Prepared by: Richard G.

Pazcoguin UST-IR

St. Dominic was born in the year 1170 in Caleruega, Spain. The name Dominic means belonging to God. His father was Don Felix de Guzman, a knight in the service of the King of Castile, and his mother was Blessed Juana de Aza. Dominic had two brothers. Anthony was a priest and Canon of the Military Order of St. James, Blessed Mannes joined St. Dominic in the Order of Preachers. Little is known of his lone sister, only that she mothered two sons who later on became Dominicans as well.

Beata Juana, Venerable Felix, and children

Blessed Mannes

Prior to Dominics birth, his mother had a dream. In her dream she saw a spotted dog with a flaming torch in its mouth, ready to set the world on fire. This dream prefigured what St. Dominic was to be a preacher who would spread the light of truth.

It is said that when Dominic was baptized, his godmother saw something like a star shining on his forehead. Again, this symbolized what Dominic was to be a bearer of Christs light.

At the age of seven, Don Felix entrusted Dominic to the care of his uncle, the parish priest of Gumiel dIzan. It was in his uncles custody that Dominic learned the basics of grammar, Latin, and Sacred Music.
When he was fourteen, he entered the University of Palencia where he undertook the requisite studies for priesthood. In Palencia, he learned to live an ascetic lifestyle, devoting himself to intense prayer, acts of penance, and study of theology.

"I could not bear to prize dead skins when living skins were starving and in want." While Dominic was in Palencia, a severe famine broke out. This tragic even was a result of the war between the Christians and the Moslems in Spain. Moved with pity towards those who were dying of hunger, Dominic sold his possessions, including the books which his own hands annotated, just to be able to contribute a little in alleviating the people from their miserable condition. In the year 1195, at the age of 24, Dominic was ordained to the priesthood. He was assigned as a Canon Regular in the Cathedral Chapter of Osma. Canons were priests directly under the bishop. They took care of the religious ceremonies in the Cathedral, as well as of the administration of parishes in the diocese. The Canons of Osma followed the Augustinian way of life.

In the year 1205, King Alfonso IX of Castile sent the Bishop of Osma, Don Diego, to a diplomatic mission to the Lord of the Marches. The Bishop took Dominic with him. At that time, Dominic was the sub-prior of Osma.

This journey would change the course of Dominics life. On their stop-over in Toulouse, Southern France, Dominic had a first-hand experience of the Albigensian Heresy which was gradually poisoning the faith of Europe.

The Albigensian Heresy was a well organized religious system. The heretics had their own pope and clerics. Basically, this heresy is the belief that there are two gods one is responsible for the material order which is evil, and the other for the spiritual order, which is good. Everything material is evil. People resented the human body, food, sex, the sacraments, and everything material. The sooner a person is liberated from the body, through severe acts of mortification and even through induced death, the better.

Due to some unexpected circumstances, Dominics diplomatic mission was aborted. Don Diego decided that they would just go to Rome to have an audience with the Holy Father, Pope Innocent III, and report on the sad conditions of those who had fallen into the Albigensian heresy. In response to their report, the Pope made Bishop Diego the unofficial leader of a Papal mission to convert the Albigensians. The Bishop took Dominic with him. They lived simply, and the spoke with great conviction. They engaged in ordinary day-to-day conversations with people, in contrast to the formality of other missionaries.

In 1206, not knowing how to start converting the Albigensians, St. Dominic prayed to Our Lady for a sign. Three times he saw light descending on an old church in Prouille. Dominic gathered the women he had converted from the heresy and brought them to Prouille where they eventually became a community of nuns. Hence, the first Dominicans were women. The Prouille Community served as an information center, a school for children, and a refuge for women who escaped the hostile world of the Albigensians.

In the year 1215, Dominic, having organized a community of men, went to Rome to seek for the Popes approval of his religious order.

At that time, the Lateran Council had just been concluded, and it had been decided that no new religious orders shall be established.
Pope Innocent III, however, allowed Dominic and his men to live as a community, but were to follow an already existing religious rule. In the case of the Dominicans, they adopted the rule of St. Augustine. In the year 1216, the new pope, Honorius III, gave his approval to the Order of Friars Preachers and gave them right to preach anywhere in the world.

On one occasion in Rome, St. Dominic had a vision of a beggar who will be his companion in doing great things for the faith. The next day, he met the beggar and embraced him. He was St. Francis of Assisi.
Dominic spent the rest of his life traveling, preaching the light of truth, and organizing new communities. On August 6, 1221, (other sources say August 4) he died in Bologna. Tomb of St. Dominic In Bologna On July 13, 1234, he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX.

The Holy Rosary is a Marian Devotion attributed to St. Dominic. Though the Rosary antedated him, St. Dominic and his order were instrumental in propagating this devotion to the Blessed Mother. It is said that Dominic had a vision of Our Lady giving him the Rosary as a weapon against the Albigensians.

The Rosary is a meditation on the life of our Lord, who through his Incarnation sanctified the human flesh and consequently the material order. Hence the Rosary was a powerful weapon against the Albigensian heresy.

Today, the successor of St. Dominic lives in Rome in the convent of Santa Sabina. He is called the Master of the Order. The present Master of the Order is Rev. Fr. Carlos Aspiroz-Costa,O.P., an Argentinian Dominican. Dominican life is characterized by a balance between action and contemplation; mission and community. According to the former Master of the Order, Rev. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. the spirituality of the Dominicans is centered on Democracy. Democracy is the expression of brotherhood, of unity in Christ.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DOMINICAN SPIRITUALITY: Contemplative Apostolic Liturgical Doctrinal Fraternal Sacrificial

(William H. Hinnbusch, O.P.)

DOMINICANS IN THE PHILIPPINES

The first Dominicans to set foot on Philippine soil were Spaniards who sailed from Acapulco. They arrived in the Philippines on June 21, 1587. They are the ones responsible for converting to Christianity the people of Bataan, Zambales, Cavite, Laguna, Pangasinan, Cagayan Valley and the Batanes and Babuyanes Islands. The first Bishop of Manila was a Dominican, Domingo de Salazar O.P. The third bishop and first Archbishop was Miguel de Benavidez, O.P., founder of UST. Five other members of the Order became Archbishops of Manila.

THREE POPULAR MARIAN DEVOTIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES ORIGINATED FROM THE DOMINICAN MISSIONS:

OUR LADY OF LA NAVAL Quezon City

OUR LADY OF MANAOAG Pangasinan

OUR LADY OF PIAT Cagayan

In Manila itself the Dominicans founded the University of Santo Tomas in 1611 and Colegio de San Juan de Letran. Many Dominican Missionaries who worked in the Philippines eventually died as martyrs elsewhere in Asia. Some of them were administrators, professors, and students of UST.

Today, the Filipino Dominicans are headed by their Prior Provincial, Rev. Fr. Edmund Nantes, O.P.

In their apostolate, the Filipino Dominicans have the following priorities: Justice and Peace Media Evangelization Education Mission Theological Reflection

As a student, St. Dominic was exemplary. The scholars of the University of Palencia, in which he spent ten years of formation, look up to St. Dominic especially for his perseverance in study. This perseverance paid off when he was called by God to combat the Albigensian heresy which was becoming prevalent in Europe. He was well versed in Sacred Scriptures and in Church doctrines, thus he was brave enough to face anyone who would dare challenge the Catholic faith. His competence as a man of the church became even more evident as he became the founder and leader of the Order of Preachers (O.P.). In a time when the task of preaching was only attributed to bishops, St. Dominic manifested how a humble mendicant friar can change the world with his words and deeds. He was an expert in founding communities, perhaps this was the reason why the Order of Preachers rapidly grew. Realizing the importance of the work and apostolate of his order, St. Dominic saw to it that his followers were afforded with the best educational advantages attainable.

Dominics life was characterized by tireless effort in serving God. His commitment to study equipped him with confidence in matters of faith. Combating a heresy was surely a difficult task. The Albigensians whom St. Dominic dealt with were violent people, and a person who has no sense of commitment would easily give up in face of this kind of difficulty. St. Dominic persisted and his efforts proved to be very fruitful. The very existence of the Dominican Order is the result of St. Dominics commitment to his dream to spread the light of the Gospel to the ends of the world. It was Dominics commitment that brought him to different parts of Europe spreading the Good News and establishing communities.

There were many poor people in Palencia where he was studying. St. Dominic was no stranger to them. In his desire to relieve them from their miserable conditions, St. Dominic sold his books. Those were so precious as they were annotated by his own hands, yet for the sake of the needy, he was willing to sell them. His biographer, Bartholomew of Trent, told of the two incidents when St. Dominic attempted to sell himself into slavery just to have enough money to ransom those who were held by the Moors as captives. The order which he founded was a mendicant order. In a time when ecclesiastics enjoyed lording over others, St. Dominic and his Dominicans lived a life of poverty, bringing the church closer to ordinary people

St. Dominic inspired so many others to spread the light of truth into the world by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ both through word and good deeds. This is evidenced by the growing number of Dominican Saints and Blesseds. Among those who entered the Dominican Order is no less that our patron saint, St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. who became one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church.

God of Truth you gave your church a new light in the life and preaching of our Father Dominic. Give us the help we need to support our preaching by holy and simple lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
AMEN. ST. DOMINIC DE GUZMAN, PRAY FOR US.

Dominic de Guzman www.catholic-forum.com St. Dominic: His Dream, His Life, His Spirit www.op.org

Fray Diego Matamoros St. Dominic De Guzman www.catholicism.org