Archives

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.

“Boots.”  That was the common name for St. Albert the Great (1193/1206-1280, feast – Nov. 15).  Wherever he went, he traveled humbly by walking.  He traveled all throughout Europe…and walked on each journey.  He could have ridden a horse as a bishop (since he was no longer bound to the Dominican’s rule forbidding the riding of horses).  Yet, if he hadn’t walked, would his eyes and his mind have been as perceptive?

St. Albert the Great is a one of the 3 Dominican doctors of the Church (with St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Catherine of Siena), and is known as the Universal Doctor and the Doctor of Science.  Tradition has it that he knew everything about science that was possible to know in his day.  Regardless of whether or not the skeptics desire to disbelieve such an astounding claim, it is certain that his knowledge was incredibly extensive.  His writings ranged from philosophy to Scriptural commentaries to scholastic theology to botany and zoology.  It was said that he even made a sort of robot.  He did experiments on animals, such as finding out that the myth that ostriches liked to eat iron was true and that there probably existed an animal that we now know as the polar bear.  It was simply amazing how much he wrote, especially since he was a professor, a provincial, and eventually a bishop.

But in all his studies, his travels by foot showed not only a sense of obedience to the Dominican Rule, but also something much more.  They show his love for science and God’s providence.  When you walk on a road that you would normally drive, you see so much more.  Nature becomes real in a new way.  Instead of passing you by, it approaches you, offering to invite you into something deeper.  This is probably what St. Albert saw.  In his traveling thousands of miles all throughout Europe over and again, he not only saw things previously unknown to him, but he began to understand in a new way.  It is probably because of this and because of his deep contemplative prayer life that he could write works on animals, plants, and God, all with such profound depth.  And at the same time, he could teach the Church’s brightest student, whose mind worked more deeply than any human person had yet done.  That student was the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Albert is an ideal model not just for Dominicans, but for all Christians.  While he might exemplify the friar’s life of study, contemplation, and preaching, he also teaches all of us to gaze upon the world and see God’s hand in creation.  He teaches us the importance of seeing Divine providence at work.

O God, you have made the blessed Albert, your bishop and doctor, great in subjecting human wisdom to divine faith; grant to us, we beg of you, so to tread in the footsteps of such a master, that we may enjoy the perfect light in heaven.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt. 5:8)

The universal Church celebrates her feast of all the pure of heart, all those who see God – All Saints Day – on November 1.  Likewise, many of the great religious Orders celebrate a feast for their own saints.  The Dominican Order happens to be one of them (feast day – Nov. 7).  The Dominicans were the second Order (after the Benedictines) to receive this privilege from the Holy See.  In response to the request of Cardinal Vincent Maria Orsini, OP, in 1674, Pope Clement X wrote:

Rightly, my Lord Cardinal, ought your Order to celebrate the solemnity of all its Saints on one appointed day; for, if we wished to assign to each of its holy sons his own special feast, we should have to form a new calendar, and they alone would suffice to fill it.

So not only does the Order have the privilege to celebrate her great saints like Our Holy Father Dominic, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, St. Martin de Porres, St. Peter Martyr, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Agnes of Montepulciano, as well as our countless number of blesseds, but we also get to celebrate the holy friars, nuns, sisters, and third order members who have lived throughout these past almost 800 years.  According to the General Chapter of Valencia in 1337, there were 13,370 martyrs between 1234 and 1335.  There were another 26,000 in the 16th century alone.  Martyrs, confessors, virgins, and holy men and women all have their place of honor in the Order.  Friars, worn down through constant contemplation, study, and preaching; nuns who lived lives of great prayer, silence, and penance; sisters who educated 1000s of souls; and third order members who sanctified the world – these are the “forgotten” saints who are also celebrated on this day.

But why celebrate them?  It’s not just so that they can have their day on the calendar.  As our Book of Constitutions states, it’s because they “provide us with an example by their way of life, a fellowship in their communion, and an aid by their intercession,” so that we may be “moved to imitate them and may be strengthened in the spirit of our vocation” (cf. LCO, nn. 16 and 67).

May we thank God on this great feast and turn to the example and intercession of the hundreds of saintly Dominicans so that they may guide us on our journey.

O God, who has pleased to make the Order of Preachers fruitful in an abundant progeny of Saints, and has gloriously crowned in them the merits of all heroic virtues, grant unto us to tread in their footsteps, that we may at last be united in perpetual festivity with those in heaven whom we venerate today under one celebration upon earth.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.