Photo Tour

The Salve Regina (“Hail, Holy Queen”) is sung every evening by Dominicans. According to tradition, the Blessed Mother prays for the security of the whole Order as Dominicans sing, “Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us.” The above excerpt is from Reflections of Dominican Spirituality: The Windows of St. Dominic Church, Read more…

Dominic is referred to as “Lumen Ecclesiae” (“Light of the Church”). The “O Lumen,” a hymn to Dominic, is sung nightly in the Dominican communities throughout the world. The above excerpt is from Reflections of Dominican Spirituality: The Windows of St. Dominic Church, Washington, D.C. by Dr. Mary Moran.

St. Cecilia (fifth century) is honored as one of the patronesses of the Dominican Order, for it was on her feast day in 1206 that Dominic gathered the religious community in the village of Prouille, France, for the first time at the chapel. During his apostolic journeys, Dominic often visited this chapel to celebrate Mass. Read more…

The Sacred Heart linking Christ to priests is a popular symbol of the priesthood. In the rite of ordination the phrase “Alter Christus” (“another Christ”) reminds us that, although Christ himself is present to his Church, the priest acts as “another Christ” by virtue of his ordination. The above excerpt is from Reflections of Dominican Read more…

At the end of the twelfth century, in Verona, Italy, St Peter was born of Manichaean parents, but converted to the Catholic faith as a young boy. As a young man he went to Bologna to study and, inspired by St Dominic’s preaching he joined the Order, receiving the habit from the hands of St Read more…

Each year, the Church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, He didn’t didn’t leave us to fend for ourselves, He offers us His precious Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist each and every time the mass is celebrated. In the year 1264, Pope Urban IV Read more…

“During the early phases of the reform, the inherent relationship between Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was not always perceived with sufficient clarity. For example, an objection that was widespread at the time argued that the eucharistic bread was given to us not to be looked at, but to be eaten. In the Read more…

The first person born in the Americas to be canonized, Isabel de Flores y del Olivia (1586 – 1617) was the daughter of Spanish parents in Peru. At a young age she had a vision of Mary, who called her the “Rose of Saint Mary”: thus, she is known as Rose of Lima. When she Read more…

Known as the “Apostle of Charity,” Martin de Porres (1579 – 1639) was born in Lima, Peru, the son of a slave. While a young man, he was accepted as a cooperator brother at the Dominican priory in Lima and spent his life there as a barber, farm laborer, and the like. Helping in the Read more…

John of Gorkum (d. 1572), a Dominican priest, was one of nineteen religious who were hanged by militant Calvinists in Holland for defending Church teaching. In 1572 the town of Gorkum had just been captured by the Gueux, an extremist group of Dutch Calvinists who had continued a war of independence from Spain through acts Read more…

A Dominican friar, Louis Bertrand (1526 – 81) was born Luis Beltran in Valencia, Spain, where he spent most of his ministry. However, he is renowned for his missionary work in Colombia, Panama, and the Lesser Antilles from 1562 to 1568 and is credited with baptizing many Native Americans. First assigned to the territory of Read more…

One of the most important leaders of the Counter Reformation, Pope Pius V (1504 – 72), born Michael Ghislieri in the Ligurian region of Italy, joined the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. He lectured in philosophy and theology, held the offices of master of novices and prior, and later served as commissary general Read more…