Founded to preach the Gospel and to oppose heresy, the teaching activity of the order and its scholastic organization placed the Preachers in the forefront of the intellectual life of the Middle Ages.^[3] The order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers.^[4] In the year 2018 there were 5,747 Dominican friars, including 4,299 priests.^[1] The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, as of 2019, Gerard Timoner III.^[5] Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine of Alexandria are the co-patronesses of the Order.

A number of other names have been used to refer to both the order and its members.

Foundation

The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister.

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. The Order of Preachers was founded in response to a then perceived need for informed preaching.^[10] Dominic's new order was to be trained to preach in the vernacular languages.

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.^[11] At the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a "mixed" spirituality.

As an adolescent, he had a particular love of theology and the Scriptures became the foundation of his spirituality.^[12] During his studies in Palencia, Spain, he experienced a dreadful famine, prompting Dominic to sell all of his beloved books and other equipment to help his neighbours.^[13] After he completed his studies, Bishop Martin Bazan and Prior Diego d'Achebes appointed Dominic to the cathedral chapter and he became a Canon Regular under the Rule of Saint 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.^[14]

In 1203, Dominic de Guzmán joined Diego de Acebo on an embassy to Denmark for the monarchy of Spain, to arrange the marriage between the son of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and a niece of King Valdemar II of Denmark.^[15] At that time the south of France was the stronghold of the Cathar movement. The Cathars (also known as Albigensians, due to their stronghold in Albi, France) were a heretical neo-gnostic sect. They believed that matter was evil and only the spirit was good; this was a fundamental challenge to the notion of the incarnation, central to Catholic theology. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France.

Dominic saw the need for a response that would attempt to sway members of the Albigensian movement back to mainstream Christian thought.

Dominic 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, near Toulouse.^[18] This convent would become the foundation of the Dominican nuns, thus making the Dominican nuns older than the Dominican friars. 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.^[19] The monastery in Prouille would later become Dominic's headquarters for his missionary effort. After two years on the mission field, Diego died while traveling back to Spain.

History

Dominic founded the Dominican Order in 1215 at a time when men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Saint Dominic established a religious community in Toulouse in 1214, to be governed by the rule of Saint Augustine^[20] and statutes to govern the life of the friars, including the Primitive Constitution.^[21] (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.^[3]

Dominic established a religious community in Toulouse in 1214, to be governed by the rule of Saint Augustine^[20] and statutes to govern the life of the friars, including the Primitive Constitution.^[21]

In July 1215, with the approbation of Bishop Foulques of Toulouse, Dominic ordered his followers into an institutional life.

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.^[24] 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. The women of the order also established schools for the children of the local gentry.

The Order of Preachers was approved in December 1216 and January 1217 by Pope Honorius III in the papal bulls Religiosam vitam and Nos attendentes. On January 21, 1217, Honorius issued the bull Gratiarum omnium ^[25] recognizing Saint Dominic's followers as an order dedicated to study and universally authorized to preach, a power formerly reserved to local episcopal authorization.^[26]

On August 15, 1217, Dominic dispatched seven of his followers to the great university center of Paris to establish a priory focused on study and preaching. The Convent of St. Jacques, would eventually become the order's first studium generale. Saint Dominic was to establish similar foundations at other university towns of the day, Bologna in 1218, Palencia and Montpellier in 1220, and Oxford just before his death in 1221.^[27]

The Dominican friars quickly spread, including to England, where they appeared in Oxford in 1221.^[30] 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).^[3]

The order's origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its later development and reputation.

The expansion of the order produced changes.

Although Dominic and the early brethren had instituted female Dominican houses at Prouille and other places by 1227, houses of women attached to the Order became so popular that some of the friars had misgivings about the increasing demands of female religious establishments on their time and resources.

In places besides Germany, convents were founded as retreats from the world for women of the upper classes.

Female houses differed from male Dominican houses in that they were enclosed.

Women could be professed to the Dominican religious life at the age of thirteen.

As well as sewing, embroidery and other genteel pursuits, the nuns participated in a number of intellectual activities, including reading and discussing pious literature.^[39] In the Strassburg monastery of Saint 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.^[40]

In England, the Dominican Province began at the second general chapter of the Dominican Order in Bologna during the spring of 1221.

The English Province was a component of the international order from which it obtained its laws, direction, and instructions.

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. The first nuns to inhabit Dartford were sent from Poissy Priory in France.^[33] 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.^[49]

As heirs of the Dominican priory of Poissy in France, the nuns of Dartford Priory in England were also heirs to a tradition of profound learning and piety.

Bartolomé de Las Casas, as a settler in the New World, was galvanized by witnessing the brutal torture and genocide of the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists. He became famous for his advocacy of the rights of Native Americans, whose cultures, especially in the Caribbean, he describes with care.^[51]

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 1556, in Guangzhou, China, he eventually returned to Portugal and became the first European to publish a book devoted exclusively to China in 1569/1570.^[52]

The beginning of the 16th century confronted the order with the upheavals of Revolution.

During the early 19th century, the number of Preachers seems never to have sunk below 3,500.

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.^[53] 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 Saint Joseph in the United States. Founded in 1805 by Edward Fenwick, afterwards first Bishop of Cincinnati, Ohio (1821–1832). In 1905, it established a large house of studies at Washington, D.C.,^[3] called the Dominican House of Studies.

The province of France has produced a large number of preachers.

Doctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration of the Preachers.

During the Reformation, many of the monasteries of Dominican nuns were forced to close.

The Dominican Order has influenced the formation of other Orders outside of the Roman Catholic Church, such as the Anglican Order of Preachers which is a Dominican Order within the world wide Anglican Communion.

The Pax Mongolica of the 13th and 14th centuries that united vast parts of the European-Asian continents enabled western missionaries to travel east.

Another Dominican, Father Recold of Monte Croce, worked in Syria and Persia.

By the 1850s, the Dominicans had half a million followers in the Philippines and well-established missions in the Chinese province of Fujian and Tonkin, Vietnam, performing thousands of baptisms each year.^[61]

Divisions

The Friars, Nuns, Sisters, Members of Priestly Fraternities of Saint Dominic, Dominican Laity and Dominican Youths together form the Order of Preachers.^[62]

The Dominican nuns were founded by Saint Dominic even before he had established the friars.

Women have been part of the Dominican Order since the beginning, but distinct active congregations of Dominican sisters in their current form are largely a product of the nineteenth century and afterwards.

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.

The Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic are diocesan priests who are formally affiliated to the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) through a Rule of life that they profess, and so strive for evangelical perfection under the overall direction of the Dominican friars.

Lay Dominicans are governed by their own rule, the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, promulgated by the Master in 1987.^[71] It is the fifth Rule of the Dominican Laity; the first was issued in 1285.^[72] Lay Dominicans are also governed by the Fundamental Constitution of the Dominican Laity, and their provinces provide a General Directory and Statutes. According to their Fundamental Constitution of the Dominican Laity, sec. 4, "They have a distinctive character in both their spirituality and their service to God and neighbor. As members of the Order, they share in its apostolic mission through prayer, study and preaching according to the state of the laity."^[73]

Pope Pius XII, in Chosen Laymen, an Address to the Third Order of St. Dominic (1958), said, "The true condition of salvation is to meet the divine invitation by accepting the Catholic 'credo' and by observing the commandments.

The two greatest saints among them are Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Rose of Lima, who lived ascetic lives in their family homes, yet both had widespread influence in their societies.

Today, there is a growing number of Associates who share the Dominican charism. Dominican Associates are Christian women and men; married, single, divorced, and widowed; clergy members and lay persons who were first drawn to and then called to live out the charism and continue the mission of the Dominican Order – to praise, to bless, to preach. Associates do not take vows, but rather make a commitment to be partners with vowed members, and to share the mission and charism of the Dominican Family in their own lives, families, churches, neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities. They are most often associated with a particular apostolic work of a congregation of active Dominican sisters.^[75]

Dominican spirituality

The Dominican emphasis on learning and on charity distinguishes it from other monastic and mendicant orders.

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. He also wanted his friars to reach excellence in their preaching, and this was his most lasting contribution to the order. Humbert is at the center of ascetic writers in the Dominican Order. He 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.

The English Dominicans took this to heart, and made it the focal point of their mysticism.

By 1300, the enthusiasm for preaching and conversion within the order lessened.

Although Albertus Magnus did much to instill mysticism in the Order of Preachers, it is a concept that reaches back to the Hebrew Bible.

Another who contributed significantly to the spirituality of the order is Albertus Magnus, influence on the brotherhood permeated nearly every aspect of Dominican life. One of Albert's greatest contributions was his study of Dionysius 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.^[80] Mysticism 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.^[81]

Albertus Magnus championed the idea, drawn from Dionysus, that positive knowledge of God is possible, but obscure.

Albert the Great wrote that wisdom and understanding enhance one's faith in God.

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.^[84] 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.^[85]

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.

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.

The centre of all mystical experience is, of course, Christ.

The English concentrated on the spirit of the events of Christ's life, not the literality of events.

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.

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 Dominican Order was affected by a number of elemental influences.

Devotion to the Virgin Mary was another very important aspect of Dominican spirituality.

Throughout the centuries, the Holy Rosary has been an important element among the Dominicans.^[93] 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."^[94]

Histories of the Holy Rosary often attribute its origin to Saint Dominic himself through the Virgin Mary.^[95] Our Lady of the Rosary is the title related to 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.^[96]

On January 1, 2008, the master of the order declared a year of dedication to the Rosary.^[97][98]

Mottoes

Notable members

The following people belonging to the order have been proclaimed saints throughout history:

• Saint Dominic (d. 1221)
• Peter Martyr (d. 1252)
• Zedislava Berkiana (d. 1252)
• Hyacinth (d. 1257)
• Margaret of Hungary (d. 1271)
• Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)
• Raymond of Peñafort (d. 1275)
• Albert the Great (d. 1280)
• Agnes of Montepulciano (d. 1317)
• Catherine of Siena (d. 1380)
• Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419)
• Antoninus (d. 1459)
• Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
• Louis Bertrand (d. 1581)
• Catherine de Ricci (d. 1590)
• John of Cologne (d. 1600)
• Rose of Lima (d. 1617)
• Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia (d. 1633)
• Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions (d. 1637)
• Martin de Porres (d. 1639)
• John Macias (d. 1645)
• Thomasian Martyrs (Asia and Spain, 17th and 18th centuries)
• Louis de Montfort (d. 1716)
• Francisco Coll Guitart (d. 1875)

Numerous Dominicans were included in the canonization of the 117 martyrs of Vietnam and a group of martyrs in Nagasaki, including Saint Lorenzo Ruiz.

Numerous Dominicans have been beatified, including:

• Jordan of Saxony
• Blessed Mannes de Guzman
• Alanus dela Rupe
• Peter González
• Giles of Santarém
• Margaret of Castello
• Sadok and 48 Dominican martyrs from Sandomierz
• Ceslaus
• Pier Giorgio Frassati
• Henry Suso
• Fra Angelico
• Innocent V
• Benedict XI
• Robert Nutter, English Reformation martyr
• Reginald of Orleans (also known as Reginald of Saint-Gilles)
• Jan Franciszek Czartoryski
• Gonçalo de Amarante, priest and hermit
• Joan of Aza, mother of St. Dominic de Guzmán
• Giuseppe Girotti
• Joanna, Princess of Portugal
• Bartolo Longo
• Imelda Lambertini
• Catherine of Racconigi
• Lucy Brocadelli
• Bartholomew of Braga
• Jordan of Pisa
• Adrian Fortescue (martyr)
• Columba of Rieti
• Stephana de Quinzanis
• Osanna of Mantua
• Osanna of Cattaro
• Anthony Neyrot
• John of Vercelli
• Blessed Margaret of Savoy

Five Dominican friars have served as Bishop of Rome:

• Pope Innocent V
• Pope Benedict XI
• Pope Nicholas V
• Pope Pius V
• Pope Benedict XIII

There are two Dominicans in the College of Cardinals:

• Christoph Schönborn, Austrian, Archbishop of Vienna
• Dominik Duka, Czech, Archbishop of Prague

Other notable Dominicans include:

By geography

• Dominican Republic
• Croatian Dominican Province
• Dominicans in Ireland
• Dominican Order in the United States

Educational institutions