Saint Dominic
de Guzman
1170-1221
Founder of the
Order of Preachers
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Sponsored by the Vocation Ministers of the Northeast Dominican 6 Congregations
The Order of Preachers sharing the Gospel for over 800 years.
Dominic's Life and Mission
Dominic de Guzman, born in 1170 in Caleruega, Spain, of Felix de Guzman and Jane de Aza, died in 1221 in Bologna, Italy.
Prepared by his university studies in Palencia, Spain Dominic found life as a canon regular in the Cathedral house of Osma an ideal environment. Dominic was asked to be the bishop's traveling companion on a trip to Denmark to arrange the marriage of the Spanish king's son. Dominic faced the havoc and suffering caused by the Albigensian heretics. The sight of the poor people, innocent victims and de-Christianized, appealed to the compassion and zeal of Dominic and his bishop, Diego.
Because of this trip, they made a request to Pope Innocent III to become missionaries in that land. This led to their assignment to an already existing preaching team. Diego and Dominic entered heart and soul into the work of the team, preaching by word and example. Dominic's evaluation of the alarming situation in the territory of the Albigensians led him to conclude that there was a dire need for a group of educated, zealous preachers who would enlighten their hearers by their words and edify by their deeds. Thus was conceived the Order of Preachers. Eventually the permission Dominic received from the local bishop of Toulouse,France was expanded when he was given permission by Honorius III on December 22, 1216 i to create the Order of Preachers calling his followers to be "champions of the faith and true lights of the world." The remaining five years of Dominic's life were spent in tireless dedication to the firm,solid establishment and spread of the Order.
The Times of Dominic
Dominic's time was in many ways like our own. The world and the church were rocked by scandals. Leadership was hardly the model of Christian behavior at a time when the model of the early church community related in the Acts of the Apostles was popular. People were unsure of who was to be believed. How was one to find God in the world?
The Spirit of Dominic
Dominic realized the need for a simple lifestyle that conformed to the preaching one gave. Our lives were meant to be living words of God. He called for voluntary poverty and the early preachers begged for their sustanance. He also realized the search for truth meant deep listening to and for God in all aspects of life.
One of the early stories of St. Dominic is of an all night discussion he had with a heretical innkeeper in Toulouse, France. He listened and heard God in what mattered to the inn keeper. It was in the deep listening with warmth that "multiplied the discussions" so the Spirit of God was revealed to the man. He practiced disputatio or honest discussion listening for the spark of truth in even opposing arguments that the fullness of Truth may be revealed.
There are stories of the trial of his written testimony by fire in his answer to the Albegensian heretics but the more important stories were of his constant prayer and search for God. He was known to sing hymns loudly as he walked barefoot with his companions and to speak of matters of God on the way.
Dominic and the Order of Preachers
Dominic loved life and community. He was a charismatic man who drew people to himself. His first foundation at Prouihle was a community, yes of nuns but also of all sorts of people with whom he would find a respite and rest that would provide the stuff of the holy preaching.
Dominic realized the difficulties of living community in the early church and so sought not harmony but a focus on unity for the sake of mission. He was not important -- the preaching was important. The structures of his Order were to be flexible so it would be able to adapt to new situations and new personalities. For each person's gifts were essential to the mission of the "holy preaching."
We know St. Dominic invoked the Holy Spirit and astonished all by sending the brethren out two by two to do the preaching. This was a great risk for the small community but St. Dominic felt that like grain these preachers were not meant to be hoarded. Jordan of Saxony reports that "everything happened as if the future was a certainty, or as if the Holy Spirit had taught him through his revelations."
Dominic had a great love for study and sent his friars to the newly formed universities and places of learning. He realized his preachers needed a good foundation in scripture and the world. From the beginning, everything was seen as a revelation of God in one way or another. And so great teachers like Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas would find a home in the Order.
Dominic's life was a search for and a proclamation of the Truth of God in Christ Jesus. His followers were to preach that Truth to all the world. His Order was the first to be given a right to preach in any diocese of the world. And today in those of us who walk in his way the preaching continues....
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