August 8
Saints of the Day
 

Saint Dominic of Guzman, 1170-1221
A Spaniard who founded the Dominicans, "Father of the Friars", fought the Albigensians in France, and received the Rosary from Virgin Mary

    The Dominicans:
    St. Dominic founded the Dominicans, the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans), a new kind or Order where the members are ready to move to any place they may be needed at any time.
    - A Hermit stays alone in a cave.
    - A Monk stays always in the same monastery, St. Benedict was the Father of Monasticism" in the West and St. Basil in the East.
    - A Friar moves from place to place as needed. They started with St. Dominic, "Father of the Friars", and followed by an avalanche of Friars, Franciscans, Jesuits, Augustinians, Salesians, Marists...
    St. Dominic was offered to be a Bishop, but he couldn't imagine himself all his life in the same Dioceses, so he went around and founded the Dominicans at Toulouse, in France, in 1215...  and an order of nuns dedicated to the care of young girls.

    The Albigensians:
    On a journey through France with his bishop, he came face to face with the then virulent Albigensian heresy at Languedoc. The Albigensians (Cathari, “the pure”) held to two principles—one good, one evil—in the world. All matter is evil—hence they denied the Incarnation and sacraments. On the same principle they abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink. The inner circle led what must he called a heroic life of purity and asceticism not shared by ordinary followers.
    Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it. He saw immediately why the preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of the Albigenses. Understandably, they were not impressed by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at the best inns and had servants. Dominic therefore, with three Cistercians, began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal. He continued this work for 10 years, being successful with the ordinary people but not with the leaders.
    His fellow preachers gradually became a community, and in 1215 he founded a religious house at Toulouse, the beginning of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).

    The Rosary:
    At one point Dominic became discouraged at the progress of his mission; no matter how much he worked, the heresies remained. But he received a vision from Our Lady who showed him a wreath of roses, representing the rosary. She told him to say the rosary daily, teach it to all who would listen, and eventually the true faith would win out. Dominic is often credited with the invention of the rosary; it actually pre-dates him, but he certainly spread devotion to it, and used it to strengthen his own spiritual life.
    Weapons of Our Mother:
    1- Rosary, to St. Dominic, a Spaniard in France, Lourdes with her rosary, Fatima as O.L. of the Rosary, Garabandal teaching the children to pray it...
    2- Scapular to St, Simon Stock in London
    3- Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris.
    Rosary Art Gallery
    Eucharistic Rosary, for the Eucharistic Year 2004-05

    Reported miracle worker who brought four people back from the dead.
    Legend says that Dominic received a vision of a beggar who, like Dominic, would do great things for the Faith. Dominic met the beggar the next day. He embraced him and said, "You are my companion and must walk with me. If we hold together, no earthly power can withstand us." The beggar was Saint Francis of Assisi.
    When she was pregnant, his mother had a vision that her unborn child was a dog who would set the world on fire with a torch it carried in its mouth; a dog with a torch in its mouth became a symbol for the order which he founded, the Dominicans. At Dominic's baptism, Blessed Joan saw a star shining from his chest, which became another of his symbols in art, and led to his patronage of astronomy.

Born 1170 at Calaruega, Burgos, Old Castile Born of wealthy Spanish nobility of Guzman

Died 4 August 1221 at Bologna

Canonized 13 July 1234 by Pope Gregory IX at Rieti, Italy

Name Meaning belonging to God

Images Gallery of images of Saint Dominic [50 images, 713 kb]

Additional Information

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintd02.htm
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1101

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Readings

A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.

- Saint Dominic

---

Dominic possessed such great integrity and was so strongly motivated by divine love, that without a doubt he proved to be a bearer of honor and grace. And since a joyful heart animates the face, he displayed the peaceful composure of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the cheerfulness of his countenance.

Wherever he went he showed himself in word and deed to be a man of the Gospel. During the day no one was more community-minded or pleasant toward his brothers and associates. During the night hours no one was more persistent in every kind of vigil and supplication. He seldom spoke unless it was with God, that is, in prayer, or about God; and in this matter he instructed his brothers.

Frequently he made a special personal petition that God would deign to grant him genuine charity in caring for and obtaining the salvation of men. For he believed that only then would he be truly a member of Christ, when he had given himself totally for the salvation of men, just as the Lord Jesus, the Savior of all, had offered himself completely for our salvation. So, for this work, after a lengthy period of careful and provident planning, he founded the Orders of Friars Preachers.

In his conversations and letters he often urged the brothers of the Order to study constantly the Old and New Testaments. He always carried with him the gospel according to Matthew and the epistles of Paul, and so well did he study them that he almost knew them from memory.

Two or three times he was chosen bishop, but he always refused, preferring to live with his brothers in poverty. Of him Pope Gregory IX declared: "I knew him as a steadfast follower of the apostolic way of life. There is no doubt that he is in heaven, sharing in the glory of the apostles themselves."

from various writings on the history of the Order of Preachers