Our Founder: St Dominic
Dominic Guzman was born in Caleruega, northern Spain around 1173.
St Dominic by Rose McAllister
Dominic was educated for the priesthood and was invited to become a Canon of the Cathedral at Osma in Spain. After journeys to Denmark and Rome, as companion of his diplomat Bishop, Diego Acebes, Diego and Dominic were convinced that they had a new mission – to bring the gospel message to the market place as PREACHERS, firstly among the people who followed the Albigensian (Cathar) Heresy.
Consequently between 1206 – 1216 a Gospel-inspired community of both men and women, priests, lay people and religious, gathered around Dominic in the south of France, at Prouilhe, near Toulouse. When Dominic died in Bologna in 1221, the Order of Preachers, made up of priests, nuns, lay brothers and laity – a new movement in the Church – was well established in many European countries. Dominic was canonised in 1234.
Dominic, Preacher of Grace
Dominic dreamed a world
Freed from war and violence,
Winnowed of greed and falsehood,
Mirroring truth and goodness
In every sphere of life.
Dominic preached in Spirit power,
Caressed by compassion and mercy,
Visioning many grace-filled followers,
Men and women of the Word,
Ablaze with God’s dream.
Dominic walked the way,
Reaching out to new frontiers
With steady torch of truth held high,
Steeped in prayer night and day,
Releasing streams of light.
An unexpected future
Lies in wait for those who live
Deeply rooted and formed in the Word,
Watered by God’s abundant grace,
Daily living Dominic’s dream.
Pentecost people,
Preachers of grace in our time,
Beaming the blessings of our faithful God.
Brenda Walsh OP, Racine, Wisconsin
Reflection: At the Table with St Dominic
An Invitation:
In 2021, the world-wide Dominican Family will be commemorating the 800th anniversary of the death of St Dominic. The celebrations began on the Feast of the Epiphany (6 January) 2021 and will last an entire year until the Feast of the Epiphany 2022.
The theme for this jubilee celebration is At the Table with St Dominic! It’s inspired by the Mascarella table, the table on which the first portrait of St Dominic was painted shortly after his canonization. Thus, we will celebrate St Dominic not as a saint alone on a pedestal but a saint enjoying table fellowship with his brothers (and sisters), gathered by the same vocation: to preach God’s Word and sharing God’s gift of food and drink. (Master General – Gerard Timoner op)
A Reflection:
It’s surprising to start this year with an invitation to sit at a table. At a time when it is difficult to gather together because of the constraints of COVID, it is good to know that you are awaited, welcome guests at an appetising banquet of joyful conviviality. There is no limit here because the invitation is open to everyone, and for a whole year! And it is actually to sit at the table of a saint. Not bad in these times when we risk a life of isolation and solitude.
The invitation to take part in a “tableful” together with many other different people, is new and enchanting. To move beyond online platforms, to recover our social relations, to be present to one another, enables us to be a community which overcomes pessimism and fear. The call to share food, both material and spiritual, prompts in us a response and a willingness to come together.
Sitting at the table. In this time of loneliness and pandemic, it is important to lay a place for others, to make community. Within the context of a meal, holiness is close at hand, not far away, within reach ….. within a meal!
At table we can talk about anything and everything, exchange opinions and experiences, help each other along the day’s pathway. In a profoundly changed world, people need to see and hear one another, in company. To be a saint today is to seek heaven though the use of our minds, in a culture of encounter, in the relationships that arise precisely from good eating! (Alessandro Rondoni op)
A Little History:
The “Mascarella Table” takes its name from the fact that this wooden table has always been kept in the Bolognese Church of Santa Maria della Mascarella where St Dominic and his companions stayed for the first few months after their arrival in Bologna in the winter of 1218.
The table was painted in temper on a board measuring 43 x 572 cm shortly after Dominic’s canonisation (July 1234). According to current knowledge it is the oldest representation of the Saint and his friars. It was painted by a Master from the North of Italy around 1235-1240. It shows, in the centre, St Dominic with a halo, flanked by a series of niches with pairs of friar preachers (24: 12 + 12), all sitting at a table full of bread. Judging from the anonymous artist’s depiction of their faces, the friars seem to come from various parts of Europe: perhaps the painter may have seen them on the occasion of a General Chapter (held alternately in Bologna and Paris). The painting was inspired by the Prologue of Pietro Ferrandi (itself inspired by the Bull of Dominic’s canonisation.)
A Little Theology:
“On one occasion God, inviting his elect to an eternal banquet in various places and in many ways, in the last days (in other words at the eleventh hour), sent his servant to tell the guests that they should come, as all was now ready. According to St Gregory the Great, this servant is an Order of preachers that must be sent, in the last times, to warn people of the imminent arrival of the Judge. Indeed Scripture forewarns that there would be a new Order of preachers, and clearly states that this Order would be sent forth at the end of the world, affirming: “He has sent his servant at suppertime.” This “suppertime” is the end of the world, we are those for whom the end of times has arrived. Thus a new Order was sent at suppertime, that is to say in the last days …. These are the Preachers: divine Providence has provided their Order for the dangers of these last times, so that, at the approach of the judgement of him to whom, in humiliation, judgement was denied, the number of witnesses may increase.”
At the time of his canonisation, this was Dominic’s own understanding of his mission within the church. (Fr Gianni Festa OP)
adapted by Sr Jill OP
