In Celebration of Eight Centuries of Preaching

I pause this day to acknowledge a momentous milestone for a remarkable group:  It was on today's date, January 21, in 1217, when Pope Honorius III issued the document entitled Gratiarum Omnium Largitori, which recognized the followers of St. Dominic as an order authorized to study and preach.  This document followed two others that were issued on December 22, 1216, establishing the Order of Preachers, otherwise known as the Dominicans, after their founder, a Spanish priest named St. Dominic de Guzman.  So today concludes the 800th Jubilee of the Dominicans, which began on November 7, 2015.

My time attending graduate school at Dominican University has certainly made me more familiar with the Dominicans, and so gladly join in celebrating their special milestone anniversary by reflecting on them.

From what I know of their story, education is a major part of their mission.  After plague seriously reduced the population and the number of available priests, the Church went into a serious recruitment effort, to the point that there were many illiterate priests, who memorized an entire Mass, including a homily, for each week of the year, in the one-year cycle.  In addition to a heresy that was spreading, St. Dominic felt that priests should be more thoughtful with their homilies, and preaching the truth of Christ, and so he gathered people together who were dedicated to preaching--hence the name, "the Order of Preachers".

Before attending graduate school, I was well aware that the Dominicans have established a strong educational presence in the Oak Park River Forest area, with Fenwick and Trinity High Schools, as well as Dominican University, formerly Rosary College.  It's fitting that the Order of Preachers (OP) has Fenwick High School, a Dominican college preparatory, in Oak Park (also OP).  From what I've heard, Fenwick, named for the founder of the Dominican Province in the United States, is the only Dominican high school in the United States that was founded by Dominican brothers, rather than sisters.

I was drawn to Dominican University for its stellar library and information science program, as well as its close proximity to home.  But I was also attracted by its values, and its commitment to upholding truth and service in love, so that education can accomplish higher aims in life.  Those values added an extra dimension of depth to the graduation ceremony, especially when Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, was given an honorary doctorate degree, for her work in social services, especially as president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.

I learned some of the particularities of the Dominican Order when I went to visit Fenwick High School's Chapel during the 2014 Community of Congregation tour of local sacred spaces--one of only a handful of times I've been inside Fenwick, though I pass by on the outside all the time.  I learned a notable story about St. Dominic.  When his mother was pregnant with him, she had a vision of a dog with a torch in its mouth, setting the world on fire.  Another version of this story says his mother had this vision while in labor giving birth to him.  It's a striking story that the role he would play in the world was foreshadowed before he was even born.

I also learned about some notable Dominicans while visiting Fenwick's Chapel, including that St. Martin de Porres was associated with the Dominicans.  While I know of him because of Ascension Parish's sharing relationship with St. Martin de Porres Parish on Chicago's West Side, I had been unaware that he was a Dominican.  There are other important figures who were Dominicans, like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Catherine Siena.

I was also intrigued to learn that the Pope wears white because many centuries ago, a Dominican was elected Pope, as Innocent V, and didn't want to give up wearing his order's vestments.  So their influence continues on in this fashion statement.

The Gospel reading for Sunday Mass this weekend is about the start of Christ's earthly ministry, in which He preached and proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  The Dominicans, through their preaching, have certainly done much to make God's presence known on the Earth.  We give thanks to God for the impact the Dominicans have made in bringing people to Christian faith by their commitment to preaching Christ, especially in the education of many young people, and so we celebrate their presence for 800 years this day.