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Dominicans from all off the world :)

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HOMILY for our Patronal Feast of St Albert the Great

“The whole world is theology for us, because the heavens proclaim the glory of God”.

These words by St Albert truly characterize this most learned man, who, upon his death in 1280 was already given the appellation, ‘The...

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I posted this back in July, but have to repost today, because today is the Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, one of the most phenomenal saints of the Catholic Church. He was known for working indefatigably for the poor, during which God performed miracles of food multiplying for him. When sick people cried out to him, he appeared to them and yet stayed in the Dominican priory through bilocation. People on their deathbed experienced healing miracles at his hand. 

Most especially, he loved animals, spoke to them, called them his brothers and sisters, and opened up a veterinary hospital on his sister’s farm, where he would take the sick animals he encountered on the streets of Lima, Peru. During prayers at Mass or before the Blessed Sacrament, he would levitate off the ground and sometimes seemed to be transfigured in light.

Martin suffered extreme racism, because his father was Spaniard and his mother was black. People spit on him, called him a dog, and said not to touch them because he was a “dirty mulatto (half-breed).” He was told he couldn’t be a priest because people would never accept a mulatto priest. On many occasions, he went to the sick beds of people who had spat on him, and he healed them. He spent his entire life as a brother, and begged to be given the most menial tasks of the priory.

He was never ordained a priest. He attained a much higher honor. The honor of the altars. For Latinos, he is the patron saint of animals, and in Latin America is patron saint for veterinarians.

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Saint Dominic, pray for us!

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Saint Peter of Verona

In 1205, the future saint was born in Verona, in northern Italy. Despite his parents, who had Manichean tendencies, Peter attended a school established in the truths of Catholicism. One day his uncle asked Peter what he had learned in school. “The Creed,” answered Peter. “I believe in God, Creator of heaven and earth.” No arguments could shake his faith, and at the age of sixteen he received the habit from St. Dominic. After his ordination, St. Peter preached to the heretics of Lombardy and converted multitudes. He was constantly obliged to dispute with heretics. Although he was able to confound them, the devil still seized the opportunity to tempt him against faith. Instantly he would have recourse to prayer before an image of Our Lady. On one occasion, Peter heard a voice repeating the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail; and you shall confirm your brethren in it” (Luke 22:32). Peter often conversed with the saints. One day the virgin-martyrs Catherine, Agnes and Cecilia appeared to him. A passing religious, hearing their feminine voices, accused him to their Superior, who without hesitation or questions exiled Peter to a convent where no preaching was being done. St. Peter submitted humbly, but complained in prayer to Jesus crucified that He was abandoning him to his bad reputation. The crucifix spoke, “And I, Peter, was I too not innocent? Learn from me to suffer the greatest sorrows with joy.” Eventually Peter’s innocence was brought to light. Again engaged in preaching, miracles accompanied St. Peter’s exhortations. He traveled across Italy and became well-known. Once, when preaching to a vast crowd under the burning sun, the heretics challenged him to procure shade for his listeners. As he prayed, a cloud overshadowed the audience. Every day at the elevation of the Mass St. Peter prayed, “Grant, Lord, that I may die for Thee, who for me didst die.” His prayer was answered. Peter’s enemies, whom he had confounded, sought his life. Two of them attacked him in 1252 on the road to Milan, striking his head with an ax. St. Peter fell, commended himself to God, dipped his finger in his own shed blood, and wrote on the ground, Credo in unum Deum—I believe in God. He was then stabbed to death. The brother religious accompanying him also suffered death. The details of the crime were made known by St. Peter’s murderer, Carino, who after fleeing from justice confessed his crime, asking for a penance from the Dominican Fathers. He took the habit and according to their testimony, lived the life of a saint, persevering to the end.  Source: Dominican Province of the Assumption

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Blessed Augustine Kažotić

Blessed Augustine was born at Trogir in Dalmatia in Croatia about 1260 and entered the Dominican Order at an early age.  He completed his studies at the University of Paris and returned to his own country where he was regarded as an excellent preacher.  In 1303 Blessed Benedict XI appointed him Bishop of Zagreb, where he successfully restored order in the aftermath of the Tartars.  In 1317 he was transferred to the See of Lucera, where he labored to restore peace after the Muslim withdrawal and completely reformed the diocese.  He died there on August 3, 1323.

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Aymericus Giliani

Aymeric of Piacenza (born Piacenza, Italy; died 19 August 1327, Bologna) was an Italian Dominican scholar, who became Master of the Order of Preachers (1304–1311). He involved in both the suppression of the Fraticelli, and the downfall of the Templars.

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Bernard de Jusix

He was  Master of the Order of Preachers from  1301-1303.

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Albertus de Chiavari

He was  Master of the Order of Preachers in 1300.

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Blessed Pope Benedict XI (Nicola Boccasini)

Blessed Pope Benedict XI (1240 – 7 July 1304), born Nicola Boccasini, was Pope from 22 October 1303 until his death.

Born in Treviso, he succeeded Pope Boniface VIII, but was unable to carry out his policies. Benedict XI was a Dominican and when he was made Master of the Order in 1296, he issued ordinances forbidding public questioning of the legitimacy of Boniface VIII's election on the part of any Dominican. At the time of the seizure of Pope Boniface VIII at Anagni in 1303, Boccasini was one of only two cardinals to defend the papal party in the Lateran Palace itself. However, upon being elected Pope at the papal conclave of 1303, he released King Philip IV of France from the excommunication that had been laid upon him by Boniface VIII, and practically ignored Boniface's bull Unam sanctam, which asserted papal supremacy over secular rulers. Nevertheless, on 7 June 1304, Benedict excommunicated Philip IV's implacable minister Guillaume de Nogaret and all the Italians who had played a part in the seizure of Boniface VIII at Anagni.

After a brief pontificate of eight months, Benedict XI died suddenly at Perugia. As original reports had it, suspicion fell primarily on Nogaret with the suspicion that his sudden death was caused by poisoning. There is no direct evidence, however, to support the contention that Nogaret poisoned the pope. Benedict XI's successor, Clement V removed the papal seat from Rome to Avignon, inaugurating the period sometimes known as the Babylonian Captivity. He and the French popes who succeeded him were completely under the influence of the kings of France.

Benedict XI was the author of a volume of sermons and commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, the Psalms, the Book of Job, and the Book of Revelation.

(Note on numbering: Pope Benedict X is now considered an antipope. At the time of the election of Benedict XI, however, this status was not recognized, and the man the Roman Catholic Church officially considers the tenth true Pope Benedict took the official number XI, rather than X. This has advanced the numbering of all subsequent Popes Benedict by one. Popes Benedict XI through XVI are, from an official point of view, the 10th through 15th popes by that name.)

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Étienne de Besançon

Stephen of Besançon, O.P., (ca. 1250, Free Imperial City of Besançon--22 November 1294, Republic of Lucca) was a French Dominican friar, who served briefly as the Master General of the Order.

Stephen began his studies in 1273 and graduated as Baccalaureus biblicus (Bachelor of Theology in Biblical Studies) in 1286. Two years later he obtained his Master's degree (Magister) from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Paris. A popular collection of sermons entitled Alphabetum narrationem is possibly attributable to him.

First as Prior Provincial of northern France (1291) and then as Master General of the Order of Preachers (in 1292) he tried to lead the Order back to the original severity of its ideal. He died in Lucca inTuscany, while on the way back to Rome from a journey of canonical visitations of the priories of the Order.

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Munio de Zamora

Munio de Zamora (Zamora, 1237 - Rome, 1300) became the seventh Master General of the Dominican Order in 1285, thanks in large part to the manipulations performed by his patron Sancho IV of Castile. He was dramatically removed from his office by a papal bull dated April 12, 1291, in an action that involved the pope Nicholas IV and the archbishop of Genoa, Jacob de Voragine (the author of the Golden Legend). Munio's career was rehabilitated in 1294, when he was appointed Bishop of Palencia, thanks to the interventions and bribery of his protector, King Sancho. And perhaps brother Munio was also in the background when Sancho had authorized a payment of 30,000 maravedís to Cardinal Ordoño in 1285, just one month after Munio had been elevated to Master-General. Brother Munio, dissolute and violent, made an earlier appearance in the Dominican nunnery affair in the small provincial city of Zamora, which occasioned a visitation by the bishop of Zamora in 1279. The convent of Dominican nuns was split with faction and the Dominican friars were behaving like characters from the Decameron. The resulting depositions survive, to form the basis of a highly readable history by Peter Linehan (1997) that lays open more than just the social history of Dominican friars and nuns in 13th century Castile. Pursuing Munio, his friends and his enemies, from Zamora to the papal Curia over a twenty-year period, Linehan shows how events in a Castilian nunnery could influence high politics in the medieval Church.

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To all those who shall recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces.

Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace.

The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin, and…

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Giovanni da Vercelli

The Blessed John of Vercelli, O.P. (ca. 1205-30 November 1283), was the sixth Master General of the Dominican Order.

John was born in 1205 to the Garbella family in Mosso Santa Maria in the Province of Biella, in the Piedmont region of Italy. He did his initial studies inParis and then studied canon law in Paris, Pavia and Vercelli before he joined the Dominican friars during the 1240s. In 1254 he was appointed as the priorof the Dominican monastery in Bologna. From 1257 to 1264 he served as the Prior Provincial of Lombardy.

In 1264 he was elected as Master General by the General Chapter, a post which he held till his death. Known for his tireless energy and his commitment to simplicity, John made personal visits—typically on foot—to almost all the Dominican houses, urging his fellow friars to observe faithfully the Rule andConstitutions of the Order.

During his administration, Pope Gregory X entrusted the Dominican Order with the task of trying to establish peace among the warring States of the Italian peninsula. Additionally, John was also given the task of preparing a framework for the Second Council of Lyons, held in 1274 in an attempt to unify the Eastern and Western Churches. In the course of this work, he met and worked with the Minister General of the Friars Minor, Jerome of Ascoli (who would later become Pope Nicholas IV). Both were later sent by the Holy See to negotiate a disagreement with King Philip III of France.

Late in his life, John was offered the position of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, which he declined. He died on 30 November 1283 in Montpellier, France.

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Humbert de Romans

Humbert was elected as Master General of the Dominican Order in 1254. His first achievement was the re-organization (and consequent standardization) of the Order's liturgy. A new edition of the Order's Constitutions was prepared, and measures were taken to improve discipline in the Order's houses. Further, he issued new Constitutions for all nuns associated with the Dominican Order, based on those he himself had drawn up while serving as Provincial of France. He instituted the formal collection of information of two of the Order's members, Dominic, the founder, and the martyred Peter of Verona, with the intention of seeking their canonization. As a result of this search for information, Friar Gerald de Frachet produced his Vitae fratrum (Lives of the Brothers).

In 1255, he was called to adjudicate a dispute on the Constitutions of the Carthusian monks. In 1256, he became the godfather of one of the children of the holy King Louis IX of France; and, in 1258, the same king asked for his advice regarding the settlement of a dispute between various noble families. Humbert further encouraged the missionary activities of the friars, and schools to teach Oriental languages were established in Spain.

In governing, he demonstrated both indulgence and severity when either was required, and he combined a broad outlook with a genius for detail. Under his rule, the Order flourished in Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and England. Humbert sent missionaries to the Greeks, Hungarians, Saracens, Armenians, Syrians, Ethiopians, and Tartars. He regulated the liturgy of the Divine Office, determined the suffrages of for the dead, commanded the history of the Order be recorded, and even issued minute decrees concerning the election of superiors, the reading of the Constitutions at meals, the transfer of friars from one house to another and other pertinent regulations.

Opposition to the presence of both Dominicans and Franciscans at the University of Paris during the mid-1250s led to his issuing a joint encyclical with the Franciscan Minister General, urging that the two Orders - often in bitter dispute - should work together for their survival and the maintenance of their university chairs.

Humbert resigned his position as Master of the Order in 1263 at the General Chapter held in London, probably on account of his failing health.

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Johannes von Wildeshausen

Johannes von Wildeshausen (also called Johannes Teutonicus) (born around 1180 inWildeshausen, died 4 November 1252 in Strasbourg) was the fourth master general of theDominican order.

He joined the Dominican Order in Bologna. From 1224 he accompanied the papal legates in Germany. He preached crusade in South Germany in 1224, and mediated in the conflict between the Stedingern and the Archbishop of Bremen Gerhard/Gebhard II, Edelherr zur Lippe.

He was Provincial in Hungary from 1231 to 1233; bishop of Đakovo in Croatia from 1233 to 1237. He went to 1237 as an envoy of Pope Gregory IX to the Bulgarian prince Asen II, and Provincial ofLombardy from 1238 to 1240. On 1241 were selected Johannes in Paris to the medal master. He was named Frater more magister episcopus. He preached in five languages, and had good relations with the papal Curia. In 1233 Johannes was appointed Bishop of Kaloczs, to replace a bishop that cooperated with the Bogomil heretics. Unable to control the hard crusades fought against the Bosnian heretics after 1235, he begged the Pope to relieve him of his duty.John was considered a saint during his life, and after death was venerated as saint, both within the Order and without. Documents were drawn up by his successor, Humbert of Romans, with the goal of seeking his canonization. His cause, however, never succeeded in Rome. In the 16th century, in the course of the Protestant Revolution, the Dominican church where he was entombed was seized byHuguenots, and the interior was gutted, to be used for their purposes.

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Saint Raymond of Penyafort

Born to the Aragonian nobility. Educated at the cathedral school in Barcelona, Spain. Philosophy teacher around age 20. Priest. Graduated law school in Bologna, Italy. Joined the Dominicans in 1218. Summoned to Rome, Italy in 1230 by Pope Gregory IX. Assigned to collect all official letters of the popes since 1150. Raymond gathered and published five volumes, and helped write Church law. Chosen master general of the Dominicans in 1238. Reviewed the Order‘s Rule, made sure everything was legally correct, then resigned his position in 1240 to dedicate himself to parish work. He was offered and archbishopric, but he declined, instead returning to Spain and the parish work he loved. His compassion helped many people return to God through Reconciliation. During his years in Rome, Raymond heard of the difficulties missionaries faced trying to reach non-Christians of Northern Africa and Spain. Raymond started a school to teach the language and culture of the people to be evangelized. With Saint Thomas Aquinas, he wrote a booklet to explain the truths of faith in a way that non-believers could understand. His great influence on Church law led to his patronage of lawyers.

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Blessed Jordan of Saxony

Saxon noble. Received a pious upbringing, and was noted for his charity to the poor from an early age. Educated in Germany, and received his masters degree in theology at the University of Paris. Joined the Order of Preachers in 1220 under Saint Dominic himself. Prior-provincial of the Order in Lombardy in 1221. Succeeded Dominic as master-general of the Order in 1222. Under his administration, the Order spread throughout Germany, and into Denmark.  A noted and powerful preacher; one of his sermons brought Saint Albert the Great into the Order. Wrote a biography of Saint Dominic. His writings on Dominic and the early days of the Order are still considered a primary sources. Spiritual director of Blessed Diana d'Andalo, and helped her found the monastery of Saint Agnes.

from:http://saints.sqpn.com/saintj0i.htm