Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:
Qualm, Matthew 15:21-28, Feast f St Dominic, Dominican Order
Good Day Bloggers!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7..
We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well,
make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Today's Word: qualm qualm [kwahm, kwawm]
Origin: 1520–30; origin uncertain
noun
1.an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction: He has no qualms about lying.
2.a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving: a sudden qualm about the success of the venture.
3.a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, especially of nausea.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Jeremiah 31:1-7
1 When that time comes, Yahweh declares, I shall be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
2 Yahweh says this: They have found pardon in the desert, those who have survived the sword. Israel is marching to his rest.
3 Yahweh has appeared to me from afar; I have loved you with an everlasting love and so I still maintain my faithful love for you.
4 I shall build you once more, yes, you will be rebuilt, Virgin of Israel! Once more in your best attire, and with your tambourines, you will go out dancing gaily.
5 Once more you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria (those who plant will themselves enjoy the fruit).
6 Yes, a day will come when the watchmen shout on the mountains of Ephraim, 'Up! Let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God!'
7 For Yahweh says this: Shout with joy for Jacob! Hail the chief of nations! Proclaim! Praise! Shout, 'Yahweh has saved his people, the remnant of Israel!'
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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 15: 21-28
Jesus left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And suddenly out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, 'Lord, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.' But he said not a word in answer to her. And his disciples went and pleaded with him, saying, 'Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting after us.' He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.' But the woman had come up and was bowing low before him. 'Lord,' she said, 'help me.' He replied, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to little dogs.' She retorted, 'Ah yes, Lord; but even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters' table.' Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, you have great faith. Let your desire be granted.' And from that moment her daughter was well again.
Reflection
Context. The bread of the children and the great faith of a Canaanite woman is the theme presented in the liturgical passage taken from chapter 15 of Matthew who proposes to the reader of his Gospel a further deepening of faith in Christ. The episode is preceded by an initiative of the Pharisees and Scribes who go down to Jerusalem and cause a dispute to take place with Jesus, but which did not last long, because he, together with his disciples withdrew to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon. While he is on the way, a woman from the pagan places comes to him. This woman is presented by Matthew by the name of a “Canaanite woman” who in the light of the Old Testament, she is presented with great harshness. In the Book of Deuteronomy the inhabitants of Canaan were considered people full of sins, evil and idolatrous people.
Context. The bread of the children and the great faith of a Canaanite woman is the theme presented in the liturgical passage taken from chapter 15 of Matthew who proposes to the reader of his Gospel a further deepening of faith in Christ. The episode is preceded by an initiative of the Pharisees and Scribes who go down to Jerusalem and cause a dispute to take place with Jesus, but which did not last long, because he, together with his disciples withdrew to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon. While he is on the way, a woman from the pagan places comes to him. This woman is presented by Matthew by the name of a “Canaanite woman” who in the light of the Old Testament, she is presented with great harshness. In the Book of Deuteronomy the inhabitants of Canaan were considered people full of sins, evil and idolatrous people.
The dynamic of the account. While Jesus carries out his activity in Galilee and is on the way toward Tyre and Sidon, a woman came up to him and began to bother him with a petition for help for her sick daughter. The woman addresses Jesus using the title “Son of David”; a title which sounds strange pronounced by a pagan and that could be justified because of the extreme situation in which the woman lives. It could be thought that this woman already believes in some way, in the person of Jesus as final Saviour, but this is excluded because it is only in v. 28 that her act of faith is recognized, precisely by Jesus. In the dialogue with the woman Jesus seems to show that distance and diffidence which reigned between the people of Israel and the pagans. On one side Jesus confirms to the woman the priority for Israel to have access to salvation, and before the insistent prayer of her interlocutor Jesus seems to withdraw, to be at a distance; an incomprehensible attitude for the reader, but in the intention of Jesus it expresses an act of pedagogical value. To the first invocation “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David” (v. 22) Jesus does not respond. To the second intervention this time on the part of the disciples who invite him to listen to the prayer of the woman, he only expresses rejection that stresses that secular distance between the chosen people and the pagan people (vv. 23b-24) But at the insistence of the prayer of the woman who bows before Jesus, a harsh and mysterious response follows: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to little dogs” (v. 26). The woman goes beyond the harsh response of the words of Jesus and gets a small sign of hope: the woman recognizes that the plan of God being carried out by Jesus initially concerns the chosen people and Jesus asks the woman to recognize that priority; the woman takes advantage of that priority to present a strong reason to obtain the miracle: “Ah yes, Lord, but even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters’ table” (v. 27). The woman has exceeded the test of faith: “Woman, you have great faith” (v. 28); in fact, to the humble insistence of her faith corresponds a gesture of salvation.
This episode addresses an invitation to every reader of the Gospel to have that interior attitude of “openness” toward everyone, believers or not, that is to say, availability and acceptance without distinction toward all men.
Personal questions
- The disturbing word of God invites you to break open your closeness and all your small plans. Are you capable to accept all the brothers and sisters who come to you?
- Are you aware of your poverty to be capable like the Canaanite woman to entrust yourself to the word of salvation of Jesus.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Saint of the Day: St. Dominic
Feast Day: August 8
Died: 1221
Patron Saint of : astronomers
Saint Dominic |
Saint Dominic (Spanish: Santo Domingo), also known as Dominic of Osma and Dominic of Caleruega, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán (1170 – August 6, 1221), was the founder of the Dominican Order. Dominic is the patron saint of astronomers.
Dominic was born in Caleruega, halfway between Osma and Aranda de Duero in Old Castile, Spain. He was named after Saint Dominic of Silos, who is said to be the patron saint of hopeful mothers. The Benedictine abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos lies a few miles north of Caleruega.
In the earliest narrative source, by Jordan of Saxony, Dominic's parents are not named. The story is told that before his birth his barren mother made a pilgrimage to Silos and dreamed that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a torch in its mouth, and "seemed to set the earth on fire". This story is likely to have emerged when his order became known, after his name, as the Dominican order, in Latin is Dominicanus and by a play of words was interpreted as Domini canis: "Dog of the Lord." Jordan adds that Dominic was brought up by his parents and a maternal uncle who was an archbishop. He was named in honour of Dominic of Silos as well as the Lord's Day (Sunday in Spanish is "Domingo.") Jordan of Saxony added that Dominic
was brought up by his parents and a maternal uncle who was an
archbishop. The failure to name his parests is not unusual, since Jordan wrote a history of the Order's early years, rather than a biography of Dominic. A later source, still of the 13th century, gives their names as Juana and Felix. Nearly a century after Dominic's birth, a local author asserted that Dominic's father was "vir venerabilis et dives in populo suo" ("an honoured and wealthy man in his village"). The travel narrative of Pero Tafur, written circa 1439 (about a pilgrimage to Dominic's tomb in Italy), states that Dominic's father belonged to the family de Guzmán, and that his mother belonged to the Aça or Aza family.
Education and early career
Dominic was educated in the schools of Palencia (they became a university soon afterwards) where he devoted six years to the arts and four to theology. In 1191, when Spain was desolated by famine,
young Dominic gave away his money and sold his clothes, furniture and
even precious manuscripts to feed the hungry. Dominic reportedly told
his astonished fellow students: "Would you have me study off these dead
skins, when men are dying of hunger?" In 1194, around age twenty-five, Dominic joined the Canons Regular in the canonry of Osma, following the rule of Saint Benedict.
In 1203 or 1204 he accompanied Diego de Acebo, the Bishop of Osma, on a diplomatic mission for Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, namely to secure a bride in Denmark for crown prince Ferdinand. The envoys traveled to Denmark via Aragon and the south of France. There, Dominic and Diego encountered the Cathars,
a Christian religious sect with gnostic and dualistic beliefs, which
the Roman Catholic Church deemed heretical. The Cathars ordained women
as well as men; their "clergy" were celibate, vowed to poverty, and not
subject to the pontiff's rule. Pope Innocent III initiated the first
crusade against European Christian heretics with his Albigensian Crusades
against the Cathars. The Danish mission proved futile, but the clerics
saw a need to combat the heresy, so Diego and Dominic returned by way of
Rome and Cîteaux.
Foundation of the Dominicans
In 1208 Dominic encountered the papal legates returning in pomp to Rome, foiled in their attempt to counter the growing sect.
In 1215, Dominic established himself, with six followers, in a house given by Peter Seila, a rich resident of Toulouse. He subjected himself and his companions to the monastic rules of prayer and penance; and meanwhile bishop Foulques gave them written authority to preach throughout the territory of Toulouse. In the same year, the year of the Fourth Lateran Council, Dominic and Foulques went to Rome to secure the approval of the Pope, Innocent III.
Dominic returned to Rome a year later, and was finally granted written
authority in December 1216 and January 1217 by the new pope, Honorius III for an order to be named "The Order of Preachers" ("Ordo Praedicatorum", or "O.P.," popularly known as the Dominican Order).
Later life
Basilica San Domenica chapel, Bologna |
Dominic made his headquarters at Rome, although he traveled extensively to maintain contact with his growing brotherhood of friars. It was in the winter of 1216–1217, at the house of Ugolino de' Conti that he first met William of Montferrat, afterwards a close friend.
Dominic arrived in Bologna on 21 December 1218. A convent was established at the Mascarella church by the Blessed Reginald of Orléans. Soon afterwards they had to move to the church of San Nicolò of the Vineyards. Dominic settled in this church and held in this church the first two General Chapters of the order. He died there on 6 August 1221 and was moved into a simple sarcophagus in 1233. In 1267 Dominic's remains were moved to the shrine, made by Nicola Pisano and his workshop.
According to Guiraud, Dominic abstained from meat, "observed stated fasts and periods of silence", "selected the worst accommodations and the meanest clothes", and "never allowed himself the luxury of a bed". "When travelling, he beguiled the journey with spiritual instruction and prayers" (also Guiraud).
Guiraud also states that "as soon as Dominic passed the limits of towns
and villages, he took off his shoes, and, however sharp the stones or
thorns, he trudged on his way barefooted", and that "rain and other discomforts elicited from his lips nothing but praises to God".
Dominic died at the age of fifty-one, according to Guiraud "exhausted with the austerities and labours of his career". He had reached the convent of St Nicholas at Bologna, Italy, "weary and sick with a fever". Guiraud states that Dominic "made the monks lay him on some sacking stretched upon the ground" and that "the brief time that remained to him was spent in exhorting his followers to have charity, to guard their humility, and to make their treasure out of poverty". He died at noon on 6 August 1221.
Inquisition
That Dominic was the founder of the Albigensian Inquisition and the
first inquisitor-general has become a part of Roman tradition. It is
affirmed by all the historians of the Order, and by all the panegyrists of the Inquisition; it is found in the bull Invictarum of Sixtus V, and it is confirmed by a bull of Innocent III, appointing him inquisitor-general.
The 19th century historian Henry Charles Lea stated, "Yet it is safe to
say that no tradition of the Church rests on a slenderer basis." Lea
went on to state in the same paragraph: "That Dominic devoted the best
years of his life to combating heresy there is no doubt, and as little
that, when a heretic was deaf to argument or persuasion, he would
cheerfully stand by the pyre and see him burned, like any other zealous
missionary of the time; but in this he was no more prominent than
hundreds of others, and of organized work in this direction he was
utterly guiltless."
What part Dominic personally had in the proceedings of the episcopal Medieval Inquisition has been disputed for many centuries. The historical sources from Dominic's own time period tell us nothing about his involvement in the Inquisition, although several early Dominicans, including some of Dominic's first followers, did become inquisitors. The statement that Dominic had been an inquisitor was first made in the 14th century by a famous Dominican inquisitor, Bernard Gui, who tried to paint his Order's founder as a participant in the Institution. In the 15th century, Dominic would be depicted as presiding at an auto da fé,
later offering German Protestant critics of the Catholic Church an
argument against the Order whose preaching had proven to be a formidable
opponent in the lands of the Reformation. Thus a 14th century claim became a part of the Black Legend.
Despite the bull Invictarum of Sixtus V cited above, Jacques Échard argued that Dominic could not have been an inquisitor because the Papal Inquisition was not officially established until 1231 by Pope Gregory IX., although of course the Episcopal Inquisition
in which Dominicans played an important role predates that. Some others
call the Saint "the first inquisitor" with no other historical basis.
Rosary
Madonna of the Rosary |
The spread of the Rosary, a Marian devotion, is attributed to the preaching of St. Dominic. The Rosary has for centuries been at the heart of the Dominican Order. Pope Pius XI stated that: "The
Rosary of Mary is the principle and foundation on which the very Order
of Saint Dominic rests for making perfect the life of its members and
obtaining the salvation of others." For centuries, Dominicans have been instrumental in spreading the rosary and emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the rosary.
According to tradition, the rosary was given to Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille. This Marian apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. In the 15th century Blessed Alanus de Rupe
(aka Alain de la Roche or Saint Alan of the Rock), who was a learned
Dominican priest and theologian, is said to have received a vision from
Jesus about the urgency of reinstating the rosary as a form of prayer.
Blessed Alanus de Rupe also received the Blessed Mother's "15 Promises".
Before his death on Sept. 8, 1475 and through his devotion to the
Blessed Mother, he reinstituted the rosary in many countries and
established many rosary confraternities. Despite the popularity of
Blessed Alanus's story about the origins of the rosary, there has never
been found any historical evidence positively linking St. Dominic to the
rosary. The story of St. Dominic's devotion to the rosary and supposed
apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary does not appear in any documents of
the Church or Dominican Order prior to the writings of Blessed Alanus. St. Dominic and Blessed Alanus are separated by 250 years.
- Bedouelle, Guy (1995). Saint Dominic: The Grace of the Word. Ignatius Press. ISBN 0-89870-531-2.
- Guy Bedouelle, "The Holy Inquisition: Dominic and the Dominicans," an article on the main Dominican website
- Guiraud, Jean (1913). Saint Dominic. Duckworth. Full text at archive.org
- Francis C. Lehner, ed., St Dominic: biographical documents. Washington: Thomist Press, 1964 Full text
- McGonigle, Thomas; Zagano, Phyllis (2006). The Dominican Tradition. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-1911-7.
- Pierre Mandonnet, M. H. Vicaire, St. Dominic and His Work. Saint Louis, 1948 Full text at Dominican Central
- Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Dominic by John B. O'Conner, 1909.
- Tugwell, Simon (1982). Early Dominicans: Selected Writings. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-2414-5. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0809124149/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link.
- Vicaire, M.-H. (1964). Saint Dominic and his Times. Green Bay, Wisconsin: Alt Publishing. ASIN B0000CMEWR.
- Wishart, Alfred Wesley (1900). A Short History of Monks and Monasteries. Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13206.
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Today's Snippets: Dominican Order
Seal of the Dominican Order |
The Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum), after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III (1216–27) on 22 December 1216 in France. Membership in the Order includes friars, nuns, congregations of active sisters, and lay persons affiliated with the order (formerly known as tertiaries, now Lay or Secular Dominicans). A number of other names have been used to refer to both the order and its members.
- In England and other countries the Dominicans are referred to as Black Friars because of the black cappa or cloak they wear over their white habits. Dominicans were Blackfriars, as opposed to Whitefriars (for example, the Carmelites) or Greyfriars (for example, Franciscans). They are also distinct from the Augustinian Friars (the Austin friars) who wear a similar habit.
- In France, the Dominicans are known as Jacobins, because their first convent in Paris was built near the church of Saint Jacques, (St. James) and Jacques (James) is Jacobus in Latin.
- Their identification as Dominicans gave rise to the pun that they were the Domini canes, or Hounds of the Lord.
Members of the order generally carry the letters O.P. standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers, after their names. Founded to preach the Gospel
and to combat heresy, the order is famed for its intellectual
tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers.
The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, who is currently Father Bruno Cadoré.
Foundation
Like his contemporary, Francis of Assisi, Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization, and the quick growth of the Dominicans and Franciscans during their first century of existence confirms that the orders of mendicant friars met a need.
He had accompanied as canon Diego de Acebo, Bishop of Osma on a diplomatic mission to Denmark, to arrange the marriage between the son of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and a niece of King Valdemar II of Denmark. At that time the south of France was the stronghold of the Cathar or Albigensian heresy, named after the Duke of Albi, a Cathar sympathiser and opponent to the subsequent Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229).
The Albigensians, more commonly known as the Cathars, were a heretical gnostic sect, holding that matter was evil and only spirit was good; this was a fundamental challenge to the notion of incarnation, central to Roman Catholic theology.
Dominic saw the need for a response that would attempt to sway members
of the Albigensian movement back to mainstream Christian thought. The
mendicant preacher emerged from this insight. Despite this particular
mission, in winning the Albigensians over by persuasion Dominic met
limited success, "for though in his ten years of preaching a large
number of converts were made, it has to be said that the results were
not such as had been hoped for."
Dominic nevertheless became the spiritual father to several
Albigensian women he had reconciled to the faith, and in 1206 he
established them in a convent in Prouille. This convent would become the foundation of the Dominican nuns, thus making the Dominican nuns older than the Dominican friars.
Dominic sought to establish a new kind of order, one that would bring
the dedication and systematic education of the older monastic orders
like the Benedictines
to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of
cities, but with more organizational flexibility than either monastic
orders or the secular clergy. Dominic's new order was to be a preaching order, trained to preach in the vernacular
languages. Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the
monasteries had done, the new friars would survive by begging, "selling"
themselves through persuasive preaching.
Saint Dominic established a religious community in Toulouse in 1214, to be governed by the rule of St. Augustine and statutes to govern the life of the friars, including the Primitive Constitution. (The statutes borrowed somewhat from the Constitutions of Prémontré.)
The founding documents establish that the Order was founded for two
purposes: preaching and the salvation of souls. The organization of the
Order of Preachers was approved in December 1216 by Pope Honorius III (see also Religiosam vitam; Nos attendentes).
The Order's origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its later
development and reputation. Many later Dominicans battled heresy as part
of their apostolate. Indeed, many years after St. Dominic reacted to
the Cathars, the first Grand Inquistor of Spain, Tomás de Torquemada, would be drawn from the Dominican order.
History
- The Middle Ages (from their foundation to the beginning of the 16th century);
- The Modern Period up to the French Revolution;
- The Contemporary Period.
Middle Ages
The Dominican friars quickly spread, including to England, where they appeared in Oxford in 1221. In the 13th century the order reached all classes of Christian society, fought heresy, schism, and paganism by word and book, and by its missions to the north of Europe, to Africa, and Asia
passed beyond the frontiers of Christendom. Its schools spread
throughout the entire Church; its doctors wrote monumental works in all
branches of knowledge, including the extremely important Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Its members included popes, cardinals, bishops, legates, inquisitors, confessors of princes, ambassadors, and paciarii (enforcers of the peace decreed by popes or councils). The order was appointed by Pope Gregory IX the duty to carry out the Inquisition. In his Papal Bull Ad extirpanda of 1252, Pope Innocent IV authorised the Dominicans' use of torture under prescribed circumstances.
The expansion of the Order produced changes. A smaller emphasis on
doctrinal activity favoured the development here and there of the ascetic and contemplative life and there sprang up, especially in Germany and Italy, the mystical movement with which the names of Meister Eckhart, Heinrich Suso, Johannes Tauler, and St. Catherine of Siena are associated. (See German mysticism,
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.
At the same time the Order found itself face to face with the Renaissance. It struggled against pagan tendencies in Renaissance 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 (probably the writer of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) and Matteo Bandello. Many Dominicans took part in the artistic activity of the age, the most prominent being Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo.
Reformation to French Revolution
Bartolomé de Las Casas |
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. (c. 1484[1] – 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians." His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies and focus particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples
Arriving as one of the first settlers in the New World he participated in, and was eventually compelled to oppose, the atrocities committed against the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists. In 1515 he reformed his views, gave up his Indian slaves and encomienda, and advocated, before King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor,
on behalf of rights for the natives. In his early writings he advocated
the use of African slaves instead of Natives in the West-Indian
colonies, and consequently he has been criticized as being partly
responsible for the beginning of the Transatlantic slave trade.
Later in life he retracted those early views as he came to see all
forms of slavery as equally wrong. In 1522 he attempted to launch a new
kind of peaceful colonialism on the coast of Venezuela, but this venture failed causing Las Casas to enter the Dominican Order and become a friar, leaving the public scene for a decade. He then traveled to Central America undertaking peaceful evangelization among the Maya of Guatemala
and participated in debates among the Mexican churchmen about how best
to bring the natives to the Christian faith. Traveling back to Spain to
recruit more missionaries, he continued lobbying for the abolition of
the encomienda, gaining an important victory by the passing of the New Laws in 1542. He was appointed Bishop of Chiapas,
but served only for a short time before he was forced to return to
Spain because of resistance to the New Laws by the encomenderos, and
conflicts with Spanish settlers because of his pro-Indian policies and
activist religious stances. The remainder of his life was spent at the
Spanish court where he held great influence over Indies-related issues.
In 1550 he participated in the Valladolid debate; he argued against Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda
that the Indians were fully human and that forcefully subjugating them
was unjustifiable. Sepúlveda countered that they were less than human
and required Spanish masters in order to become civilized.
Bartolomé de las Casas spent 50 years of his life actively fighting
slavery and the violent colonial abuse of indigenous peoples, especially
by trying to convince the Spanish court to adopt a more humane policy
of colonization. And although he failed to save the indigenous peoples
of the Western Indies, his efforts resulted in several improvements in
the legal status of the natives, and in an increased colonial focus on
the ethics of colonialism. Las Casas is often seen as one of the first
advocates for universal Human Rights.
Gaspar da Cruz
(c. 1520–1570), who worked all over the Portuguese colonial empire in
Asia, was probably the first Christian missionary to preach
(unsuccessfully) in Cambodia. After a (similarly unsuccessful) stint in Guangzhou, China, he eventually returned to Portugal and became the first European to publish a book on China in 1569/1570.
The modern period consists of the three centuries between the religious revolution at the beginning of the 16th century (the Protestant Reformation) and the French Revolution
and its consequences. The beginning of the 16th century confronted the
order with the upheavals of Revolution. The spread of Protestantism cost
it six or seven provinces and several hundreds of convents, but the discovery of the New World opened up a fresh field of activity.
In the 18th century, there were numerous attempts at reform,
accompanied by a reduction in the number of devotees. The French
Revolution ruined the order in France, and crises that more or less
rapidly followed considerably lessened or wholly destroyed numerous
provinces.
19th century to present
The contemporary period of the history of the Preachers begins with
restorations in provinces, undertaken after revolutions destroyed the
Order in several countries of the Old and New World. This period begins
more or less in the early 19th century.
During this critical period, the number of Preachers seems never to
have sunk below 3,500. Statistics for 1876 show 3,748, but 500 of these
had been expelled from their convents and were engaged in parochial
work. Statistics for 1910 show a total of 4,472 nominally or actually
engaged in proper activities of the Order. In the year 2000, there were
5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows, 917 student brothers, and 237
novices. By the year 2010 there were 5,906 Dominican friars, including 4,456 priests. Their provinces cover the world, and include four provinces in the United States.
In the revival movement France held a foremost place, owing to the reputation and convincing power of the orator, Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
(1802–1861). He took the habit of 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 the master general who remained longest at the head of the administration during the 19th century, Père Vincent Jandel (1850–1872). Here should be mentioned the province of St. Joseph in the United States. Founded in 1805 by Father Edward Fenwick, afterwards first Bishop of Cincinnati, Ohio
(1821–1832), this province has developed slowly, but now ranks among
the most flourishing and active provinces of the order. In 1910 it
numbered seventeen convents or secondary houses. In 1905, it established
a large house of studies at Washington, D.C., called the Dominican House of Studies. There are now four Dominican provinces in the United States.
The province of France has produced a large number of preachers. The
conferences of Notre-Dame-de-Paris were inaugurated by Père Lacordaire.
The Dominicans of the province of France furnished Lacordaire
(1835–1836, 1843–1851), Jacques Monsabré (1869–1870, 1872–1890), Joseph Ollivier (1871, 1897), Thomas Etourneau (1898–1902). Since 1903 the pulpit of Notre Dame has been occupied by a succession of Dominicans. Père Henri Didon (d. 1900) was a Dominican. The house of studies of the province of France publishes L'Année Dominicaine (founded 1859), La Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Theologiques (1907), and La Revue de la Jeunesse
(1909). French Dominicans founded and administer the École Biblique et
Archéologique française de Jérusalem founded in 1890 by Père Marie-Joseph Lagrange O.P. (1855–1938), one of the leading international centres for Biblical research. It is at the École Biblique that the famed Jerusalem Bible (both editions) was prepared.
Likewise Yves Cardinal Congar, O.P. was a product of the French province of the Order of Preachers. Doctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration
of the Preachers. Several institutions, besides those already mentioned,
played important parts. Such is the Biblical school at Jerusalem, open to the religious of the Order and to secular clerics, which publishes the Revue Biblique. The faculty of theology at the University of Fribourg, confided to the care of the Dominicans in 1890, is flourishing, and has about 250 students. The Collegium Angelicum, established at Rome (1911) by Master Hyacinth Cormier, is open to regulars and seculars for the study of the sacred sciences. In addition to the reviews above are the Revue Thomiste, founded by Père Thomas Coconnier (d. 1908), and the Analecta Ordinis Prædicatorum (1893). Among numerous writers of the order in this period are: Cardinals Thomas Zigliara (d. 1893) and Zephirin González (d. 1894), two esteemed philosophers; Father Alberto Guillelmotti (d. 1893), historian of the Pontifical Navy, and Father Heinrich Denifle, one of the most famous writers on medieval history (d. 1905).
Divisions
Nuns
The Dominican nuns were founded by St. Dominic even before he had
established the friars. They are contemplatives in the cloistered life.
The Friars and Nuns together form the Order of Preachers properly
speaking. The nuns celebrated their 800th anniversary in 2006.
Sisters
Dominican sisters carry on a number of apostolates. They are distinct
from the nuns. The sisters are a way of living the vocation of a Third
Order Dominican. As well as the friars, Dominican sisters 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.
Laity
Dominican laity are governed by their own rule, the Rule of the Lay
Fraternities of St. Dominic, promulgated by the Master in 1987. It is the fifth Rule of the Dominican Laity; the first was issued in 1285. The two greatest saints of among them are St. Catherine of Siena and St. Rose of Lima, who lived ascetic lives in their family homes, yet both had widespead influence in their societies.
Spirituality
Dominican spirituality
The spiritual tradition of Dominic's Order is punctuated not only by
charity, study and preaching, but also by instances of mystical union.
The Dominican emphasis on learning and on charity distinguishes it from
other monastic and mendicant orders. As the Order first developed on the
European continent, learning continued to be emphasized by these friars
and their sisters in Christ. These religious also struggled for a
deeply personal, intimate relationship with God. When the Order reached
England, many of these attributes were kept, but the English gave the
Order additional, specialized characteristics. This topic is discussed
below.
Dominic's search for a close relationship with God was determined and
unceasing. He rarely spoke, so little of his interior life is known.
What is known about it comes from accounts written by people near to
him. St. Cecilia remembered him as cheerful, charitable and full of
unceasing vigor. From a number of accounts, singing was apparently one
of Dominic's great delights.
Dominic practiced self-scourging and would mortify himself as he prayed
alone in the chapel at night for 'poor sinners.' He owned a single
habit, refused to carry money, and would allow no one to serve him.
The spirituality evidenced throughout all of the branches of the
Order reflects the spirit and intentions of its founder, though some of
the elements of what later developed may have surprised the Castilian
friar. Fundamentally, Dominic was "...a man of prayer who utilized the
full resources of the learning available to him to preach, to teach, and
even materially to assist those searching for the truth found in the
gospel of Christ. It is that spirit which [Dominic] bequeathed to his
followers".
Bl. Humbert
Humbert of Romans,
the Master General of the Order from 1254 to 1263, was a great
administrator, as well as preacher and writer. It was under his tenure
as Master General that the sisters in the Order were given official
membership. Humbert was a great lover of languages, and encouraged
linguistic studies among the Dominicans, primarily Arabic, because of
the missionary work friars were pursuing amongst those led astray or
forced to convert by Mohammedans in the Middle East.
He also wanted his friars to reach excellence in their preaching, and
this was his most lasting contribution to the Order. The growth of the
spirituality of young preachers was his first priority.
He once cried to his students: ". . . consider how excellent this
office [of preaching] is, because it is apostolic; how useful, because
it is directly ordained for the salvation of souls; how perilous,
because few have in them, or perform, what the office requires, for it
is not without great danger. . . . Item, take note that this office
calls for excellency of life, so that just as the preacher speaks from a
raised position, so he may also preach the Gospel from the mountain of
an excellent life"
Humbert is at the center of ascetic writers in the Dominican Order.
In this role, he added significantly to its spirituality. His writings
are permeated with "religious good sense," and he used uncomplicated
language that could edify even the weakest member.
Humbert advised his readers, "[Young Dominicans] are also to be
instructed not to be eager to see visions or work miracles, since these
avail little to salvation, and sometimes we are fooled by them; but
rather they should be eager to do good in which salvation consists.
Also, they should be taught not to be sad if they do not enjoy the
divine consolations they hear others have; but they should know the
loving Father for some reason sometimes withholds these. Again, they
should learn that if they lack the grace of compunction or devotion they
should not think they are not in the state of grace as long as they
have good will, which is all that God regards". The English Dominicans took this to heart, and made it the focal point of their mysticism, as seen below.
Albertus Magnus
Albert Magnus |
Another who contributed significantly to the spirituality of the Order is Albertus Magnus,
the only person of the period to be given the appellation "Great". His
influence on the brotherhood permeated nearly every aspect of Dominican
life. Albert was a scientist, philosopher, theologian, spiritual writer,
ecumenist, and diplomat. Under the auspices of Humbert of Romans,
Albert molded the curriculum of studies for all Dominican students,
introduced Aristotle to the classroom and probed the work of Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus. Indeed, it was the thirty years of work done by Thomas Aquinas and himself (1245–1274) that allowed for the inclusion of Aristotelian study in the curriculum of Dominican schools.
One of Albert's greatest contributions was his study of Dionysus the Areopagite,
a mystical theologian whose words left an indelible imprint in the
medieval period. Magnus' writings made a significant contribution to
German mysticism, which became vibrant in the minds of the Beguines and
women such as Hildegard of Bingen and Mechthild of Magdeburg.
Mysticism, for the purposes of this study, refers to the conviction
that all believers have the capability to experience God's love. This
love may manifest itself through brief ecstatic experiences, such that
one may be engulfed by God and gain an immediate knowledge of Him, which
is unknowable through the intellect alone.
Albertus Magnus championed the idea, drawn from Dionysus, that
positive knowledge of God is possible, but obscure. Thus, it is easier
to state what God is not, than to state what God is: ". . . we affirm
things of God only relatively, that is, casually, whereas we deny things
of God absolutely, that is, with reference to what He is in Himself.
And there is no contradiction between a relative affirmation and an
absolute negation. It is not contradictory to say that someone is
white-toothed and not white".
Albert the Great wrote that wisdom and understanding enhance one's
faith in God. According to him, these are the tools that God uses to
commune with a contemplative. Love in the soul is both the cause and
result of true understanding and judgement. It causes not only an
intellectual knowledge of God, but a spiritual and emotional knowledge
as well. Contemplation is the means whereby one can obtain this goal of
understanding. Things that once seemed static and unchanging become full
of possibility and perfection. The contemplative then knows that God
is, but she does not know what God is. Thus, contemplation forever
produces a mystified, imperfect knowledge of God. The soul is exalted
beyond the rest of God's creation but it cannot see God Himself.
Charity and meekness
As the image of God grows within man, he learns to rely less on an
intellectual pursuit of virtue and more on an affective pursuit of
charity and meekness. Meekness and charity guide Christians to
acknowledge that they are nothing without the One (God/Christ) who
created them, sustains them, and guides them. Thus, man then directs his
path to that One, and the love for, and of, Christ guides man's very
nature to become centered on the One, and on his neighbor as well. Charity is the manifestation of the pure love of Christ, both for and by His follower.
Although the ultimate attainment for this type of mysticism is union
with God, it is not necessarily visionary, nor does it hope only for
ecstatic experiences; instead, mystical life is successful if it is
imbued with charity. The goal is just as much to become like Christ as
it is to become one with Him. Those who believe in Christ should first have faith in Him without becoming engaged in such overwhelming phenomena.
The Dominican Order was affected by a number of elemental influences.
Its early members imbued the order with a mysticism and learning. The
Europeans of the Order embraced ecstatic mysticism on a grand scale and
looked to a union with the Creator. The English Dominicans looked for
this complete unity as well, but were not so focused on ecstatic
experiences. Instead, their goal was to emulate the moral life of Christ
more completely. The Dartford nuns were surrounded by all of these
legacies, and used them to create something unique. Though they are not
called mystics, they are known for their piety toward God and their
determination to live lives devoted to, and in emulation of, Him.
Dartford Priory was established long after the primary period of
monastic foundation in England had ended. It emulated, then, the
monasteries found in Europe—mainly France and German—as well as the
monastic traditions of their English Dominican brothers. As already
stated, the first nuns to inhabit Dartford were sent from Poissy Priory
in France.
Evidence for the strength of the English Dominican nuns' vocation is
strong itself. Even on the eve of the Dissolution, Prioress Jane Vane
wrote to Cromwell on behalf of a postulant, saying that though she had
not actually been professed, she was professed in her heart and in the
eyes of God. This is only one such example of dedication. Profession in
Dartford Priory seems, then, to have been made based on personal
commitment, and one's personal association with God.
Rosary
Throughout the centuries, the Holy Rosary has been an important element among the Dominicans. Pope Pius XI stated that:
- The Rosary of Mary is the principle and foundation on which the very Order of Saint Dominic rests for making perfect the life of its members and obtaining the salvation of others.
Histories of the Holy Rosary often attribute its origin to Saint Dominic himself through the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady of the Rosary is the title received by the Marian apparition to Saint Dominic in 1208 in the church of Prouille
in which the Virgin Mary gave the Rosary to him. For centuries,
Dominicans have been instrumental in spreading the rosary and
emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the rosary.
On January 1, 2008, the Master of the Order declared a year of dedication to the Rosary.
Missionary activity of the Dominicans
The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when
religion began to be contemplated in a new way. Men who gave themselves
and their souls completely into the keeping of God were no longer
expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they traveled
among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive
Church. Out of this ideal emerged two orders of mendicant friars: one,
the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi; the other, the Friars Preachers, by Dominic of Guzman.
The man who established the Dominican Order offered his followers a
lofty and abiding cause. Dominic inspired his followers with loyalty to
learning and virtue, a deep recognition of the spiritual power of
worldly deprivation and the religious state, and a highly developed
governmental structure. He also produced a group people who succeeded in converting Albigensians to the orthodox faith. At the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his Order to develop a
"mixed" spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and
contemplative in study, prayer and meditation. The brethren of the
Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and
mystical in their spirituality. While these traits had an impact on the
women of the Order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter
characteristics and made those characteristics their own. In England,
the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining
characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a
spirituality and collective personality that set them apart.
St. Dominic
As the father of the Order of Preachers, Dominic had a lasting
influence on a group of people who sought to fulfill his ideals. As a
young adolescent, he had a particular love of theology and the
Scriptures became the foundation of his spirituality.
Dominic studied in Palencia for a decade and maintained a dedication to
purpose and a self-sacrificing attitude that caused the poor of the
city to love him. During his sojourn in Palencia,
Spain experienced a dreadful famine, prompting Dominic to sell all of
his beloved books and other equipment to help his neighbors.
Dominic was also noticed by important members of the religious community of Spain. After he completed his studies, Bishop Martin Bazan and Prior Diego d'Achebes appointed Dominic to the cathedral chapter and he became a regular canon under the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions for the cathedral church of Osma. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five, he was ordained to the priesthood.
In the spring of 1203, Dominic joined Prior Diego on an embassy to
Denmark for the monarchy of Spain. Dominic was fired by a reforming zeal
after they encountered Albigensian Christians at Toulouse. He set about reconverting the region to Roman Christianity. On the return trip to Spain, the two brethren met with a group of papal legates who were determined to triumph over the Manichean
menace. Prior Diego saw immediately one of the paramount reasons for
the spread of the unorthodox movement: the representatives of the Holy
Church acted and moved with an offensive amount of pomp and ceremony. On
the other hand, the Cathars
lived in a state of apostolic self-sacrifice that was widely appealing.
For these reasons, Prior Diego suggested that the papal legates begin
to live a reformed apostolic life. The legates agreed to change if they
could find a strong leader. The prior took up the challenge, and he and
Dominic dedicated themselves to the conversion of the Albigensians.
Dominican convent established
As time passed, Prior Diego sanctioned the building of a monastery
for girls whose parents had sent them to the care of the Albigensians
because their families were too poor to fulfill their basic needs. The monastery was at Prouille and would later become Dominic's headquarters for his missionary effort there.
Prior Diego died, after two years in the mission field, on his return
trip to Spain. When his preaching companions heard of his death, all
save Dominic and a very small number of others returned to their homes.
Founding of the Order of Preachers
In July 1215, with the approbation of Bishop Foulques of Toulouse,
Dominic ordered his followers into an institutional life. Its purpose
was revolutionary in the pastoral ministry of the Catholic Church. These
priests were organized and well trained in religious studies. Many men
influenced the shape and character of the Dominican Order, but it was
Dominic himself who combined the available components into a vital and
vigorous, whole existence.
Dominic needed a framework—a rule—to organize these components. The
Rule of St. Augustine was an obvious choice for the Dominican Order,
according to Dominic's successor, Jordan of Saxony, because it lent
itself to the "salvation of souls through preaching".
By this choice, however, the Dominican brothers designated themselves
not monks, but canons-regular. They could practice ministry and common
life while existing in individual poverty.
Dominic's education at Palencia gave him the knowledge he needed to
overcome the Manicheans. With charity, the other concept that most
defines the work and spirituality of the Order, study became the method
most used by the Dominicans in working to defend the Church against the
perils that hounded it, and also of enlarging its authority over larger
areas of the known world.
In Dominic's thinking, it was impossible for men to preach what they
did not or could not understand. When the brethren left Prouille, then,
to begin their apostolic work, Dominic sent Matthew of Paris
to establish a school near the University of Paris. This was the first
of many Dominican schools established by the brethren, some near large
universities throughout Europe.
Mysticism
By 1300, the enthusiasm for preaching and conversion within the Order
lessened. Mysticism, full of the ideas Albertus Magnus expostulated,
became the devotion of the greatest minds and hands within the
organization.
It became a "powerful instrument of personal and theological
transformation both within the Order of Preachers and throughout the
wider reaches of Christendom.
Although Albertus Magnus did much to instill mysticism in the Order
of Preachers, it is a concept that reaches back to the Hebrew Bible. In
the tradition of Holy Writ, the impossibility of coming face to face
with God is a recurring motif, thus the commandment against graven
images (Exodus 20.4-5). As time passed, Jewish and early Christian
writings presented the idea of 'unknowing,' where God's presence was
enveloped in a dark cloud. These images arose out of a confusing mass of
ambiguous and ambivalent statements regarding the nature of God and
man's relationship to Him.
Other passages attest to the opposite circumstance: that of seeing
God and talking with Him. Obviously, the conflict between seeing and
not-seeing exists in early texts as well as later ones. It also
permeates the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The consequence is a
paradox that emerges repeatedly throughout Christian Scripture and the
mysticism found in the early foundations of the Church.[62]
All of these ideas associated with mysticism were at play in the
spirituality of the Dominican community, and not only among the men. In
Europe, in fact, it was often the female members of the Order, such as Catherine of Siena, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Christine of Stommeln, Margaret Ebner, and Elsbet Stagl, that gained reputations for having mystical experiences. Notable male members of the Order associated with mysticism include Meister Eckhart and Henry Suso.
Women
St Catherine of Sienna |
Although Dominic and the early brethren had instituted female
Dominican houses at Prouille and other places by 1227, some of the
brethren of the Order had misgivings about the necessity of female
religious establishments in an Order whose major purpose was preaching, a
duty in which women could not traditionally engage. In spite of these
doubts, women's houses dotted the countryside throughout Europe. There
were seventy-four Dominican female houses in Germany, forty-two in
Italy, nine in France, eight in Spain, six in Bohemia, three in Hungary,
and three in Poland. Many of the German religious houses that lodged women had been home to communities of women, such as Beguines,
that became Dominican once they were taught by the traveling preachers
and put under the jurisdiction of the Dominican authoritative structure.
A number of these houses became centers of study and mystical
spirituality in the 14th century. There were one hundred and fifty-seven
nunneries in the Order by 1358. In that year, the number lessened due
to disasters like the Black Death.
In places besides Germany, convents were founded as retreats from the
world for women of the upper classes. These were original projects
funded by wealthy patrons, including other women. Among these was
Countess Margaret of Flanders who established the monastery of Lille,
while Val-Duchesse at Oudergern near Brussels was built with the wealth
of Adelaide of Burgundy, Duchess of Brabant (1262).
Female houses differed from male Dominican houses in a lack of apostolic work for the women. Instead, the sisters chanted the Divine Office and kept all the monastic observances.
Their lives were often much more strict than their brothers' lives. The
sisters had no government of their own, but lived under the authority
of the general and provincial chapters of the Order. They were compelled
to obey all the rules and shared in all the applicable privileges of
the Order. Like the Priory of Dartford,
all Dominican nunneries were under the jurisdiction of friars. The
friars served as their confessors, priests, teachers and spiritual
mentors.
Women could not be professed to the Dominican religious life before the age of thirteen. The formula for profession contained in the Constitutions of Montargis Priory
(1250) demands that nuns pledge obedience to God, the Blessed Virgin,
their prioress and her successors according to the Rule of St. Augustine
and the institute of the Order, until death. The clothing of the
sisters consisted of a white tunic and scapular, a leather belt, a black
mantle, and a black veil. Candidates to profession were tested to
reveal whether they were actually married women who had merely separated
from their husbands. Their intellectual abilities were also tested.
Nuns were to be silent in places of prayer, the cloister, the dormitory,
and refectory. Silence was maintained unless the prioress granted an
exception for a specific cause. Speaking was allowed in the common
parlor, but it was subordinate to strict rules, and the prioress,
subprioress or other senior nun had to be present.
Because the nuns of the Order did not preach among the people, the
need to engage in study was not as immediate or intense as it was for
men. They did participate, however, in a number of intellectual
activities.
Along with sewing and embroidery, nuns often engaged in reading and
discussing correspondence from Church leaders. In the Strassburg
monastery of St. Margaret, some of the nuns could converse fluently in
Latin. Learning still had an elevated place in the lives of these
religious. In fact, Margarette Reglerin, a daughter of a wealthy
Nuremberg family, was dismissed from a convent because she did not have
the ability or will to learn.
As heirs of the Dominican priory of Poissy in France, the Dartford
sisters were also heirs to a tradition of profound learning and piety.
Sections of translations of spiritual writings in Dartford's library,
such as Suso's Little Book of Eternal Wisdom and Laurent du Bois' La
Somme le Roi, show that the "ghoostli" link to Europe was not lost in
the crossing of the Channel. It survived in the minds of the nuns. Also,
the nuns shared a unique identity with Poissy as a religious house
founded by a royal house. The English nuns were proud of this heritage,
and aware that many of them shared in England's great history as members
of the noble class, as seen in the next chapter.
Devotion to the Virgin Mary was another very important aspect of
Dominican spirituality, especially for female members. As an Order, the
Dominicans believed that they were established through the good graces
of Christ's mother, and through prayers she sent missionaries to save
the souls of nonbelievers. All Dominicans sang the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin each day and saluted her as their advocate.
English Province
In England,
the Dominican Province began at the second general chapter of the
Dominican Order in Bologna during the spring of 1221. Dominic dispatched
twelve friars to England under the guidance of their English prior,
Gilbert of Fresney. They landed in Dover on August 5, 1221. The province
came officially into being at its first provincial chapter in 1230.
The English Province was a component of the international Order from
which it obtained its laws, direction, and instructions. It was also,
however, a group of Englishmen. Its direct supervisors were from
England, and the members of the English Province dwelt and labored in
English cities, towns, villages, and roadways. English and European
ingredients constantly came in contact. The international side of the
province's existence influenced the national, and the national responded
to, adapted, and sometimes constrained the international.
The first Dominican site in England was at Oxford, in the parishes of St. Edward and St. Adelaide. The friars built an oratory to the Blessed Virgin Mary
and by 1265, the brethren, in keeping with their devotion to study,
began erecting a school. Actually, the Dominican brothers likely began a
school immediately after their arrival, as priories were legally
schools. Information about the schools of the English Province is limited, but a
few facts are known. Much of the information available is taken from
visitation records.
The "visitation" was a section of the province through which visitors
to each priory could describe the state of its religious life and its
studies to the next chapter. There were four such visits in England and
Wales—Oxford, London, Cambridge and York.
All Dominican students were required to learn grammar, old and new
logic, natural philosophy and theology. Of all of the curricular areas,
however, theology was the most important. This is not surprising when
one remembers Dominic's zeal for it.
English Dominican mysticism in the late medieval period differed from
European strands of it in that, whereas European Dominican mysticism
tended to concentrate on ecstatic experiences of union with the divine,
English Dominican mysticism's ultimate focus was on a crucial dynamic in
one's personal relationship with God. This was an essential moral
imitation of the Savior as an ideal for religious change, and as the
means for reformation of humanity's nature as an image of divinity. This
type of mysticism carried with it four elements. First, spiritually it
emulated the moral essence of Christ's life. Second, there was a
connection linking moral emulation of Christ's life and humanity's
disposition as images of the divine. Third, English Dominican mysticism
focused on an embodied spirituality with a structured love of fellow men
at its center. Finally, the supreme aspiration of this mysticism was
either an ethical or an actual union with God.
For English Dominican mystics, the mystical experience was not
expressed just in one moment of the full knowledge of God, but in the
journey of, or process of, faith. This then led to an understanding that
was directed toward an experiential knowledge of divinity. It is
important to understand, however, that for these mystics it was possible
to pursue mystical life without the visions and voices that are usually
associated with such a relationship with God.
They experienced a mystical process that allowed them, in the end, to
experience what they had already gained knowledge of through their faith
only.
The center of all mystical experience is, of course, Christ. English
Dominicans sought to gain a full knowledge of Christ through an
imitation of His life. English mystics of all types tended to focus on
the moral values that the events in Christ's life exemplified. This led
to a "progressive understanding of the meanings of Scripture--literal,
moral, allegorical, and anagogical"--that
was contained within the mystical journey itself. From these
considerations of Scripture comes the simplest way to imitate Christ: an
emulation of the moral actions and attitudes that Jesus demonstrated in
His earthly ministry becomes the most significant way to feel and have
knowledge of God.
The English concentrated on the spirit of the events of Christ's
life, not the liberality of events. They neither expected nor sought the
appearance of the stigmata
or any other physical manifestation. They wanted to create in
themselves that environment that allowed Jesus to fulfill His divine
mission, insofar as they were able. At the center of this environment
was love: the love that Christ showed for humanity in becoming human.
Christ's love reveals the mercy of God and His care for His creation.
English Dominican mystics sought through this love to become images of
God. Love led to spiritual growth that, in turn, reflected an increase
in love for God and humanity. This increase in universal love allowed
men's wills to conform to God's will, just as Christ's will submitted to
the Father's will.
Concerning humanity as the image of Christ, English Dominican
spirituality concentrated on the moral implications of image-bearing
rather than the philosophical foundations of the imago Dei. The process of Christ's life, and the process of image-bearing, amends humanity to God's image.
The idea of the "image of God" demonstrates both the ability of man to
move toward God (as partakers in Christ's redeeming sacrifice), and
that, on some level, man is always an image of God. As their love and
knowledge of God grows and is sanctified by faith and experience, the
image of God within man becomes ever more bright and clear.
Reference:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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