St.+Dominic

St. Dominic (sometimes referred to as [|Dominic of Osma]) was born in 1170 in Caleruega, Spain to Félix Rodríguez de Gusmán and Blessed Juana Garcéz de Aza. He had two brothers, [|Antonio and Manes]. He was named Dominic in honor of St. Dominic of Silos, the patron saint of hopeful mothers and the Benedictine Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos. Dominic is perhaps most remembered for establishing the Friar Preachers, also known as the Dominicans or Order of Preachers, and for being the patron saint of astronomers. Early narrative sources reveal that Dominic was raised by his mother and father—who was “an honoured and wealthy man in his village” (//“vir venerabilis et dives in populo suo”//)—and uncle—who was an archbishop.

After attending the schools of Palencia, Dominic studied the arts for six years and theology for four years at a university. At the time that he was completing his schooling at the university, a horrific famine ravaged Spain. To alleviate the Spanish people’s dismal circumstances, Dominic donated his money and sold his furniture, clothes, and manuscripts. One of Dominic’s most enduring quotations was his response to his friends when they incredulously questioned his decision to sell his books: “//Would you have me study off these dead skins, when men are dying of hunger?”// This self-sacrificing commitment to the less fortunate was indicative of Dominic’s character and future acts. He was known to fast, have periods of silence, to never sleep in a bed, and reject meat, shoes, and suitable clothes—all the while praising God. When Dominic was twenty-five years old, he became part of the Canons Regular in the canonry of Osma, after the dominion of St. Augustine.

Approximately ten years later, in 1204, Dominic, along with the Bishop of Osma, set out on behalf of the King of Castile to find a bride in Denmark for Prince Ferdinand. While on their journey, the two sojourners crossed paths with a religious Christian faction known as the Cathars. Because the Cathars held Gnostic and dualistic beliefs, the Roman Catholic Church considered them heretics. In 1206, Dominic devoted time to helping convert the Cathars. In doing so, he realized that preachers previously sent to the Cathars by the pope seemed disingenuous to the “heretics” because the relied upon their ecclesiastical pride and position. He summarized his distaste for the pretentious mentality of the preachers: “It is not by the display of power and pomp, cavalcades of retainers, and richly-houseled palfreys, or by gorgeous apparel, that the heretics win [|proselytes]; it is by zealous preaching, by apostolic humility, by austerity, by seeming, it is true, but by seeming holiness. Zeal must be met by zeal, humility by humility, false sanctity by real sanctity, preaching falsehood by preaching truth.” Thus, Dominic appealed to the Cathars by living the life of a poor, barefoot beggar—characterized by poverty, rather than pomp. He continued this life with the Cathars for two years until his venture was suppressed by the policies of Pope Innocent III. The targets of Pope Innocent III’s Albigensian Crusades were the Cathars. The successful seven-year crusade was instigated by the [|murder of the papal legate] in 1208 by the Albigensians.

Nonetheless, Dominic remained enthusiastic about his work. With the belief that poverty and preaching were concomitant, Dominic formed a group that reached out to the Cathars as well as other heretics. Though Dominic and his six fellow friars (brothers) adhered to the monastic rules of penance and prayer, they differed from monks in that they did not live in seclusion, away from the heretics; they lived among the townspeople. Their objective was “to find truth no matter where it may be.” They strove to use intellect as a means to tend to the needs of the people.

The Dominican Order was established in the same year as the Fourth Lateran Council. After Dominic gained the consent of Innocent III and returned to Rome, Pope Honorius III recognized the Order in writing in December 1216 and January 1217. The resulting order was called “The Order of Preachers” (as mentioned in the first paragraph) and followed the motto //“to praise, to bless, to preach.”//

Dominic’s preaching and his Order are considered instrumental in broadening the use of the rosary.

Dominic died on August 6, 1221 at the age of fifty-one in the church where he had had the first two General Chapters of his Order, the church of San Nicolò of the Vineyards. He used the time right before his death to instruct the members of his Order to have charity, be humble, and find value in being poor.