CELEBRATING
ST DOMINIC GUZMAN SERIES
 |
St Dominic Guzman: |
Over the next few weeks, I will share
with you information about St Dominic which I have acquired from parish church notices The Dominican (St Dominic's Parish East Camberwell Australia). Some
art you may not have seen, some extracts from contemporary documents about
Dominic, prayers to St Dominic and some other delights.
Let us begin this series with the oldest known
portrait of St Dominic, painted some twenty years after his death, and some of
the grains of information that we have about his youth in northern Spain.
1 hope that each week you will find something to
delight, interest or challenge you.
The Mascarella Table at Bolgna.
The oldest known portrait of
Saint Dominic (detail), c. 1235.
This is the earliest portrait we have of Dominic and his companions, and it gives us insight into his understanding of his mission in the Church. The image shows Saint Dominic with a halo in the centre, in the company of forty-eight of his brother preachers, seated at the same table. He is at dinner at the first convent in Bologna, known today as Saints Mary and Dominic of Mascarella, where he and his companions, who arrived in Bologna during the winter of 1218, lived for a few months. The faces of Dominic's companions suggest that they came from different countries in Europe, as indeed they did. The painting has been there since about 1235, and happily remains largely intact, despite being painted over at one time and sawn in three at another. It even survived an attempt by the Dominicans in Bologna to steal it!
“We will celebrate Saint Dominic not as a saint alone on a pedestal,
but as a saint enjoying the communion of a meal with his brothers, united by
the same vocation to preach the Word of God and to share the gift of food and
of drink from God ”, explained the master general of the Dominicans, Brother
Gerard Francisco Timoner, the present Master of the Order (and so the 87th
Successor of St Dominic.)
THE
YOUNG DOMINIC GUZMAN Some extracts from the Libellus of Bl. Jordan of Saxony..
Jordan of Saxony’s Little Book on the Origins of the Order of Preachers (the
Libellus) is quite different. He was a close personal friend of Dominic, and
succeeded him as Master of the Order. He consulted three important witnesses of
the first days of the Order who were still alive (Bertrand of Garrigua, Peter
Seila, and John of Navarre), and was witness himself to the later years of
Dominic’s life, as well as the transfer of his body from the cemetery to the
tomb in the church in 1233. For Dominic’s infancy, of course, he had to rely on
second-hand accounts, though he may well have heard many details direct from
the mouth of his friend, Dominic, when they travelled and worked together.
His mother’s dream A boy named Dominic was born … in the town of Caleruega. Before his mother conceived him, she saw in a vision that she would bear in her womb a dog who, with a burning torch in his mouth and leaping from her womb, seemed to set the whole earth on fire. This was to signify that her child would be an eminent preacher who, by “barking” sacred knowledge, would rouse to vigilance souls drowsy with sin, as well as scatter throughout the world the fire which the Lord Jesus Christ came to cast upon the earth. From infancy this child was carefully reared by his parents and a maternal uncle, an archpriest who lost no time training him in the practices of the Church. In this way the child, whom God had destined to be a vessel of election, was from his earliest years pervaded with an odour of holiness which always clung to him.
His
time at University In due time he was sent to Palencia for
instruction in the liberal sciences, which flourished there in those days…
While he was a student [there], a famine arose and almost all Spain was
stricken. Being moved with pity for the poor at the sight of their misery, he
resolved at once to put into practice our Lord’s counsel and do all he could to
relieve the wants of the dying poor. He sold all his belongings, even his
books, which he very much needed in that city. Establishing a centre for
almsgiving, he distributed his goods and gave them to the poor. This example so
stirred the souls of his fellow students and masters in theology that, seeing
how stingy their own help had been in comparison with this young man’s
liberality, they began to give alms in greater abundance.
Called
to the priesthood: a canon at Osma cathedral Reports about him
reached the Bishop of Osma, who, after carefully verifying all that he heard,
summoned Dominic and made him a Canon Regular of his church. At once he began
to shine as a special star among the canons. His humble heart and extraordinary
holiness made him an odour of life unto life among them and as sweet-smelling
frankincense in summertime. …He frequented the church day and night. He prayed
without ceasing and, making use of the leisure afforded for contemplation, he
scarcely ever left the monastery grounds. God gave him the singular gift of
weeping for sinners, the wretched, and the afflicted, whose sufferings he felt
within his compassionate heart, which poured out its hidden feelings in a
shower of tears… It was his custom to spend his night watches in prayer and,
having shut the door, to pray to the Father in secret
Canonised
(declared a saint) in 1234.
No comments:
Post a Comment