Letter from the Master General August 2018
The holiness of Dominic,
a light for the Order of
Preachers
Dearest brothers and sisters,
religious and lay members of the Order of Preachers,
On the 6th August 2021,
we will celebrate the eight hundredth anniversary of Saint Dominic’s dies
natalis, recounted by Humbert of Romans in these words: “He said to them:
‘Here, dearest brethren, is what I bequeath to you as sons, as to your rightful
inheritance. Have charity, keep hold of humility, possess voluntary poverty. Oh
Testament of peace…’ ”1 Brother Dominic then fell asleep in death, leaving
this testament of peace to his brethren, making them heirs of what had been his
life’s passion: to live with Christ, to learn the apostolic life from Him and
to be configured to Christ through evangelical and apostolic life.
1 Legenda
maior Sancti Dominici Humberti de Romanis, 54, 21-26
2 Libellus
de initiis Ordinis Praedicatorum, 125
3 Libellus de initiis Ordinis Praedicatorum , 92-94
Such was the holiness of
Dominic: a fervent desire for the Light of Christ to shine for all people,
compassion for a suffering world called to be reborn to true life, zeal to
serve a Church that would widen its tent to the dimensions of the world. In
granting permission for his translation, Pope Gregory IX declared: “I knew him
as a man who was loyal to the entire apostolic rule, and I am sure that, in
heaven, he is joined in glory to the apostles.”2
The celebration of the Jubilee
of the confirmation of the Order has given new and dynamic impulse to the whole
Order’s commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel. With this letter, I
invite you to draw from the source of holiness which fashioned Dominic as a
preacher. St Catherine magnificently said of him that he took on himself “the
office of My only-begotten Son, the Word. Rightly he appeared as an apostle in
the world and sowed the seed of My Word with much truth and light, dissipating
darkness and giving light.”
Dominic’s death, the death
of a father and brother
After a long preaching tour in
Northern Italy, brother Dominic falls gravely ill in Bologna. It is July 1221,
and the town is so stifling, humid and hot that there is no hope of improvement
for Dominic’s health. The decision is made to carry Dominic to a small
Benedictine hermitage on the hillside outside Bologna. Death, however, is
drawing close. The witnesses of brother Ventura of Verona and brother Rodolfo
of Faenza, recorded during the process of canonization in Bologna, give us
providential insights into the last moments of the Saint’s life. We can add to
their precious testimony the edifying account of Blessed Jordan of Saxony.3
2
Dominic felt that the moment of
encounter with the Lord who had seduced him during his adolescence was drawing
near. He called together the few friars of the convent of Bologna and began to
preach: “When he believed he was dying, he called the witness – that is, the
prior – and the brothers. About twenty brothers went there with the said prior.
After they assembled about him, lying on his bed, he began to preach and delivered
a very beautiful and moving sermon.”novissima verba,” we discover not
only his humility but the deep love that Dominic had for his community. 4 According to
Blessed Jordan, Dominic’s preaching as he was lying on his deathbed was given
not to twenty but to twelve brethren: “On his deathbed he summoned twelve of
the more prudent brethren and [exhorted] them to be zealous in promoting the
Order and persevering in holiness.”5 Clearly, Jordan desires to draw a Christological and
apostolic portrait of Dominic and his brethren, whereas brother Ventura offers
us a liturgical account of the last moments of Dominic’s life: after receiving
the sacrament of the sick and making a general confession, Dominic presides, as
priest, the Office of commendation of his own soul to God, and intervenes many
times, as if leading it. Thus Dominic dies during a liturgical act, at the
heart of the liturgy of the dying. Brother Ventura recounts also a prayer
addressed by Dominic to God, in the presence of his brethren, during which he
commends them to Him along with his whole family: “Holy Father, thou knowest
how I have freely remained steadfast in Thy will, and have guarded and kept
those whom Thou hast given me. I recommend them to Thee. Keep and guard them.”6 This is a short
rendition of Jesus’ farewell discourse during the Last Supper (John 17:12). In
this prayer, we notice how Dominic remains elder brother, father and founder,
the one who takes responsibility for his own brethren, in the image of his
beloved Lord. Dominic spoke additional words on his deathbed: “Do not cry,
since I shall be more useful to you where I am going than I could ever be
here.”7 We can observe that the words “usefulness” and “effectiveness” were
words that Dominic liked to repeat often. Effective charity should be a quality
of his sons. His own usefulness would be greater in death than in life. Dominic
died in the convent of Bologna according to his wish. As he feared being buried
in the Benedictine monastery where he had stayed, he begged to be carried anew
among his brethren. Once he was back in town and settled in one of the
convent’s cells, he was asked whether he wished to be buried next to the relics
of this or that saint. Dominic gave this superb answer: “God forbid that I be
buried except under the feet of my brethren.”8 Here, in the light of these “
4 Acts
of the process of canonisation,
Bologna, Testimony of friar Ventura of Verona, 8
5 Libellus,
92
6 Acts
of the process of canonisation, Bologna,
Testimony of friar Ventura of Verona, 8
7 Acts of the process of canonisation, Bologna, Testimony of friar Rodolfo of Faenza, 33
8 Acts
of the process of canonisation,
Bologna, Testimony of friar Ventura of Verona, 8
9 Acts
of the process of canonisation,
Bologna, Testimony of friar Ventura of Verona, 8
A mendicant’s humility, for
preaching
“[The witness] sometimes saw
the blessed Dominic himself going from door to door, begging alms and receiving
a piece of bread like any pauper.” (Acts of the process of canonisation, Bologna,
Testimony of friar Paul of Venice, 42)
As death was approaching,
Dominic asked insistently to be carried back to the convent so as to be buried
“under the feet of my brethren.”9 This was his greatest wish. Yet this is only one aspect
of the holiness of Dominic who, when he became a preacher, asked to be called
“brother Dominic.”
He desired to be with his
brethren. Indeed, he was convinced that the sign of fraternity is already, in
itself, a kind of preaching. For Dominic, the Order of Preachers is an Order
which seeks to follow in the footsteps of Jesus the preacher, going through
towns and villages to proclaim the
3
good news of the Kingdom of God
(cf. Mt 4:23-25, Mk 1:39, Lk 4:44). The reality of fraternity is thereby
presented as an echo of salvation, which is at the heart of the Order’s
proclamation. To proclaim the good news is to invite each one to discover, in
their most intimate depth, the aspiration to live a life of fraternity with
others in this world. It is to announce the hope that fraternity among all
peoples anticipates the reality of the Kingdom in which the people of God will
be gathered together on the last day. The sign of fraternity is thus the true
‘pulpit’ of preaching, presented both as a concrete, lived experience and as
the hope of a future with God. It is a pulpit from which is proclaimed, on
God’s behalf, trust in the human capacity to create with each other, and with
God, relationships which “nourish life.” This is proclaimed not through
theoretical discourses, but through listening to a Word verified in the
concrete experience of a life lived with and for others.
He asked to be buried “under
the feet of his brethren.” We can probably interpret this desire as a sign of
humility and lowliness. He who said that he would be more useful to his
brethren after his death10 wishes to serve them by emulating the lowliness of
Jesus who washed the feet of his disciples as their servant. Thus, Dominic’s
determination with regards to his resting place could well point to his desire
to be conformed through grace to the very acts of Jesus. To be conformed to the
One who did not cling to his own life, but lived out his proclamation of the
Kingdom by rooting it in the gift of his life, offering it so that all may have
life and be received in the joy of fraternity. He wants to remain in the midst
of his brethren, even in death. Such is the sign of this gift of a life “spent”
speaking with men about God and with God about men.11 This sign thus
manifests the deep meaning of itinerant mendicancy which Jesus had chosen, and
through which He preached by giving his life. It is also the sign of the
mendicant who, through his supplicant gesture, begs for the hospitality of his
peers while inviting them to discover the new life of the Kingdom. “He came to
his own…” (Jn 1:11).
10 Libellus, 93
11 Acts
of the process of canonisation,
Bologna, Testimony of friar William of Monferrato, 13
Yet Dominic’s request is even
more significant, because it invites his brethren to draw their own sanctity
from the reality of their lives as preachers. It was usual, at the time, to
seek to be buried as close as possible to the relics of saints and confessors
of the faith. In this sense, he desired to be buried as close as possible to
the altar, in the hope of the communion of saints. Yet through his request
Dominic expresses also that the reality of his brethren’s fraternity is, in his
eyes, a place of holiness equivalent to the value granted to the witness of the
saints. Once again, holiness can be considered as the pulpit of the preachers’
proclamation. They are invited, as brothers, to integrate their faith in the
communion of saints within the concrete realities of life, and to draw from it
the power of the word on the itinerant preacher’s lips. Communities of
preachers, holy preachings!
The preacher’s humanity, in
the image of the Son
“Dominic was so zealous for
souls that he extended his charity and compassion, not only to the faithful,
but also to infidels and gentiles and the damned in hell. He wept freely for
them.” (Acts of the process of canonisation, Bologna, Testimony of friar
Ventura of Verona, 8)
“May God, who made the kindness
(benignitatem) and compassion (humanitatem) of our Saviour shine forth
in his servant Dominic, make you conformed to the image of his Son.” This
formula for the solemn blessing given during the liturgical feast of Saint
Dominic points to the heart of Dominic’s holiness. To him alone, in the whole
Sanctorale, is attributed this “kindness” (in English) or “tenderness” (in
French). This tenderness is linked to the mystery through which the Son came to
take on himself our humanity. This Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son our
4
Saviour was so essential in
brother Dominic’s preaching that it became, as it were, the inner light of his
own humanity. Dominic’s vocation to commit his whole life to the preaching of
the Gospel moved him to find in the Incarnation the path that led him into the
depths of his own humanity. In a certain way, this is also a vocation to be
born to himself through the mystery of the truth he proclaimed (long have I
sought you..., said St Augustine). The Gospel proclamation is thus offered as
an inner journey towards oneself, towards the place of inner encounter where
God, through his call, “builds”, and “establishes” each one in his own
filiation.
It seems to me that certain
features can be drawn out specifically from Dominic’s vocational “humanity”:
simplicity, compassion, frugality, friendship. The testimonies gathered by
Dominic’s biographers who had known him personally and the accounts of the
canonisation process highlight unanimously both the depth and the simplicity of
Dominic’s humanity. “All men were swept into the embrace of his charity, and, in
loving all, he was beloved by all.”12 This preacher is “moved with pity for the poor at the
sight of their misery,”13 and receives the bread he begged for his brethren “on
his knees, in great humility and devotion.”14
Dominic is lifted up to God when he
contemplates the generosity of his grace. He loves nothing better than to form
friendships with others, and makes this a habitual pattern for sharing the Word
of life. This is the simple humanity of one who comes close to others, of which
Thomas Aquinas, speaking of the life of Jesus, would say “he made himself
familiar…”.
12 Libellus, 107
13 Libellus, 10 ; Acts of the process of canonisation,
Bologna, Testimony of friar John of Spain, 29 ; of friar Stephen, 35.
14 Acts of the process of canonisation, Bologna, Testimony of friar Paul of Venice, 42
15 Libellus, 21
Insisting on Dominic’s humanity
serves not only to emphasise his own moral qualities, but also to illustrate
the manner in which he desired to be a preacher. It is through the full
unfolding of his humanity, by becoming familiar with everyone, that he desired
to give witness to the One who came to establish his dwelling among us, and
then to withdraw so as to give Him first place in the hearts and minds of those
he would meet. When asked about the Order of Preachers, Blessed Jean-Joseph
Lataste answered that it was “the Order of the friends of God.” This answer is
perhaps both a description of how the brothers and sisters of the Order desire
to live with each other and with God, and a sign pointing to the finality of
their preaching “verbo et exemplo,” which they intend to offer in the
Church, constantly tending towards this ultimate finality of the communion of
everyone in God’s friendship. This answer is an echo of the words of Christ,
which should be echoed again in every preacher: “You did not choose me, but I
chose you and appointed you.” (Jn 15:16). I call you friends…
At the heart of this witness,
the beautiful word “brother” resounds like a call. As soon as Dominic and Diego
started to preach in the Lauragais region, Dominic the sub-prior asked
insistently to be known henceforth as “brother Dominic.”15 Here again we
can see this as a sign of his simplicity and humility: It is not titles or
ecclesial functions that qualify the preacher, but his way of being human. The
one called “brother” is a member of the human communion in the friendship of
God. The one called “brother” is a member of that great family of the friends
of God that the Church is called to become. Here we have, as it were, a declaration
of faith which lays the foundation of a theological understanding of the
Church, and which elicits a theological practice of preaching. It is because of
his desire to be a preacher like Jesus among his disciples that Dominic wants
to commit himself “in the commitment of God” as a brother. This will be his
path to sanctification: “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” (Rm 8:29).
To preach like Christ and
with Christ, a path of sanctification
“ Brother Dominic carefully
prepared himself and was unremitting in his preaching. His words were so moving
5
that most of the time he
stirred himself and his listeners to tears.” (Acts of the process of
canonisation, Bologna, Testimony of friar Stephen, 37)
This path of sanctification,
for Dominic, is marked by the two mysteries of mercy and truth, which both
converge towards freedom, so dear to “Dominican spirituality.” From this
viewpoint, the figure of Mary Magdalene is established as “apostle of the
apostles”, called by the Risen One. This place more intimate to ourselves than
we are to ourselves is the place of mercy. It is the place of truth, of realism
and transparency where God is encountered in the intimacy of each person’s
heart, and the place of forgiveness beyond all human measure, of new birth in
mercy. The superabundant gift of mercy becomes then a call to plunge into the
Gospel as its living source, to plunge into the Gospel – the light that reveals
the mystery of each human life – as we were plunged into the waters of baptism.
Remain in my Word, my word is truth. Or, more precisely: “If you continue in my
word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free.” (Jn 8:31)
Two texts written by Pope
Honorius III for the confirmation of the Order and for its “recommendation”
impose the command on the friars of the Order to preach for the remission of
sins. These texts emphasise two very concrete aspects of the life chosen by
Dominic. One is that the ministry of preaching (of evangelisation) can be
conferred to the friars of the Order as a proper means of sanctification. The
other is that this ministry is imposed on the friars for the remission of sins.
On one hand, they are required
to preach the Gospel in this form of life which is “totally dedicated to the
proclamation of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”16 This defines
preaching as the presentation of the Name of the One who is to come. Preaching
is the proclamation of the Name and of the coming of the Kingdom: “Moreover,
since the goal, rather than the combat, grants the crown, and since, among all
the virtues, only perseverance receives the offered crown for those running in
the race (I Cor. 9:24), we call upon your charity and earnestly exhort you with
the command, which we impose through these apostolic letters for the remission
of your sins, that, ever more strengthened in the Lord, you strive to spread
the Word of God (Ac 8:4) by being insistent in season and out of season and
fulfilling the work of the evangelist in a praiseworthy manner (2 Tm 4:2-5).”17
16 Letter
of Pope Honorius III, 18th January 1221
17 Letter
of Pope Honorius III, 21st January 1217, to the prior and the friars of
Saint-Romain, preachers in the country of Toulouse.
18 Letter
of Pope Honorius III granting a privilege of indulgence, 12th December 1219
On the other hand, this must be
done as mendicants who have chosen the self-abasing state of voluntary poverty,
both personal and collective. The Pope points out that this choice will make
the preachers vulnerable, exposing them to all kinds of difficulties and
dangers. This is why he comforts them in their salvific endeavours by granting
them that “the privations and labours which you are about to undergo in
carrying out this kind of duty will serve for the atonement of your sins.”18
For the friars, this path to
holiness will be one of “consecration to the Word”, of consecration
to the truth, as St Thomas Aquinas would present it in his Commentary on
the Gospel of St John.
The letter of Pope Honorius III
dated from the 18th January 1221 defines this “consecration” in the
following words: “The One who ever makes His church fruitful with new
offspring, wanting to make these modern times measure up to former times, and
to propagate the Catholic faith, inspired you with a holy desire by which,
having embraced poverty and made profession of regular life, you have given
yourselves to the proclamation of the Word of God, preaching the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world."
Dominic’s choice has been to
plunge his own life into the mission of the Son, and so to allow the Spirit of
the Son to conform his life to Christ’s own: “And [Christ’s] gifts were that
some
6
should be apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the
saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we
all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God…” (Ep
4:11-13) We perceive in these words of Paul the Apostle both unity in faith and
unity in the knowledge of the Son of God. Yet we hear also the call given to
believers (the “saints”) to “go out” in order to walk on the path of the Son’s
mission. By choosing to give himself over to preaching, Dominic chose a path on
which he allowed the Spirit to adjust him to God, justifying and sanctifying
him. Yet at the same time he made his aspiration to holiness shape his entire
life. His desire was for the Church of Christ to experience for herself the joy
of her promised holiness, to the extent that she would expand herself by
proclaiming the good news of this promise.
Dominic’s holiness, a dream
for the Church
“Made a pastor and illustrious
leader among the people of God, he founded the new Order of Preachers by his
holy labours, adorned it by his exemplary life, and has not ceased to support
it by manifest and authentic miracles.” (Gregory IX, Bull of canonisation)
It seems to me that, to have a
“dream for the Church” is a central element of Dominic’s holiness, as it was
also for Catherine of Siena (“If I die, it is out of passion for the Church.”)
These two have contributed their solid ambition for the Church of Christ to the
preaching of the Order (“I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it
were already kindled!” Lk 12:49), an ambition concerned with both the life and
the mission of the Church.
Following the second Vatican
Council, we could say that the ambition of the Church of Christ is to be a
sacrament for the world and in the world. In today’s context, which calls so
urgently for a renewal of evangelisation, it is the ambition to shift our
perspective from maintenance or support of existing ecclesial communities to
promotion of the same ecclesial communities as true “missionary subjects.”
“Would that it were already
kindled!” (Lk 12:49). St Dominic, I believe, was driven by Christ’s own desire
when facing all kinds of divisions that disfigured the Church in his time and
endangered his mission of evangelisation. The strength of this desire – which
led Jesus to consent fully to the supreme abandonment of himself, even to the
Cross – is the source where Dominic would ceaselessly draw his prayer and his
humanity: identifying his life with the unique life of the Son, given once for
all, so that the world may have life and have it to the full (Jn 10:10). The
peaceful pictures of Dominic embracing the Cross of Christ, or tirelessly
scrutinising the Word revealing Himself within the pages of Scripture, show us
that, far from being morbid, Dominic’s self-identification with Christ aims at
adjusting his own desire for evangelisation to Christ’s desire. Dominic’s dream
is one of a Church in constant foundation, that is to say in constant
evangelisation. Dominic’s desire to go to the Cumans does not demonstrate a
wish to extend the Church in terms of enlarging territory, of building power or
influence, or even of dominating over other beliefs. It is rather a desire born
of love for the whole world, which seeks to grow so as to identify itself with
Christ’s own love for the world. Established in the knowledge of the Creator,
this desire is confident with the knowledge that the human world is capable of
offering hospitality to all, capable of entering into one single communion, and
capable to open itself to God its Creator by sharing the common history of the
people loved by God.
For this reason, Dominic dreams
of a Church constantly “on the move”. He experienced this himself when, despite
having been formed from childhood to be a cleric, and having subsequently
become a canon, he received, on the road to preaching, a call to become a
brother from within his own clerical ministry. He discovered then how much his
ministry had prepared
7
him to be at the service of a
Church ever unfinished, who carries the Word beyond her borders. This for him
took the shape of an anguish that filled his nights and his prayer. He knew
that the communion offered in one and the same Kingdom open to all, required
him to go and encounter the poor and the sinners, the heretics and the pagans.
The Church Dominic wants to serve is a Church of forgiveness, of reconciliation
and of communion. The Church “on the move” is also a Church that is built up in
all her diversity by her own preaching. Indeed, responding to all those who
join him through a succession of intuitions, Dominic will progressively form
around himself a “family of preaching”, this “holy preaching” in which –
provided each keep their own particular place and role, according to their own
ecclesial status and mandate and according to their own formation – all will
work together for the same evangelisation. They will all be driven by the same
desire to contribute to the constant building up of the Church who will become
more and more a friend of the world through her proclamation of the Kingdom,
announcing forgiveness, reconciliation and peace. As with Dominic seated at the
table of the innkeeper, or seated in the midst of his brethren at the table of
the “miracle of the loaves”, through the sign of fraternity, they will invite
all people to take their seat also at the same Table of the Kingdom. Fraternity
here is the sign of a Church of communion.
This Church to which Dominic
desires to commit all his life and calls his brothers and sisters to do so with
him is a fraternal and friendly Church, moved by deep bonds of affection among
her own members and for the people of God beyond her own borders. Pope Francis
told the friars gathered in the 2016 chapter that the place to which the
preacher is sent should be considered a “sacred land”, a place of holiness.
Thus Dominic gave his preaching the horizon of the contemplation of grace at
work in the history of the world, often beyond the visible limits of the
Church, as well as the horizon of “apostolic conversion.” Indeed, this latter
horizon is rooted in solidarity, to which the ministry of preaching calls us to
commit our whole lives. The Apostle Paul said it in this way: “Like a nurse taking
care of her children (…) we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of
God but also our own selves.” (1 Th 2:7-8) Thus the Church’s restructuring
should always aim at promoting and cultivating the affection of the community
for all.
In that way, we can understand
intercession as an essential practice for strengthening our fraternal
communities. Intercession opens up a double process of self-identification: on
one hand, self-identification with those for whom the Lord is implored; on the
other hand, self-identification with the One who implores for the world. From
this same viewpoint, we can perceive the contemplative dimension of the prayer
of Dominic, who would speak to God about the world. He never ceased to
contemplate the mystery of mercy which is at the heart of the unfolding of
“continued creation.” Liturgical prayer, so dear to Dominic, allows then for
the community of the “holy preaching” to be constituted through this
interweaving of intercession and contemplation, which is rooted in listening to
the mystery of salvation in human history as it is revealed in holy Scripture.
To plunge into the work of
grace: in God’s involvement
“Subjecting his flesh to his
spirit and his sensitivity to reason, he became one and the same spirit with God,
and completely devoted his attention to seeking Him through the excess of his
mind. Moreover, in the eagerness of his compassion, he never departed from love
for his neighbour.” (Gregory IX, Bull of canonisation)
We like to speak of Dominic as
the preacher of grace. He was such by desiring with his whole being to live the
very life of Christ the preacher, to the point that he could have spoken the
8
words of the Apostle Paul: “it
is no longer I who preach, but Christ who preaches in me” (Gal 2:20). In order
to do so, Dominic wanted to “plunge himself” in the Word which stirs the
heart’s desire because it calls each one by name. This plunge is made in the
wake of the baptismal plunge, as a vocation to live in the joy and hope of the
Gospel. Yet it is at the same time a call eliciting a heartfelt desire for
everyone to have life. It is therefore both a “vocation to oneself” as an
experience of mercy, and a vocation to call others to become “friends of God.”
Dominic experienced this plunge
into the Word as a plunge into the fullness of humanity, adorning his
commitment with the substance of corporeality. This means of course the
corporeality of each person in whom this experience of the heart becomes
incarnate: from this viewpoint, the “global” and “integral” scope of the
vocation to evangelise is made clear. Yet this also means the corporeality of
the Church. The community is the place of adjustment to this corporeality of
the Church. This is where limitation and incompleteness are experienced, as
they are by each one living in community. Each person can test their capacity
to allow the community to which they belong and in which they live to become
now a community “on the move”: the movement of conversion, the movement of
human renewal, movement as a sign of communion (the “brotherly harmony, which
corresponds with the inmost wishes of all men”19). Mendicant poverty is perhaps
a reminder of the reality of these movements which we have to undertake…
19 Cf. Ad
Gentes, 7
To be plunged into the Word, to
be plunged into humanity: two pathways towards holiness. A third pathway
offered by Dominic is the one of the intellect: the intellect as the place
where we experience the eschatological structure of reason (“Truth does not
change, it grows”, said Lacordaire). The intellect is indeed the place where we
can enjoy an indefinite scope of progress in truth. It also allows each one to
structure their faith in solidity, without losing themselves in erroneous
“opinions of faith.” In the end, Dominic’s conviction, by devoting so much
importance to the study of the Word and of right doctrine, is that intellectual
endeavour – seeking truth – is a path of liberation from beliefs which alienate
us, and a door to contemplating the truth that liberates us. The intellect is not
“fixed”, but constantly seeks the truth, in the contemplation of the economy of
the revelation of the mystery of salvation in history. This revelation in
history reveals that, for the preacher, history is the primary locus for the
contemplation of grace, a “sacred land” where preachers are sent to hear the
Word… This third way therefore is one where holiness trusts the intellect
because, under the light of grace, it trusts men. It trusts men in their
history, because the task is to elicit, within history, a faith that is
simpler, but oh so much brighter!
Saint Dominic, a saint for
today
In his letter dated from the 11th February 1218,
Honorius III recommended the Order in this way: “We ask your allegiance and,
commanding you by apostolic letters, strongly urge that, with us, you encourage
in their praiseworthy design the friars of the Order of Preachers (whose
salutary ministry and religious institute we believe to be pleasing to God) and
regard them, out of reverence for us and the Apostolic See, as approved.” In
these times when the Church is called to renew ceaselessly her zeal for
evangelisation and thus experience the joy of being “in a permanent state of
mission,” the witness of Dominic’s holiness is a call for us today. Beyond the
memorial of the 6th August 1221, the celebrations which will mark the year
2021 can be for the Order an opportunity to share with the Church the treasure
we have received from Dominic. The commitment to the adventure of
evangelisation opens up, for each believer, a path on which can be experienced
the joy to be “adjusted” to Jesus, the Preacher.
It is as a preacher that
Dominic received the grace of holiness, and this is the way that he opened up
for his daughters and sons. Thus, Dominic’s holiness extends itself in the holiness
of his sons and daughters, in the contexts and places where brothers and
sisters have been led to
9
preach, proclaiming the Word
and working for the good of humanity. Like Dominic, they have been attentive to
the signs of the times and eager to serve communion in humanity and in the
Church. By joining together an intense life of prayer for the world, a generous
commitment to fraternity and a demanding search for truth, they have been
apostles, like Saint Dominic or Saint Vincent Ferrer, doctors like Saint Thomas
Aquinas and Saint Catherine of Siena, or martyrs, like Saint Peter of Verona.
In these last years, other
figures have been acknowledged as witnesses of holiness through preaching, such
as brother Jean-Joseph Lataste, apostle of the prisons; Pier Giorgo Frassati,
“the man of the beatitudes” who is such an important model to the youth today;
brother Giuseppe Girotti, martyred under Nazism; Blessed Marie Poussepin,
indefatigable missionary apostle of charity; Blessed Marie-Alphonsine Ghattas and
her daring foundation in the Middle East… Very recently brother Pierre
Claverie, Bishop of Oran, was recognised as a martyr with his eighteen
companions in Algeria. All these Saints and Blesseds together manifest the
model of holiness progressively promoted in the Order since the canonisation of
Saint Dominic in 1234, which is found in the triad of preacher, doctor and
martyr. Soon, the Order would like to offer to the Church the witness of
holiness of brother Marie-Joseph Lagrange, of Giorgio La Pira, a layman who
devoted his life to serve the public common good, of Bartolome de Las Casas,
and of Girolamo Savonarola. Together with them, so many men and women,
religious and lay, have found in Saint Dominic the inspiration to choose to
commit themselves to the Gospel, and to find their life by proclaiming and
giving witness to the good news of the Kingdom. Saint Dominic, a holiness for
today!
It is with profound
thanksgiving for the path of holiness opened up by Saint Dominic that we will
celebrate the anniversary of his death during the year starting on the 6th January
2021 until the 6th January 2022.
We will give thanks for the
path that he has opened up for us, and on which we desire to walk as preachers
for our sanctification. We will give thanks for the witness of so many sisters
and brothers whose holiness is welcomed by the Church as a precious gift for
all the faithful. We will give thanks for Dominic’s intercession to God,
promised by him to his sorrowful brethren, which gives its strength to holy preaching
today. And we will give thanks with the keen awareness that the celebration of
his memory is at the same time a prayer: that through the intercession of Mary,
Mother of Preachers, and of Saint Dominic, the brothers and sisters of the
Order, lay and religious, apostolic and monastic, confirm their “holy
preaching” by their service to humanity and to the Church.
Given in Santa Sabina, on the 6th August 2018,
Your brother in Saint Dominic,
br. Bruno Cadoré, O.P.
Master of
the order of Preachers
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