Dominic

(1170–1221)

   Saint and Order Founder.

   Dominic was born in Calaruega, Spain, and was educated at the University of Palencia. In 1199 he was appointed a Canon of Osma and in 1203 he served as Bishop’s chaplain on a royal embassy to the south of France. There he first began to preach against the Albigensian heresy. Then, in 1206, Dominic opened his first convent for young women in Prouille. He participated in Pope Innocent III’s crusade against the Albigensians and in 1215 he proposed a new order of preaching friars at the Fourth Lateran Council. This was refused, but the new order was licensed by Pope Honorius III in 1216. The order was to live by voluntary alms; it would follow the Augustinian Rule and it w ould be dedicated to preaching and study.

   Known as the Black Friars, the Dominicans spread rapidly throughout Europe; they were leaders in the sending of missionaries to the New World; they established several universities and they took an important part in the Inquisition. Dominic himself spent the rest of his life organising the new order in Italy, France and Spain. He was canonised only thirteen years after his death.

   F.C. Lehner (ed.), St Dominic, Biographical Documents (1964);

   W.A. Hinnebusch, The History of the Dominican Order (1966);

   M.H. Vicaire, St Dominic and his Times, 2 vols (1964).