Saints

“Better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.” – St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae II-II Qu.188 a.6 Detail from the west window of St Catherine’s in New York. The dog with the torch is a symbol of the Dominican Order, whose motto is ‘Truth’. Photo & Read more…

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” John was “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people. John is “Elijah (who) must Read more…

Friar and Pope Peter of Tarentaise was born in Savoy around 1224 and as a young man entered the Order at Lyons. He was sent to study at Paris where he took the master’s degree and was given a chair at the university. Together with Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Albert the Great, and two other Read more…

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…

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…

A Dominican Vocation By. Br. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. When I met the Dominicans, I found something astounding about their lives. I was moved to tears when I first attended a Tenebrae service at the Dominican House of Studies. I also nodded in agreement to almost every word when I heard a student brother preach on the Read more…

While he was the reigning pontiff, Pope St. John Paul II was known for his devotion to the Most Holy Rosary. In his apostolic letter, “Rosarium Virginis Mariae,” he writes about it’s relevance to the Christian life, and the relationship between the rosary and the Order of Preachers. What follows is an excerpt from that Read more…

Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things Read more…

The following exegesis on the “Hail Mary,” was written by the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. The sinner sometimes seeks in a thing what cannot be attained there, but the just man attains it. Proverbs 13:22: “the substance of the sinner is kept for the just.” Thus Eve sought in the fruit and did not 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…