Confessor Dominic

Saint Dominic de Guzmán was born in 1170 in Caleruega, a village in Old Castile. His parents were Felix de Guzmán and Blessed Joan of Aza. Tradition holds that before his birth his mother dreamed of a dog bearing a torch that would set the world on fire, a symbol later associated with the Dominican Order, whose name plays on Domini canes, hounds of the Lord. Dominic was educated first at home and then at Palencia, where he studied the liberal arts and theology for about ten years. During a severe famine he sold his annotated books to provide for the starving, an act of charity noted by his contemporaries.

After completing his studies, Dominic joined the cathedral chapter of Osma as a canon regular, living under the Augustinian rule. In the first years of the thirteenth century Bishop Diego of Acebo took Dominic with him on a royal embassy to secure a bride for the crown prince of Castile from the royal house of Denmark. Passing through Toulouse and the Languedoc, they were struck by the prevalence of Cathar dualism. After the embassy they visited Rome and Cîteaux, then returned to preach in the Midi with papal encouragement. Bishop Diego died in 1207, but Dominic continued the mission, adopting a life of evangelical poverty and engaging heretics in debate. In 1206 he founded a monastery for converted Cathar women at Prouille, which served as a base and the origin of the Dominican nuns.

Seeing that diocesan clergy and existing orders were insufficient for the task of preaching, Dominic formed a band of companions dedicated to study and itinerant preaching. In 1215 he attended the Fourth Lateran Council and sought approval for his group. On 22 December 1216 Pope Honorius III issued the bull Religiosam vitam confirming the Order of Friars Preachers. Dominic spent the remaining years establishing communities across western Europe: Toulouse, Paris, Bologna, Rome, Madrid and Segovia among others. He insisted on poverty, the recitation of the Divine Office, and rigorous intellectual training so that preachers could refute error with learning as well as holiness. The first general chapter met at Bologna in 1220, adopting constitutions that balanced contemplation and action.

Dominic fell ill while traveling in northern Italy and died in the convent at Bologna on 6 August 1221. He was about fifty-one years old. His body was later translated to a tomb in the church that became the Basilica of San Domenico. Reports of miracles prompted an inquiry, and Pope Gregory IX, who had known Dominic personally, canonized him on 13 July 1234. The Church keeps his feast on 8 August. Saint Dominic is invoked as patron of the Dominican Order, of astronomers, of the Dominican Republic, and of those unjustly accused. His life combined personal austerity and an apostolic zeal that shaped the medieval Church and subsequent centuries of missionary and scholarly work.