CSVF Blog

O God, the Lord of the sciences, we praise and bless you with all our hearts and voices, for you have raised up a great teacher from among our fathers.

Today the Dominican Order celebrates with particular solemnity one of its own, St. Albert the Great, the medieval bishop and scholar renowned for his expertise in nearly all the intellectual disciplines, including natural science, philosophy, and theology.  St. Albert was the teacher of another Dominican great, St. Thomas Aquinas.

From the Dominican Ordo:

Albert of Lauingen was born in Swabia (Germany) at the beginning of the thirteenth century.  While a student at the University of Pavia he was attraced to the Order by Blessed Jordan of Saxony.  From 1242 until 1249 he taught at the University of Paris where Thomas Aquinas was one of his students.  Albert helped to introduce Aristotelian physics as interpreted by Jewish and Arabian philosophers into Western thought.  From 1248 he taught at Cologne and served as provincial of Germany (1254-1257).  Together with Saint Bonaventure he defended the right of the Mendicant Orders to teach at in the universtities.

He was named bishop of Ratisbon in 1260, but after two years he resigned because he considered himself unworthy.  He continued his teaching at Wurzburg, Strasbourg and Cologne.  In his attempts to blend the wisdom of the saints with human knowledge he was a distinguished writer and teacher, but he was even more distinguished in his life of holiness and his pastoral charity.  He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Virgin Mary, who according to legend led him to the Order of Preachers.  Because of his writings he is called “the Great” and the “universal doctor.”  He died at Cologne on November 15, 1280.  In 1459 Pius II declared him a doctor of the Church; in 1931 Pius XI declared him a saint; and Pius XII named him patron of those involved in the natural sciences.

For more on St. Albert’s life and thought, click here and here.

One of the stained glass windows in the nave of the church is dedicated to St. Albert.  Click here for a view and an explanation of its iconography.  Of particular note are the two figures that flank St. Albert—Aristotle and St. John the Evangelist—who represent the heights of knowledge attainable by the human mind through the distinct but not opposed paths of reason and revelation.  Albert and his student Aquinas remain icons of the Catholic task to reconcile the seeming contradictions between faith and reason.

Besides being a famous scholar, St. Albert was also a saint.  His expertise in prayer and the science of the blessed was the pearl of great price in his crown of intellectual achievement.  Below is a brief instruction he once gave on the proper preparations necessary for fruitful prayer.  He shares with is readers the fruit of his own experience.  This passage is one of the options for the second lesson in today’s Office of Readings.

From the treatise On the Manner of Praying
attributed to Saint Albert the Great

We should prepare ourselves for prayer.  This preparation is of two kinds: remote and immediate.

Similarly remote preparation is of two kinds: interior and exterior.  Interior preparation consists of three things.  First, there is the purification of the conscience: If our hearts do not reprove us, we have this confidence in God: that God hears us whenever we ask for anything.  Secondly, there is the humbling of the mind, for the Lord hears the cry of the humble and does not spurn their petition.  Thirdly, there is the forgiveness of injuries: Whenever you stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may in turn forgive you your trespasses.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Through his holy grace, Christ has raised up saints in the Order of Our Father Dominic throughout the world.  We ask to be aided by their merits and to be commended to God by their prayers.

Each year, just a few days after the Church Universal honors all of the glorified in heaven, the Order of Preachers celebrates a feast in honor of all the saints and blesseds who wore the habit of St. Dominic. As their brothers and sisters in religion, we Dominicans again place ourselves under their heavenly patronage and protection.  Join us in praying to the Dominican saints for the preservation and growth of the Order.

O God, fountain of all holiness,
you deigned to enrich your Church with the many gifts of the saints of the Order of Preachers.
Grant that we, who venerate them in this celebration on earth,
may follow in their footsteps and join the in the eternal festival of heaven.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

LITANY OF DOMINICAN SAINTS AND BLESSEDS

Lord, have mercy.     Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.     Christ have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.     Lord have mercy.
Christ, hear us.     Christ graciously hear us.

God, the heavenly Father     . . . have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world
God, the Holy Spirit
Holy Trinity, one God

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Once upon a time, the Order celebrated all of its Far Eastern martyrs on this day. To give them greater individual attention, the calendar now has three feasts for these holy witnesses, distinguishing them by country.  On January 15, we remember St. Francis de Capillas and the martyrs of China.  On November 24, we commemorate St. Ignatius Delgado and the martyrs of Vietnam.  Today, we celebrate the feast of Blessed Alfonsus Navarete and the Dominican martyrs of Japan.

The Dominican Ordo instructs us: “Alfonsus Navarrete, a Spanish Dominican, was beheaded at Omura on June 1, 1617.  In 1622, nine Spanish Dominicans were burned to death at Nagasaki.  During the years 1614-1632 more than a hundred Spanish and native Japanese Dominicans—novices, cooperator brothers, and tertiary and confraternity members—were martyred.”

Giving us a better glimpse into the life of Blessed Alfonsus, we read this at Catholic Online:

A native of Valladolid, Spain, Alphonsus Navarette, a Dominican missionary priest, came to Nagasaki, Japan after serving in the Philippines. He established for the Japanese Catholic laity three confraternities dedicated to nursing the sick and to rescuing babies left to die by their pagan parents. On one occasion, Father Alphonsus courageously protected and defended several Japanese Catholic women threatened by a vicious pagan mob. While experiencing an ecstasy, he was inspired to travel to Omura to encourage the Catholics suffering persecution there. The Catholics of Omura flocked to Father Alphonsus and to the Augustinian priest Ferdinand Ayala, a native of Ballesteros, Spain, who had previously served in Mexico. The two priests were soon arrested by the pagan authorities. Thereafter, the laity’s continued attempts to visit Father Alphonsus and Father Ferdinand prompted the authorities to execute both priests. At their execution, Leo Tanaca, a Japanese lay catechist affiliated with the Jesuits, was beheaded for his faith together with them.

Click here for an account of Blessed Alfonsus’ martyrdom published in Dominican Missions and Martyrs of Japan, a wonderful little book written by Fr. Bertrand Wilberforce, OP.

Holy Martyrs of Japan, pray for us!

No Comments »

Let us proclaim the greatness of the Lord who with heavenly gifts has raised up Martin, his humble servant.

From the Dominican Ordo:

Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579 of John, a Spanish nobleman, and Anna Velasquez, a freed slave.  As a boy he studied medicine which later, as a member of the Order, he put to good use in helping the poor.  Martin was received as a servant at the priory of the Holy Rosary in Lima where he was finally admitted to profession as a co-operator brother in 1603.  In his life of prayer Martin was especially devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and to the passion of our Lord.  He was noted for his care of the poor and the sick.  He died at Lima on November 3, 1639.

For today’s Office of Readings, the Dominican Ordo offers several options for the second lesson, including this excerpt from Blessed Humbert of Romans’ commentary on Dominican life, On Regular Observance.  Here Humbert reflects on the fuga mundi, the flight from the world, which as a religious served as the foundation of Martin’s relationship with Christ.

To more perfectly reach the end you desire, [dear brothers], consider carefully to what you have come in leaving the world.

Break your wills and realize that you are dead to the world.

Cast from your hearts idle thoughts, unworthy affections, bad intentions, violent actions, useless sadness, self-centered love, and individual feelings. Before the eyes of God be fearful of such thoughts, which you would blush to carry into action before human eyes.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Today the Dominican Order honors three of its “blessed” members: Blessed Benvenuta Bojani, Blessed Peter Higgins, and Blessed Terence O’Brien.

Blessed Benvenuta Bojani (1255-1292)

From the Dominican Ordo:

Blessed Benvenuta was born on May 4, 1255, at Cividale del Friuli.  She became a member of the Sisters of Penance and devoted herself to a life of penance for the conversion of sinners.  Through the intercession of Saint Dominic she was healed of a serious illness and devoted the remainder of her life to prayer and even greater penance.  She died on October 30, 1292.

Lord,
you gave Blessed Benvenuta
the gifts of penance, prayer, and humility.
Through self-denial and contemplation on heavenly things
may we too live in the Spirit
and find rest and glory in you, the one God.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Blessed Peter was born at Palermo in 1399 and attended the University of Bologna to pursue the study of law.  However, he gave up a promising legal career and entered the Order, making his profession in 1423 at Fiesole in the priory of San Domenico where Saint Antoninus was prior.  He himself served as prior in several houses and was a zealous promoter of regular observance, the life of study and the ministry of preaching.  Pope Eugene IV summoned him to serve at the Council of Constance in 1439.  He returned to Sicily where he continued to foster the reform of the Order and died there on March 3, 1452.  (Dominican Ordo)

Below is Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy’s entry (St. Dominic’s Family) on today’s Dominican blessed—a lawyer, diplomat, preacher, and patron of Palermo:

Peter Geremia was born in Palermo, in Sicily.  Unusually gifted, he was sent early to the University of Bologna, where he passed his studies brilliantly and attracted the attention and praise of all.  On the brink of a successful career as a lawyer, he was brought up short by and event which changed his life.

Having retired one night, he was pleasantly dreaming of the honors that would soon come to him in his work, when he heard a knock at the window.  As his room was on the third floor, and there was nothing for a human being to stand on outside his window, he sat up, in understandable fright, and asked who was there.  A hollow voice responded that he was a relative who had just died, a successful lawyer who had wanted human praise so badly that he had lied to win it, and now was eternally lost because of his pride.  Peter was terrified, and acted at once upon the suggestion to turn, while there was still time, from the vanity of public acclaim.  he went the next day to a locksmith and bought an iron chain, which he riveted tightly around him.  He began praying seriously to know his vocation.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Today the Order of Preachers celebrates the feast of St. Louis Bertrand, patron of novice masters.  A distant relative of St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Louis served many years in his native Spain before dedicating himself to the missions of the New World. After preaching to great success in Colombia, Panama, and the Caribbean, St. Louis returned to Spain and resumed his work forming young Dominicans.  He died in 1581.

During his life, St. Louis maintained a friendship with St. Teresa of Avila.

Canonized just fifty years after his death, St. Louis is remembered for his simplicity of heart, fervent preaching, and zeal for souls, model virtues for every Dominican.

Almighty and merciful God, as you filled the heart of Saint Louis Bertrand with reverent fear for your name, inflame our hearts with that same divine fire.  With both love and reverence may we too serve you faithfully.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Holy Mother and Immaculate Virgin, you are the glorious Queen of the world; may all who celebrate your feast know the help of your prayers.

We owe the origins of today’s Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to the two saints depicted above.

St. Dominic, seen receiving the Rosary from Mary, images the generations of Dominican friars who have preached devotion to Our Lady and her Rosary.  Early on in its history, the Order of Preachers was charged with promoting this particular form of prayer, teaching the faithful to contemplate the face of Christ through the attentive eyes of his mother.  In response to this mandate, Dominicans established Confraternities of the Holy Rosary all over the world. As an outward sign of its devotion and mission to Mary, the Rosary eventually became a part of the Dominican habit.  It is worn on the left side of the body, where soldiers once carried their swords.

Pope St. Pius V brought this Dominican mission to the apostolic palace.  In 1571, St. Pius implored all of Europe to pray the Rosary for its delivery from invading Turkish armies.  At the Battle of Lepanto, the Christian navy miraculously defeated a larger Islamic fleet.  In thanksgiving, Pius established the Feast of Our Lady of Victory.  It later became the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and Pope Clement XI extended its celebration to the entire Church in 1716.

In 1757, Fr. Augustine Ricchini composed the following hymn to be sung on today’s feast.  It praises Our Lady by summarizing the mysteries of the Rosary.  The following translation of the Te gestientem gaudiis was prepared by Abbot Oswald Hunter-Blair of Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland.  It can be sung to any long meter tune.

The gladness of thy motherhood,
     The anguish of they suffering,
The glory now that crowns thy brow,
     O virgin mother, we would sing.

Hail, blessed mother, full of joy
     In thy consent, thy visit too;
Joy in the birth of Christ on earth,
     Joy in him lost and found anew.

Hail, sorrowing in his agony–
     The blows, the thorns that pierced his brow;
The heavy wood, the shameful Rood–
     True queen and chief of martyrs thou!

Hail in the triumph of thy Son,
     The quick’ning flames of Pentecost;
Shining a queen in light serene,
     When all the world is tempest-tossed.

O come, you nations, roses bring
     Culled from these myst’ries all divine,
And for the mother of your King
     with loving hearts your chaplets twine.

We lay our homage at thy feet,
     Lord Jesus, thou the virgin’s Son,
With Father and with Paraclete
     Reigning while endless ages run.

Below you’ll find video of the homily I gave this past weekend at Mother of God Monastery in West Springfield, MA.  The Dominican nuns invited me to preach their annual Rosary Sunday celebration.  Recalling several points made by Pope John Paul II in his 2002 Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, I spoke of the Rosary as our means of imitating Mary’s perfect prayer.

O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech you, that in meditating on these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, and keep festival in honor of our Holy Father Francis. Let us join with the angels in joyful praise to the Son of God.

Gentle God, you granted our seraphic Father Francis the grace of conformity to Christ in poverty and humility.  By walking in the paths he trod may we follow your Son and be joined to you in love and joy.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Come, you whom my Father has blessed, says the Lord; I was ill and you comforted me.  I tell you, anything you did for one of these you did for me.

Today is the Feast of St. Juan Macias, a Dominican lay brother who served Christ and his poor in early seventeenth-century Lima, Peru.

Born in Spain, the young Juan traveled to the New World seeking his fortune as a cattle rancher. After landing in Colombia, he eventually made his way down to Peru, where he met the Dominicans. St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres were still alive at the time.  Convinced of his vocation to the religious life, Juan entered the Order of Preachers in 1622.  

For over 20 years, St. Juan served as the porter of St. Mary Magdalen Priory.  Similar to other famous and holy porters, Juan cared for the poor who gathered at the priory door.  He also served as a spiritual guide to much of the city, sharing the fruits of his contemplation with all who sought his counsel.  

St. Juan died in 1645, and he was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1975.

Just and merciful God, your love prompted our brother Juan Macias to become servant of all.  By his example and prayers draw us into the mystery of your goodness so that we, too, may serve our sisters and brothers.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

The King of France from 1226 to 1270, St. Louis IX is another of the Church’s saints who demonstrates that personal holiness and public service can align in the Christian life.  When the high concerns of both Church and State find a common home in human hearts, the two orders benefit within their own proper spheres.

The holiness and virtue of St. Louis are recorded in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Louis led an exemplary life, bearing constantly in mind his mother’s words: “I would rather see you dead at my feet than guilty of a mortal sin.” His biographers have told us of the long hours he spent in prayer, fasting, and penance, without the knowledge of his subjects.

The French king was a great lover of justice. French fancy still pictures him delivering judgements under the oak of Vincennes. It was during his reign that the “court of the king” (curia regis) was organized into a regular court of justice, having competent experts, and judicial commissions acting at regular periods. These commissions were called parlements and the history of the “Dit d’Amiens” proves that entire Christendom willingly looked upon him as an international judiciary. It is an error, however, to represent him as a great legislator; the document known as “Etablissements de St. Louis” was not acode drawn up by order of the king, but merely a collection of customs, written out before 1273 by a jurist who set forth in this book the customs of Orléans, Anjou, and Maine, to which he added a few ordinances of St. Louis.

St. Louis was a patron of architecture. The Sainte Chappelle, an architectural gem, was constructed in his reign, and it was under his patronage that Robert of Sorbonne founded the “Collège de la Sorbonne,” which became the seat of the theological faculty of Paris.

He was renowned for his charity. The peace and blessings of the realm come to us through the poor he would say. Beggars were fed from his table, he ate their leavings, washed their feet, ministered to the wants of thelepers, and daily fed over one hundred poor. He founded many hospitals and houses: the House of the Felles-Dieufor reformed prostitutes; the Quinze-Vingt for 300 blind men (1254), hospitals at Pontoise, Vernon, Compiégne.

Among his counselors and companions St. Louis counted his relative, St. Thomas Aquinas.  The image above depicts a famous meal they shared one evening.  The event is recounted in the paragraph below, taken from the biography St. Thomas Aquinas by Placid Conway, OP:

St. Louis IX, King of France, held his relative Thomas Aquinas in the highest esteem, and made him a member of his Privy Council for State Affairs. It was his wont to inform the holy Doctor the evening before of all important business to be discussed on the morrow, so that he might come prepared to tender advice. One is not surprised to find these years synchronize with the monarch’s greatest temporal glory, opening an epoch of lasting benefit to France. He excused himself as often as he could with propriety from sitting at the royal table, but whether at Council board or supper, he was as recollected as in his cell. While sitting at table one evening with the King and Queen and guests, he was observed to be quite lost in thought. Vainly the Prior plucked his sleeve to arouse him, when suddenly the goblets and platters jumped from a blow of his fist on the trencher, and the sonorous voice rang out: “The argument is clinched against the Manichees!” All the while his train of thought had been of the heresy of the new Manichees, the Vaudois, and Cathari. The Prior rebuked him for such unseemly conduct, but the gentle Louis only smiled, and bade one of his secretaries write down the argument hastily, lest it might lose its force and clearness. 

St. Louis died in 1270 in Tunis, North Africa, while on his second crusade to the Holy Land.  His relics were taken to Bologna, then Lyon, and finally to the royal chapel at St. Denis, where today only a finger remains.

O God, you called your servant Louis of France to an earthly throne that he might advance your heavenly kingdom, and you gave him zeal for your Church and love for your people.  Mercifully grant that we who commemorate him this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.  

1 Comment »

The first person from the Americas to be canonized, Rose of Lima remains a saint for our time. Her virtue, holiness, and zeal for souls, especially for the sick and oppressed, continue to reveal the heights of holiness possible in the modern world.

Upon reading her biography, however, many become troubled over her severe fasting and penance. By today’s standards, her attempts to lessen her physical beauty seem bizarre. But what are today’s standards? Considering the money spent and physical torture endured nowadays to preserve youth and beauty, forsaking these for love of the pure and chaste Christ doesn’t seem so odd.

After receiving the habit of St. Dominic, Rose dedicated herself to penance for the sins of her country, the conversion of sinners, and the souls in Purgatory. She led an exemplary religious life, and many miracles followed her death.

Given the nobility of her religious observance, something in this image of St. Rose seems out of place.  Granted she put some of her poetry to music, I wouldn’t want to confuse Rose with Soeur Sourire, the Singing Nun.

God our Father, for love of you Saint Rose gave up everything to devote herself to a life of penance. By the help of her prayers may we imitate her selfless way of life on earth and enjoy the fullness of your blessings in heaven.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

No Comments »

On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII promulgated Munificentissimus Deus, in which he defined today’s mystery as a divinely revealed dogma of the Catholic Faith:

For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.

Before his definition, Pope Pius constructs a litany of authorities that demonstrates the constant teaching of the Church regarding the assumption.  Two of his authorities are St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas.

When, during the Middle Ages, scholastic theology was especially flourishing, St. Albert the Great who, to establish this teaching, had gathered together many proofs from Sacred Scripture, from the statements of older writers, and finally from the liturgy and from what is known as theological reasoning, concluded in this way: “From these proofs and authorities and from many others, it is manifest that the most blessed Mother of God has been assumed above the choirs of angels. And this we believe in every way to be true.” [Mariale, q. 132] And, in a sermon which he delivered on the sacred day of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s annunciation, explained the words “Hail, full of grace”-words used by the angel who addressed her-the Universal Doctor, comparing the Blessed Virgin with Eve, stated clearly and incisively that she was exempted from the fourfold curse that had been laid upon Eve. [Sermones de Sanctis, Sermo XV in Annuntiatione B. Mariae]

Following the footsteps of his distinguished teacher, the Angelic Doctor, despite the fact that he never dealt directly with this question, nevertheless, whenever he touched upon it, always held together with the Catholic Church, that Mary’s body had been assumed into heaven along with her soul. [Summa Theol., Illa; q. 27, a. 1; q. 83, a. 5, ad 8; Expositio Salutationis Angelicae; In Symb. Apostolorum Expositio, a. S; In IV Sent., d. 12, q. 1, a. 3, sol. 3; d. 43, q. 1, a. 3, sol. 1, 2]

The image above depicts a medieval tradition relating to the assumption first recorded in a seventh-century work entitled The Passing of Mary.  It recounts how Our Lady dropped her cincture down to St. Thomas the Apostle as she was being assumed into heaven.  Why St. Thomas?  In her merciful care for him, the Blessed Virgin gives the incredulous apostle a second chance to demonstrate his faith.  According to the legend, the reception of the cincture allows St. Thomas to atone for his previous disbelief in the resurrection by becoming the first herald of the assumption.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

On this Feast of Our Holy Father Dominic, we sing praise to God for our redemption in Christ and for the wondrous pathway to Christ’s kingship and priesthood he has revealed to us through his Preacher of Grace.

With devotion to our illustrious founder we sing today the responsory sung by generations of his sons and daughters–the O spem miram.  This ancient chant recalls the paternal charity St. Dominic promised to show his followers after his death.

O spem miram, quam dedisti mortis hora te flentibus, dum post mortem promisisti te profuturum fratribus! Imple, Pater, quod dixisti nos tuis juvans precibus.

V.  Qui tot signis claruisti in aegrorum corporibus, nobis opem ferens Christi, aegris medere moribus.  Imple, Pater, quod dixisti, nos tuis juvans precibus.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.  Imple, Pater, quod dixisti, nos tuis juvans precibus.

(O wonderful hope, which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, promising that after your death you would be helpful to your brethren! Fulfill, Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.

V.  You shone on the bodies of the sick by so many miracles: bring us the help of Christ to heal our sick souls.  Fulfill, Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  Fulfill, Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.)

In your prayers today please remember especially our Province’s eleven postulants.  They begin their novitiate today by receiving the habit of St. Dominic and their new names in religion.  Through the intercession of our Holy Father Dominic, may God prosper their religious vocations!

No Comments »

Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of St. Dominic, our founder, which we will observe with particular solemnity at the 5:30 evening Mass.  We will be joined by Dominicans and Franciscans from around the city.  All are welcome to attend.

Tradition has it that St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi met each other in Rome in 1215 while observing the deliberations of the Fourth Lateran Council.  Because the Council Fathers were creating legislation governing new religious orders, the two founders were particularly interested in the outcome.  According to one legend, Dominic and Francis met and fell immediately into mutual esteem for each other’s grace and charism.  As a sign of their friendship in the Lord, they exchanged belts.  Francis took Dominic’s leather belt, characteristic of a preaching canon, while Dominic took Francis’s rope cincture, the symbol of his poverty.  

In honor of the friendship between Dominic and Francis, a noble tradition has developed among their disciples.  Dominicans and Franciscans celebrate the feasts of their founders together.  Franciscans join Dominicans on August 8, and Dominicans join Franciscans on October 4.  At the Mass of St. Dominic, a Franciscan preaches, and at the Mass of St. Francis a Dominican delivers the homily.  In keeping with this ancient tradition, Fr. Dominic Monti, OFM, the Vicar Provincial of the Holy Name Province, will preach at tomorrow’s Mass.

Lord, let the holiness and teaching of St. Dominic come to the aid of your Church. May he help us now with his prayers as he once inspired people by his preaching.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Dominicans worldwide celebrate today the feast of Blessed Jane of Aza, the mother of St. Dominic.

Her fame was widespread early on in the history of her son’s Order.  From Rodrigo of Serrato’s Chronicle of the Saints:

God, who knows the future and desired to show the Church what the quality and grandeur of this blessed man would be, decided to manifest Dominic’s future by several revelations.  Before conceiving him his mother saw herself in a dream bearing in her womb a young dog; it was holding a burning torch in its mouth and, once it had emerged from her womb, it seemed to set the whole world on fire.  This was the announcement that she would give birth to an eminent preacher who, with his flaming torch of eloquence, would rekindle that fire of charity which was being extinguished in the world.  This proved to be true by subsequent events.  Dominic was able to reprove wickedness admirably, to fight against heresy, and to exhort the faithful with great zeal.

Rodrigo continues by describing Jane’s spiritual life.  He calls her “virtuous, chaste, prudent, full of compassion for the poor and the afflicted.”  He concludes, “Among all the women of the region she was outstanding for her good reputation.”

In celebrating today’s feast, we are reminded of the indispensable role families play in the transmission of the faith from one generation to the next.  As the first school of faith, the family is a privileged place where Christian truth and love are born into human minds and hearts.

Lord our God, you filled Blessed Jane with the spirit of the Gospel.  In that spirit she prepared her sons Dominic and Manes for the apostolic life.  Awaken in us that same gospel spirit.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

“Sing we now the praise of the Magdalen!”

I’m pretty late in getting this post up, but better late than never.

Today the Church Universal observes the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, and in its own celebrations of the feast the Order of Preachers honors one of its patronesses.  For centuries, Dominicans have revered the Magdalen as an icon of preaching and a model of penitence.  Here is how her feast is described in the Dominican ordo:

Mary Magdalen, who was healed by the Lord Jesus, followed him with great love and ministered to him (Luke 8:3).  Later when the disciples fled, Mary Madgalen stood at the cross with the Mother of the Lord, John and some of the women (John 19:25).  On Easter morning Jesus appeared to her and sent her to announce the news of his resurrection to the disciples (Mark 16:9; John 20:11-18).

Her cult spread throughout the western Church, especially in the eleventh century, and flourished in the Order of Preachers.  As Humbert of Romans attests: “After Magdalen was converted to penitence the Lord bestowed such great grace upon her tha tafter the Blessed Virgin no woman could be found to whom greater reverence should be shown in this world and greater glory in heaven.”

The Order of Preachers numbers her among its patrons.  Its brothers and sisters of every age have honored her as the “Apostle to the Apostles”-for thus is she celebrated in the Byzantine liturgy-and have compared the mission of the Magdalen in announcing the resurrection to their own mission.

The old Catholic Encyclopedia has a great article on Mary Magdalen, and the Australian Dominicans’ vocations website includes a page dedicated to explaining her patronage of the Order.

A hymn written by Philip the Chancellor (+1236) was adopted by the Dominicans to be sung on this day.  Below you’ll find an English translation of it prepared by Fr. Becket Soule, OP.  It can be sung to the familiar Pange lingua tune.  Also after the break I’ve included several depictions of Mary Magdalen in classical art. Enjoy, and please continue to ask the Magdalen’s intercession for the Order of Preachers!

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Today the Dominican Order celebrates the feast of Blessed Ceslaus of Poland, who knew St. Dominic and entered the Order of Preachers under his direction. Together with his brother, St. Hyacinth, Ceslaus helped to found the Order in Eastern Europe.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia:

Born at Kamien in Silesia, Poland (now Prussia), about 1184; died at Breslau about 1242. He was of the noble family of Odrowatz and a relative, probably a brother, of St. Hyacinth. Having studied philosophy at Prague, he pursued his theological and juridical studies at the University of Bologna, after which he returned to Cracow, where he held the office of canon and custodian of the church of Sandomir. About 1218 he accompanied his uncle Ivo, Bishop of Cracow, to Rome. Hearing of the great sanctity of St. Dominic, who had recently raised to life the nephew of Cardinal Orsini, Ceslaus, together with St Hyacinth, sought admission into the Order of Friars Preachers. They received the religious habit from the hands of St. Dominic in the convent of Sabina. Their novitiate completed, St. Dominic sent the two young religious back as missionaries to their own country. Establishing a monastery at Friesach in Austria, they proceeded to Cracow whence Ceslaus was sent by St. Hyacinth to Prague, the metropolis of Bohemia.

Labouring with much fruit throughout the Diocese of Prague, Ceslaus went to Breslau, where he founded a large monastery, and then extended his apostolic labours over a vast territory, embracing Bohemia, Poland, Pomerania, and Saxony. Sometime after the death of St. Hyacinth he was chosen provincial of Poland. Whilst he was superior of the convent of Breslau all Poland was threatened by the Tatars. The city of Breslau being besieged, the people sought the aid of St. Ceslaus, who by his prayers miraculously averted the impending calamity. Four persons are said to have been raised to life by him. Having always been venerated as a saint, his cult was finally confirmed by Clement XI in 1713. His feast is celebrated throughout the Dominican order on 16 July.

Loving God, you gave Blessed Ceslaus a burning zeal for the salvation of souls, and filled him with wondrous grace to preach the gospel.  May we be true to his example, and so be able to spread the faith by our preaching and by the way we live.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Today is the feast of St. John of Cologne, a Dominican martyr of the sixteenth century.  His story is a remarkable one.

By 1572, the Netherlands had fallen culturally and politically into Protestant hands, and Catholics of the country became objects of persecution for Lutherans and Calvinists alike.  As town after town fell to Protestant control, the Catholic clergy of the area were arrested and often tortured.  The goal of this mistreatment was not death, but apostasy.  

In June of 1572, the town of Gorcum (modern Gorinchem, 20 miles west of Rotterdam) fell into the hands of Calvinist pirates, and immediately they arrested nine Franciscan priests.  Later, two Franciscan lay brothers, three secular priests, and an Augustinian canon were also arrested.  Eventually four more priests were added to their number.  These included two Norbertines, another secular priest, and John of Cologne, a Dominican friar working outside of Gorcum.  After hearing of the arrests of the Franciscans, John disguised himself and traveled to Gorcum to console his brother priests with the sacraments.  He was eventually caught and imprisoned with them.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Besides being Independence Day, July 4 is also the feast of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, one of the newest blesseds of the Dominican Order. In his short 24 years, Blessed Pier Giorgio served others as a model of charity and piety. As a young boy, Pier Giorgio gave himself over to long hours of prayer at home and in church. As a lay Dominican, he spent himself in exercising charity to the poor and encouraging his friends to virtue and holiness. Blessed Pier Giorgio contracted polio while working with the poor, and he died on July 4, 1925.

Blessed Pier Giorgio’s relics are kept in the cathedral of Turin, Italy, though this summer they’ll be making a special trip to Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day.

For more information on Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, click here, here, and here.

No Comments »

Today, July 3, is the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, infamously venerated through the ages as the “doubter.” Tradition has it that this “twin,” called by the Lord to be an apostle, carried the Gospel to India, where he suffered martyrdom.

Early in the third century, the Apostle’s relics were carried to Edessa (in modern day Turkey), which at the time was an important center of Christian evangelization and martyrdom. Over the next millennium, the relics traveled to several other cities before landing permanently in the cathedral of Ortona, Italy, where they are venerated today.

On September 27, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his General Audience address to studying the life and witness of St. Thomas. Click here to read the Holy Father’s text. Of particular note is Pope Benedict’s use of another holy Thomas, surnamed Aquinas, to highlight the meritorious faith of those who, after the Apostle’s doubt, believe without seeing.

It is interesting to note that another Thomas, the great Medieval theologian of Aquino, juxtaposed this formula of blessedness with the apparently opposite one recorded by Luke: “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!” (Lk 10:23). However, Aquinas comments: “Those who believe without seeing are more meritorious than those who, seeing, believe” (In Johann. XX lectio VI 2566).

No Comments »

In his June 22 homily delivered via satellite to the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, Pope Benedict XVI made special mention of two Dominican Doctors of the Church and their particular contributions to the Church’s understanding of the Eucharist.

We must never forget that the Church is built around Christ and that, as St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas and St Albert the Great have all said, following St Paul (cf. 1 Cor 10:17), the Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Church’s unity, because we all form one single body of which the Lord is the head.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »