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Mothers hid their sons when Bl. Jordan of Saxony came around (1190-1236, feast – Feb. 13).  The successor to Holy Father Dominic as Master of the Order, Bl. Jordan was known to draw men to the Order in great numbers.  It is said that during his time as Master of the Order, well over 1000 men entered the Dominicans (including a “German” believed to be St. Albert the Great).  In the Vitae Fratrum, Jordan is depicted as drawing so many men to the Order that priories would make habits in advance of his arrival:

During his stay the convent resembled a bee-hive from the numbers which swarmed in and poured out to join the different provinces of the Order. He would often have a number of habits made in advance, feeling sure that our Lord would not be long in sending him subjects to wear them, a result which came about directly he resumed his preaching: nay, it often happened that so many thronged in at one time that habits could not be provided as fast as they were required. On one memorable occasion tears were shed by every eye on his receiving twenty-one students at once in Paris; for on the one hand the brethren wept for joy, while on the other those present bewailed the loss of their friends.

Among other notable qualities, Bl. Jordan also had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  To honor the Most Holy Name of Mary, he composed a little Office of 5 psalms, each of which began with a letter of her name (M – the Magnificat, A – Psalm 120, R – Psalm 119:17-24, I – Psalm 126, A – Psalm 123).  He began this Office with the Ave Maris Stella, and concluded the Psalms with an Ave Maria instead of the usual Gloria Patri.  Moreover, he also had various visions of the Blessed Virgin who would either sprinkle the friars with heavenly water or enjoin her Son to bless them Himself.

May we too follow Bl. Jordan’s example of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and may the Queen of Heaven intercede for us to her Son and beseech Him to send us an abundance of priestly and religious vocations so that through them many souls may be saved.

O God, who made Blessed Jordan wonderful for zeal in the saving of souls and for grace in the extending of religion, grant that, by his merits and intercession, we may ever live in the same spirit and find glory laid up for us in heaven.  Through Christ our Lord.

Bl. John of Vercelli (c.1200-1283, feast – Dec. 1), 6th Master of the Order of Preachers, worked diligently for the Church and for the Order.  During his time as Master, he oversaw the renewal and reform of the life amongst the friars.  He ordered a more suitable tomb to be built for Holy Father Dominic, and he was present, with about 500 Dominicans, including St. Thomas Aquinas and Bl. Bartholomew of Vicenza, at the second translation of the relics of St. Dominic, in which he was moved into his new (and current) tomb.  At the request of Pope Gregory X, he selected Bl. Humbert of Romans to propose reforms to the Second Council of Lyons, for the the betterment of the Church.  Moreover, after St. Thomas Aquinas died, John bestowed the cord of St. Thomas on the Dominican Priory in Vercelli and soon after zealously promoted the teachings of the Angelic Doctor amongst the brethren of the Order.

All this, and yet, Bl. John is mainly known as the founder of the Holy Name Society.  A historic development in the devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus dates back to 1274 when the Second Council of Lyons declared that more reverence should be paid to the name of Jesus.  The task for carrying this out was given by Bl. Pope Gregory X to Bl. John.  Due to his guidance, the Dominican friars quickly spread the devotion, preaching the glories of the Holy Name and combating the blasphemies of the day.  After being removed by Pope Paul VI in 1969, the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus was restored to the universal calendar of the Latin Church by Bl. Pope John Paul II in 2002, as an optional memorial on January 3.

The Holy Name Society today continues to spread devotion to the name of Jesus, and the Church continues to sing the praises of this name which is above all names.  Every week at First Vespers on Sunday, the Church sings these words:

Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, so that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend, in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.  (Phil. 2:9-11)

For a very brief talk on Bl. John of Vercelli by Fr. John F. Hinnebusch, O.P., click here.

O God, you willed that the blessed John should shine with wonderful prudence and constancy; grant, through his intercession, that your family may always and everywhere be governed by beneficial rule.  Through Christ our Lord.

“O Jesus, good King, I await the sword for Thy sake; do Thou deign to receive my spirit, and to show mercy to those who honor my memory.”

“Come, My chosen one, come; enter into the bridal chamber of thy Spouse.  Thou hast obtained the grant of thy petition, and it shall be well with them that praise thee.”

These words were the final plea of St. Catherine of Alexandria (c. 282 – c. 305, feast – Nov. 25; Co-Patroness of the Order of Preachers) before her martyrdom.  The Lord’s response was not only a comfort to her, but is also a comfort to us.

As a young woman, she had embraced the faith, and been mystically espoused to Christ in a vision.  She then proceeded to defend the teachings of the Church, in the face of death, and bested Emperor Maximin’s 50 philosophers.  It was because of this and her ardent continued defense of Christianity that she was martyred.  The first attempt was with a spiked wheel.  But when that did not work, the old-fashioned, sword-to-the-neck beheading was employed, and Catherine entered the comfort of the promised “bridal chamber” of her Spouse.

We too, who celebrate her feast this day, should take great solace in the prayers of such a wonderful patron and protectress.  She is the patron of philosophers because of the wisdom and reasoning with which she spoke in defense of the faith.  Aptly, this is the main reason the Dominican Order has chosen her as its patroness.

Yet, there is more.  Tradition has it that she appeared twice in visions during the early days of the Order, plus again in the 16th century.  She was one of the Virgins (along with St. Cecilia) who accompanied the Blessed Virgin Mary when she gave Bl. Reginald the scapular.  She also accompanied the Blessed Virgin in the vision in which St. Dominic saw the Virgin Mary sprinkling the brethren while they slept.  Lastly, she again accompanied the Blessed Virgin, along with St. Mary Magdalene (co-patroness of the Order), in preparation for the painting of the miraculous image of St. Dominic in Soriano.  It might seem that not only has the Dominican Order chosen her as patroness, but you might even be able to say that she herself has chosen to watch over the Friars Preachers in a special way.

O God, you gave the law to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai, and through your holy angels, wonderfully put in that same place the body of the blessed Catherine, your virgin and martyr; grant, we beseech you, that by her merits and intercession, we may reach that mountain which is Christ.  Through Christ our Lord.

One of the earliest members of the Order of Preachers, Bl. Bartholomew of Vicenza (1201-1270, feast day – Oct. 27) was known throughout his life to be a holy friar, and able preacher, and an effective peacemaker.

Receiving the habit from St. Dominic himself, he gave himself over to his formation so that he might grow faithful in religion.  Immediately after his ordination, he was sent to Lombardy to preach against the heretics who were leading others away from the true faith.  He was so effective in this, that the Holy Father, Pope Gregory IX called him to Rome and appointed him Master of the Sacred Palace (the Papal Theologian), which is an office traditionally held by Dominicans.

Because of the differing needs of the Church, the following Pope, Innocent IV, appointed him to become a bishop on the Island of Cyprus.  Already having become a friend of St. Louis the King of France, Bl. Bartholomew renewed this friendship as St. Louis went through Cyprus on his way to Egypt during the Seventh Crusade (1248).  This friendship led to St. Louis giving relics of the True Cross and a thorn from the Crown of Thorns to Bl. Bartholomew.

After his transfer to his native Vicenza, Bl. Bartholomew built the Church of the Crown to house these relics.  Here he not only continued to preach the truths of the faith and free the local Church from the errors of the Manicheans, but he also established such a sense of peace that the people asked him to become their temporal ruler as well.  He rightfully declined, but this shows the great virtue that he not only had but also that he instilled in his people.

May we turn to him for intercession when there is unrest and discord, and may he help us in times of need.

O God, who madest Blessed Bartholomew, Thy Confessor and Bishop, wonderful in leading the enemies of the faith from the darkness of error to the light of truth, and in bringing back multitudes to peace and concord, grant, through his intercession, that Thy peace, which passeth all understanding, may keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee for ever and ever.

Holy Father Francis (ca. 1181-1226, feast day – Oct. 4) founded his own Order, but we still refer to him as our Holy Father (along with St. Dominic and St. Augustine).  “Why?” you might ask.  As the legend goes, the stigmatist and spouse of Lady Poverty had a very memorable meeting with St. Dominic in which the two were joined in the bonds of friendship.  Describing this holy encounter, Fr. Guy Bedouelle, OP, an eminent Dominican historian, wrote:

At almost the same time that Dominic, in the Church of Our Lady of Prouille at the foot of the Pyrenees, laid the foundations of his Order, Francis was preparing his at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, at the foot of the Apennines. An ancient sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God was for each the humble and sweet cornerstone of their edifice. Dominic cherished Our Lady of Prouille above all other places; Francis reserved for the small plot of land sheltering Our Lady of the Angels a special affection, within the immensity of a heart detached from all visible things. Each began his public life with a pilgrimage to Rome; each returned there to beg the sovereign pontiff’s approbation of his Order. Innocent III at first rebuffed them both, and the same vision persuaded him to grant them both a verbal and provisional approbation. Dominic, like Francis, included within the austere flexibility of his Rule men and women religious and laymen, making of three Orders a single power to fight for Jesus Christ with all the weapons of nature and grace; only Dominic began with women, Francis with men. The same sovereign Pontiff, Honorius III, confirmed their institutions by apostolic bulls; Gregory IX canonized them both. Finally, the two greatest doctors of all centuries have done honor to their memories, St. Thomas for St. Dominic, St. Bonaventure for St. Francis.

Yet these two men, whose destinies created such admirable harmonies for both worlds, heaven and earth, never knew each other. Both were in Rome during the Lent when the Fourth Lateran Council met, yet it seems that neither had ever so much as heard the other’s name. One night Dominic, at prayer according to his custom, beheld Jesus Christ looking upon the world in wrath and his Mother presenting two men to him to appease him. He recognized himself as one of them but did not know who the other was. Fixing his gaze on him he tried to memorize his features. The next day in some church–no one knows which–he saw, clothed in the habit of a mendicant, the figure revealed to him the night before. Running up to this poor man he embraced him with holy affection and said: ‘You are my companion, you will go with me, let us stay together and nothing shall be able to prevail against us.’ The embrace of Francis and Dominic has often been presented and stylized to illustrate the theme of ‘holy friendship’.    (Bedouelle, St. Dominic: The Grace of the Word, 144-145).

So please join with the Dominican Order as we celebrate that saint whom St. Dominic embraced with a holy friendship.

O God, through the merits of the blessed Father, Francis, you enriched your church with a new offspring; grant that we, following him, may scorn earthly things, and ever rejoice to share in the gift of heaven.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bl. Bertrand of Garrigue (ca. 1195-1230, feast day – Sept. 6)…who’s that you might ask.  Aside from the well known saints of the Order, there are a plethora of Dominican blesseds,* such as the well known Bl. Jordan of Saxony, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Bl. Reginald or Orleans, or the not so well known Bl. Albert de Villa D’Ogna, Bl. Isnard of Chiampo, or Bl. Guala of Bergamo.

Aside from being known as “the beloved companion of Dominic,” “the dearest associate in all his labors, the sharer in his devotions,” “the imitator of his sanctity,” and “the inseparable companion of his journeys,” Bl. Bertrand was one of the first 16 followers of St. Dominic.  He often traveled with St. Dominic and shared stories of St. Dominic which made it into the Lives of the Brethren (see below for links).

He is probably most famous for a story in which he was known to be very devoted to praying for sinners but not praying much for the souls in purgatory.  After a certain Br. Benedict approached him about this, Br. Benedict tried to convince him or the greater importance of praying for the souls in purgatory since they can’t do anything to hasten their entrance into heaven.  After not quite believing him, Bl. Bertrand received a vision of a soul carrying a bundle of wood which nearly crushed him.  He awoke and devoted prayed for the dead.

You can read some brief primary source texts in the Lives of the Brethren: Part II, chapter 10, chapter 19, Part VI, chapter 7.  You can also read a longer biography of him from First Disciples of Saint Dominic by Fr. Victor O’Daniel, OP.

O God, who didst give to the Blessed Patriarch, Saint Dominic, Blessed Bertrand as an excellent companion and imitator, grant us, through his pious intercession, so to walk in his footsteps as to obtain his rewards.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

* – In fact, I’ve heard it said that with all of our blesseds included, we have more saints and blesseds than any other Order – I hope that’s true.