Today August 8

Today is the great, great feast of St. Dominic, (1170-1221), founder of the Dominicans (natch), great preacher and teacher. My kids were taught by Dominican sisters (in Nashville), so this is a special day for me. As our deacon said of the sisters in their full-length white habit, long black veils, and oversize rosaries in their rope belts, "They give witness just by walking down the hall." True.

Dominic's mother, Joan, was a young noblewoman brought up in the castle of Aza in Spain; she married another nobleman, Felix de Guzman, and had four children: Anthony, Mannes, Dominic and a girl whose name is lost to history. The boys all became priests (Anthony a "canon regular" and the other two Dominicans -- surprise, surprise; the girl became a wife and mother -- but her two sons became Dominicans, so I suppose she redeemed herself thereby. Just kidding.) There was a lot of space between Mannes and Dominic -- at least 10-14 years, since he was already out of the house -- and Joan prayed for another child. She was in church (natch!) as she was praying, and she had a vision of the church's patron, Dominic of Silos, setting in her mind the name she would give the child were it to be a boy. She later had another vision, this time in a dream, of a dog with a light in its mouth, which is funny because her as-yet-unborn son's order was called colloquially the Domini canes, or "dogs of the Lord." (A little bit of Latin humor there.)

Anyway, he didn't start out that way. He actually started out (at age 14) as an Augustinian, which career he maintained in an undistinguished way for 6-7 years. Then he was tapped to accompany the Bishop of Osma (who had been his prior) on a journey to Denmark to "negotiate a marriage" for the king of Spain's son. While on this journey, Dominic (and Bishop Diego) stayed at the house of a distinguished Albigensian, who engaged him in a religious discussion all night long. I don't know how he did it, but Dominic converted the man from his beliefs to Catholicism. They say you can't argue a man into faith, but perhaps you can sufficiently cause him to call into question his own belief.

Later, when Dominic asked the Pope leave to go evangelize the Russians, the Pope (Innocent III) told him to stay and evangelize those in his own backyard, by which Dominic took to mean the Albigensians. Which as you know, was no small task. Albigensianism was not so much a heresy as a whole other religion, holding dualistic ideas of spirit and matter: basically, spirit -- good, matter -- bad, to the point where salvation was not obtained without total sexual abstinence, little food and drink, and even the advocation of suicide! All of which would lead you to believe the sect would die out in a hurry. But the vast number of Albigensians did not follow that directive; their leaders, the so-called "Perfect," did.

At the time, the leaders in the fight against this heresy (for lack of a better word) were the Cistercians, so Dominic joined them -- not canonically, but physically -- to preach the truth in the Languedoc. He could see the luxurious life (by comparison) of the Cistercian preachers made their message much weaker, so he advised them to give up horses, retinues, and servants and quit staying in the best hotels. Also, to use gentle persuasion and peaceful discussion rather than threats and arrogance. It may be revisionist history to say that he had nothing to do with the establishment of Inquisitions in the course of the fight against the heresy, but it is true that Dominic only counseled the weapons of "instruction, patience, penance, fasting, tears and prayer" and abjured his follower Fulk who went out with men at arms and used violence or threats of violence to wage his fight.

He had taken in some nuns who had asked for asylum from their formerly Albigensian convent, and in some ways could be said to have formed the first group of Dominican nuns, but really, he hadn't a canonical leg to stand on. He had for some time envisioned a new order devoted to preaching and study but when he went to the Pope during the 4th Lateran Council, Innocent wanted to refuse. There were already too many religious orders, he thought. But that night he had a vision of the church crumbling and all that was keeping it up was the figure of St. Dominic. Whatever the reason, the next day he changed his mind and approved it.

The first little community of Dominicans was established at Toulouse (where a later -- and great -- Dominican, St. Thomas Aquinas, is buried). The following year, 1216, Dominic returned to Rome and received the confirmation of his order and his rule by the new pope, Honorius III and it was there he met and embraced St. Francis of Assisi. "You are my companion and must walk with me," Dominic said. "For if we hold together no earthly power can withstand us."

They were a true mendicant order, rejecting all property-holding; and were almost unique in not consisting of autonomous houses but united under a superior general. That first superior sent the little group in all directions: to Span, throughout France and to Italy. He desired to make it to Russia but never did.

He died in a borrowed bed, in a borrowed habit, but happy and surrounded by his friars. "Don't let my departure in the flesh trouble you, my sons," he said, "And don't doubt that I shall serve you better dead than alive."