Humbert of Romans

Humbert of Romans was a thirteenth-century Dominican friar, preacher, and administrator who served as the fifth Master General of the Order of Preachers. He was born at Romans (now Romans-sur-Isère) in the Dauphiné of southeastern France, toward the end of the twelfth century; contemporary and near-contemporary sources do not preserve an exact year of birth. After studies in the arts at the University of Paris, where he obtained the degree of master, he entered the Dominican Order at Paris in 1224. He subsequently taught theology, notably at Lyons, and held office as prior and as provincial, first of the Roman province of the Order and later of the province of France.

In 1254 the general chapter of the Dominicans, meeting at Buda, elected him Master General. During a nine-year generalate he undertook a systematic revision of the Order’s constitutions, regularized its liturgy, and issued legislation intended to strengthen studies, preaching, and missionary work. He encouraged Dominican missions in the eastern Mediterranean and among the Mongols and promoted the training of friars in the languages needed for those missions. Humbert also composed a substantial body of practical and spiritual writings that remained influential within the Order, including a treatise on the formation of preachers (De eruditione praedicatorum), a commentary on the Rule of Saint Augustine, and instructions on the religious vows.

He resigned the master generalship at the general chapter of 1263. In retirement he continued to write. At the request of Pope Gregory X he prepared the Opus tripartitum, a memorandum for the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 that addressed church reform, the crusade, and the prospect of reunion with the Greek Church. Humbert spent his last years at Dominican houses in Lyons and Valence. He died at Valence on 14 July 1277.

He was never formally canonized or beatified, and he has no universal feast day or established patronages. Within the Dominican tradition, however, he has long been remembered as one of the Order’s most important early masters, whose constitutional, liturgical, and pastoral work left a lasting imprint on the life of the Order of Preachers.