Archive for the ‘Dominican saints’ Category.
August 4, 2011, 6:00 am
Devotion to the Blessed Mother was key in winning Catholics back from the heretical Albigensians.
Feast Day: Aug. 8
St. Dominic Guzman, whose feast day is Aug. 8, is the founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly known as the Dominicans, or Order of Preachers. Approved by Pope Honorius III in 1216, the Order had its roots amidst the growing spread of the Albigensians, a sect which held that the physical world was evil and was created by Rex Mundi, or the King of the World. The Albigensians believed in a second god, the one whom was worshipped, who was of a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. This heresy was well organized and gained a foothold that had not been seen since the days of the Arian heresy centuries before.
On August 8, the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception starts its Jubilee Year – 150 years of existence in the Church. On that day in 1861 Mother Kolumba Bialecka opened the first novitiate in Wielowies, Poland.
St. Dominic won the hearts of the people with a preaching that combined intellectual rigor and a popular and approachable style. He also had a great love and devotion to the Blessed Mother. A popular legend says that the Blessed Mother gave him the Rosary. Later, the Rosary became closely linked with the Dominican Order. Pope Pius XI, who died in 1939, said, ”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.” Continue reading ‘St. Dominic Founded His Order to Counter the Religious Confusion of His Day’ »
June 23, 2011, 6:00 am
Pope Innocent V was Archbishop of Lyons, France
Feast Day: June 23
Having reigned as Pope for only five months, Bl. Pope Innocent V shows us that humility is the first virtue of leadership. His papal rule is most notably marked by his work reconciling factions within Italy and a noble effort to work for the unity of Greek Christians with Rome.
This first Dominican Pope was a scholar, administrator, and Archbishop of Lyons. He collaborated with the great Dominican scholars Sts. Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
Known as Peter of Tarentaise, referring to the region in southeastern France where he was born in 1224, his most likely place of birth was Champagny. At the age of sixteen he joined the Dominican Order. After completing his education at the University of Paris, where he graduated as master in sacred theology in 1259, he won distinction as a professor in that institution, and is known as “the most famous doctor.” Continue reading ‘Bl. Pope Innocent V, First Dominican Pope, Worked for Peace and Reconciliation’ »
June 16, 2011, 1:22 pm
The re-evangelization of the Christian community was one of St. Dominic’s goals.
Marian devotion and intercessory prayer are two “indispensable means” emphasized by St. Dominic for apostolic action to be incisive, according to Pope Benedict XVI.
“This great saint,” the Holy Father said during his Feb. 3, 2010 general audience at the Vatican, “reminds us that a missionary fire must always burn in the heart of the Church, which drives incessantly to take the first proclamation of the Gospel and, where necessary, to a new evangelization….”
Pope Benedict traced the life of the founder of the Dominican Order from his birth in 1170 to the discovery of his life’s calling during a trip with his bishop to northern Europe. St. Dominic discovered in northern Europe that there were many people who had not heard of the Gospel, and that there were others, in southern Europe, who were Christianized but whose faith was being challenged by the Albigensian heresy. Continue reading ‘Pope Praises St. Dominic’s Two Means for Apostolic Action’ »
