St. Dominic and the Order of Preachers

Today is the Feast of St. Dominic who is an incredibly important saint in the life of the Church.  St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers in the early thirteenth century.  The Order was widely successful in refuting the Albigensian heresy which taught that all matter was evil.  The Dominicans are still known for their charism of preaching and have had a profound effect on the life of the Church throughout history.  The Pope even wears white because of the Dominicans (whose habit is white - when St. Pius V was elected to the Papacy he wanted to retain his white Dominican habit and it basically stuck).  Many great saints were members of the Dominican order whether as friars, sisters or layperons, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Martin de Porres, St. Catherine of Siena, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, etc.  Another interesting fact is that the Dominicans and Franciscans are so closely tied that both orders refer to the others founder as 'Holy Father Dominic/Francis' and so today is a solemnity not only for the Dominicans but also for the Franciscans.  You can read more about the life of St. Dominic here and here (this link has a lot of miraculous stories which are pretty cool).

This day actually provides the opportunity to start something that I had been thinking of lately which is to highlight a particular religious order on the blog around once a month, and so today we will begin with the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.  This particular province has friars located mainly in the northeastern part of the United States with some located as far west and south as Kentucky.  Many of our students will recall visiting the Dominican House of Studies in D.C. during our trip to the March for Life (pictured above) which serves as a priory for members of the province.  I really encourage you to check out their website (which I'm quite impressed with) - they have a lot of great information including videos, blogs, articles, etc. For all the young men who are discerning a call to the priesthood or religious life as a brother, this order is definitely worth checking out. They have 'Come and See' weekends coming up which you can find out about here.  And speaking of vocations, many of the brothers will be making solemn profession this Saturday, August 13th at the Dominican House of Studies, so I'm sure they would appreciate some prayers on that day.  There are nine brothers professing, including my great friend, Br. Peter Martyr.  All in all, the Dominicans of the Province of St. Joseph are quite simply awesome.

This is a great video featuring 21 young men receiving the habit as novices and 8 novices making simple profession.  One thing about this order that is striking is that their numbers are growing at an amazing rate - 21 new novices in this video!  God is still calling people to give everything to Him and His people in a beautiful gift of self.  Young people want truth, not watered-down fluff.  The orders that are unwaveringly committed to the Truth and orthodoxy are the ones that are growing - and this is proof:

Leaving All Things Behind from Province of Saint Joseph on Vimeo.