St. Dominic and the formation of the Order of Preachers
The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans, was founded by St. Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221), a Spanish priest who was struck by the need for preaching the true faith in light of the rampant heresy he encountered while travelling in southern France. As Dominic began his preaching ministry, he established a group of women-converts into a monastic community that would have the special task of praying for the preaching of Dominic and his companions. Gradually he attracted men to join him in his task of preaching, and began the process of formally establishing the Order of Preachers. On December 22, 1216, Pope Honorius III formally approved the new Order, and Dominic served as the Master or superior of the entire Order until his death in 1221. Under St. Dominic and his successor, Bl. Jordan of Saxony, the Order spread rapidly throughout Europe, and quickly extended its apostolate to serve the Church is various ways. During the first century of the Order’s existence, Dominican friars served as preachers, inquisitors, canon lawyers, theologians, and teachers at intellectual and spiritual centers such as Paris, Bologna, Orvietto, and Rome. Luminaries of this time include St. Raymond of Penyafort, a Spaniard who compiled an important collection of ecclesiastical canons, St. Thomas Aquinas, who was one of the most prominent theologians of the 13th century, Bl. Innocent V, the first Dominican to serve the Church as Pope, and Humbert of Romans, who served as Master of the Order, established the perduring form of the Dominican liturgy, and served as an advisor for the Second Council of Lyons.
Serving the Church
Throughout the succeding centuries Dominican friars have continued to serve the Church as preachers and theologians. The Order has passed through times of greatness and decline, but has always stayed constant in its efforts to serve the Church. While remaining fundamentally united in its charism and way of life, the friars have reflected the various time periods in which they have lived and have found ways to preach in new circumstances.
Province of St. Joseph
The Dominican friars of the Province of St. Joseph were founded in 1806 by Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P., an American who had joined the English Province of the Order as a young man during its exile in Belgium. Fenwick eventually returned to the United States with the dream of establishing the Order in his native land. Due to the shortage of priests in the western states, Fenwick first established the province in Kentucky, and soon extended the ministry to Ohio. In the mid-nineteenth century, the province began ministering on the East Coast while continuing its presence in Ohio and Kentucky. In the first decades of the twentieth century, two educational institutions were established: in 1906, the Dominican House of Studies in Washinton, DC, and in 1917 Providence College in Rhode Island. The Province experienced a time of rapid growth in the early twentieth century, and in 1939 the western parts of Province, including Chicago, were established as the Province of St. Albert the Great. The southern parts of the Province of St. Albert the Great and the St. Joseph Province were designated as the Province of St. Martin de Porres in 1979.
The Province of St. Joseph continues its two hundred year legacy of service to Church in a variety of ways. Friars serve as pastors and parochial vicars in parishes in New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Ohio, and Kentucky; as teachers, campus ministers, and administrators in colleges, universities, and seminaries; as itinerant preachers, travelling to parishes and schools throughout the country; and as chaplains to monasteries and convents.