St. Dominic de Guzman and the Dominicans

The Dominicans - The Order of Preachers

St. Dominic de Guzman and the Dominican community

August 8 is the feast day of St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Dominican Order. The Dominican Order was founded at about the same time as the Order of the Friars Minor, the Franciscans, with St. Francis of Assisi as their founder. Both religious orders emphasized the vow of poverty in their religious state of life. The only distinction between them is the Dominicans would emphasize the development of the intellect for preaching, while the Franciscans would emphasize simplicity and being close to the common people.

The three orders of the Dominicans

Although St. Dominic started with about sixteen disciples, their numbers grew and they had to create structures within their community. Their members were divided into three: the first order of St. Dominic known formally as the Order of Friars Preachers (O.P.); the second order of St. Dominic made up of cloistered nuns; the third order of St. Dominic, composed of Third Order Regulars, who are sisters living in convents and engaged in apostolic works, and Third Order Seculars, who are lay men and women.

Dominicans and their specific charism

Scholars, artists, saints, and mystics

In a Dominican priest's vocation, the ascetic element is joined to a religious life that is primarily apostolic and clerical. Dominican preachers are clerics, and not monks, but their clericalism is subordinated to their mission of saving souls by being "champions of the Faith" and the "lights of the world". Their motto is "Truth". The intellectual element of a Dominican vocation is seen in the list of illustrious scholars, artists, mystics, saints, and holy men who lived the Dominican charism in their own personal vocations: St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, St. Vincent Ferrer, John (Meister) Eckhart, John Tauler, Thomas Cajetan, John of St. Thomas, Fra Angelico, Fra Bartolommeo, Blessed Henry Suso, and Blessed Raymond of Capua.

Dominican sisters and the establishing of the first Dominican house in the United States of America


Of the Dominican sisters, most outstanding among their tertiaries were St. Catherine of Siena, patroness of Italy, and St. Rose of Lima, the first-native born saint of the Americas. Dominican nuns (Second Order) established a monastery in Canada in 1925 A.D., and Dominican Sisters (Third Order) opened a novitiate in Canada in 1927 A.D., and a school, in Montreal, in 1951 A.D. But the first real important presence of the Dominican Order in the United States of America, was begun by the men, when Edward Fenwick, later first bishop of Cincinnati, and several companions inaugurated the first American Dominican house at St. Rose Priory near Springfield, Kentucky, in 1805 A.D.

The Dominican scholars

Theological development reached its absolute prime in the so-called High Scholasticism of the thirteenth century. The Dominicans St. Albert the Great (d. 1280 A.D.), St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274 A.D.) and Meister Eckhart (d. 1328 A.D.), were the most important representatives of High Scholasticism. St. Albert the Great was probably the first to systematically apply Aristotelian philosophical and theological method to Christian theology. It was his student and great pupil St. Thomas Aquinas who then created and produced the classical Summa Theologica, the unsurpassed universal representation of the Christian religion based on philosophical and theological Christian Aristotelianism. As for as Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260-1328 A.D.), he is not only noted foremost for his preaching, but also for his technical scholastic writings that provide the foundation for much of his teaching on Scriptural and exegetical works.

The Dominican artists

There are many Dominican artists, but Fra Angelico is one of the popular Dominican artists who many admire because of the deep spirituality of his life, which he transferred to his paintings. With his brother, Benedetto, he was ordained a priest and they lived in the same convent. As a Dominican friar, he continued his career as a painter. Vasari, a contemporary of Fra Angelico, said that the friar painted incessantly, and would never represent anything but a sacred object. Some go so far as to say that this Dominican friar never touched a brush without first humbling himself in prayer. He never painted the crucified savior without having his cheeks bathed in tears.

The Dominican mystics

Among the Dominican mystics were John Tauler, Blessed Henry Suso, Meister Eckhart, St. Rose of Lima, and St. Catherine of Siena.

John Tauler viewed the mystical path to union with God as a process, or journey, that could be presented in terms of stages. In this mystical journey, he begins with a stage that he calls jubilatio, or rejoicing. The next stage however, negates this delight because God withdraws his presence. The third and final stage according to the mystic is one of true and lasting union - a state what he calls divinization.

Blessed Henry Suso (ca. 1295-1366 A.D.) was the third great male mystic produced by the German Dominicans in the fourteenth century. Among his many writings is his "The Life of the Servant", which Blessed Henry Suso is best known today. It has been read as a quasi-autobiographical account of Henry Suso's spiritual path from severe practices of literal imitation of Christ's passion to a more Eckhartian state of mystical detachment and union with the Trinity.

Meister Eckhart was not only a Dominican scholar but a mystic as well. His biblical commentaries are the foundation for his mysticism. His vernacular mystical teaching is given in the approximately 120 surviving sermons preached on Bible texts found in the liturgy.

St. Rose of Lima became a Dominican tertiary and lived as a recluse in a shack in the garden she had worked to help her parents. This Dominican mystic experienced mystical gifts and visions of such an extraordinary nature. At first, these were suspect, but then a commission of priest and doctors decided that they were of supernatural origin. Stories of her holiness spread, and her garden became the spiritual center of the city.

St. Catherine of Siena already started having mystical experiences at the age of six. At seven years of age, after a vision of our Lord, she consecrated her life to God. As she matured even more, she got involved in the political life of the Catholic Church. In 1375 A.D., while praying in the Church of St. Cristina in Pisa, she received the stigmata from the Lord. Because of her holiness, she was constantly called upon to arbitrate feuds and misunderstandings.

The Dominican Pope

Before becoming Pius V, the initiator of the feast of the Holy Rosary, Antonio Michael Ghislieri joined the Dominicans at Voghera when he was fourteen. After ordination, he rose into the ranks of the Catholic hierarchy until he became Pope Pius V. What this Dominican Pope was popularly known for was his great success in ordering the naval battle of Lepanto, fought off the coast of Greece on October 7, 1571 A.D. It was the first major defeat of the Muslims. This victory was attributed to the help of Mary, whose aid was invoked by the praying of the rosary. Because of this victory, Pope St. Pius V instituted on October 7 the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

References of this article

• Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney


• Encyclopedia International, by Grolier Incorporated


• A Year With the Saints, by Don Bosco Press, Inc.


• The Who's Who of Heaven, by Msgr. John P. Kleinz


• The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, by Bernard McGinn