and a Sketch of the Dominican Order, Kessenger Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-0548105597
- Hinnebusch, William A. The History of the Dominican Order, Alba House, 1966. ISBN 978-0818902666
- Tugwell, Simon. Early Dominicans: Selected Writings, Paulist Press, 1982. ISBN 978-0809124145
- Zagano, Phyllis, & McGonigle, Thomas. The Dominican Tradition, Liturgical Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0814619117
External links
- Order of Preachers Homepage - Available in English, French and Spanish
- Dominican Life USA online news magazine
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