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Click Here for the Summer 2012 Dominican Vocation Events

For young men considering a vocation to the Order of Preachers there are excellent opportunities available this summer to meet many friars and visit houses and priories of the Province of St. Joseph. New England, New York City, Ohio, Maryland, and our nation’s capital will be the venues for ordinations, professions, special masses, a silent retreat, and for the first time: a high school vocation event.

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.

Our next “Come & See” Vocation weekend will be held September 28-30, 2012.  SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT WEEKEND  (all vocation weekends follow this general timetable)  

MORE INFO CLICK HERE

A Vocation Weekend is a no-strings-attached chance to spend time learning about the life of Dominican Friars in the Province of St. Joseph. Come pray with us, talk with our student brothers, meet our older brethren, and most of all listen for the voice of Jesus who continually calls men to become preachers for the salvation of souls. (It is also possible to visit the Dominican House of Studies informally; contact the Vocation Director).

For more information, check out the Facebook page for the Province of St. Joseph and Fr. Benedict’s blog for men considering a vocation.

Also of interest to those considering a vocation is this recent essay by Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia, OP:  ”Why are there so many Dominican vocations?”

General information for Vocations in the Province of St. Joseph.

February 3-5, 2012 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.

A Vocation Weekend is a no-strings-attached chance to spend time learning about the life of Dominican Friars in the Province of St. Joseph. Come pray with us, talk with our student brothers, meet our older brethren, and most of all listen for the voice of Jesus who continually calls men to become preachers for the salvation of souls. (It is possible also to visit the Dominican House of Studies informally; contact the Vocation Director).

For more information, check out the Facebook page for the Province of St. Joseph and Fr. Benedict’s blog for men discerning a vocation.

Also of interest to those discerning is this recent essay by Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia, OP:  ”Why are there so many Dominican vocations?”

In this video, Br. Gregory Maria Pine, O.P. speaks about the response of two different English Dominicans, Fr. Vincent McNabb, O.P. and Fr. Bede Jarrett, O.P. to the question “Why did you enter religious life?” In comparing these two responses, Br. Gregory shows the link between the objective good of religious vows as well as the personal element to joining a community dedicated to preaching the Gospel and the salvation of souls.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Br. Gregory Maria is currently studying philosophy and theology  in his first year at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C.

In this video, Br. Reginald Lynch, O.P., explains the current ‘crisis of truth’ present in today’s culture. Realizing that all truth has its conclusion in God Himself, as the First Truth, Br. Reginald finds that the Dominican Order’s charism of proclaiming the truth of Christ crucified is especially necessary today.

Br. Reginald is in his fourth year as a student brother at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C., and is studying Theology in the STL program. He is originally from Hanover, New Hampshire, and studied as an undergraduate at St. Lawrence University.

In this video, Fr. Andrew Carl Wisdom, O.P. discusses his admiration for St. Thomas Aquinas which prompted him to write his book, Advent and Christmas Wisdom from St. Thomas Aquinas. Available from Liguori Publications.

Fr. Andrew is the promoter of vocations for the Central Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great. He also leads retreats and workshops for campus ministries, parishes, diocesan clergy and religious, and currently resides with the Dominican Friars at St. Pius V Priory in Chicago.

Fr. Romanus Cessario OP & Fr. Nicanor Austriaco OP will lead a holy hour and vocations talk at Boston College on October 11, 2011 from 6-7PM at St. Joseph’s Chapel at Boston College.

Vocations Talk & Pizza to follow: Gasson 307.  All Interested men in college (as well as men 21-35) are welcome to attend.

If you plan to attend please do RSVP by emailing Fr. Benedict OP at vocations@dominicanfriars.org

(Please click here for the flyer, print it out and help us get the word out)  For the Vocation Director’s blog, click here.

St. Dominic Ibañez and his companions (feast day – Sept. 28) were martyred between 1633 and 1637 in Japan.  This is the fourth of the four groups of Japanese martyrs, historically speaking, and of these 16 martyrs is included the first Filipino martyr, St. Lawrence Ruiz, who was a husband and father as well as a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.  In the words of St. Guillermo Courtet, they went to Japan “only to preach faith in God and to teach salvation to little ones and to the innocent and to all the rest of the people.”

These Japanese martyrs came mostly from the Philippines (or from Spain through the Philippines) to Japan.  When St. Dominic Ibañez first arrived in Japan in 1623, Christianity was tolerated because a powerful shogun was supportive of it.  However, subsequent shoguns weren’t.  This led to a resurgence in the persecutions that had started back in 1587 with the “Edict of Expulsion of all Missionaries.”

As a result, the Dominicans ended up working in cognito, until they were found out and martyred by crucifixions, beheadings, water torture, and the “gallows and hole” torture, which often lasted for days.  The Second Reading for Matins on this feast, by St. Dominic Ibañez, is particularly detailed when it comes to describing the martyrdoms:

Last month, many were burned alive and about thirty were sawed in two. As horrible as these were, the tortures by which they tried to force the sufferers to renounce the faith were even more cruel. They slowly boiled some in water mixed with sulphur, resin, oil, and other things to increase the pain; they crucified others, some they submerged in freezing water, others they buried up to the waist and sawed them in half slowly, so that the pain might be dragged out over seven or eight days. Up to this point, they have only executed the religious by burning them alive while suspended over a pit, so that since the flames did not encircle the body they might die slowly.

Let us then pray for the Church in Japan and look to the martyrs as an example of fidelity and faithfulness to the spread of the Gospel.  As Bl. Pope John Paul II said in his canonization homily, “The Holy martyrs speak to the Church in Japan, particularly to the Archdiocese of Nagasaki, to the Church in Taiwan and in Macao and to all Christ’s followers in Asia: may the example and intercession of the new Saints help to extend Christian truth and love throughout the length and breadth of this vast continent!“

O Lord, give us the perseverance of your blessed martyrs Dominic, James, Lawrence, and their companions, in service of you and our neighbor; for they who suffered persecution for the sake of justice now reign with you among the blessed.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

[Here's a link to the Vatican biographies of the individual saints, as well as links to the beatification homily and the canonization homily (which does have some English, just scroll down).]