Order of Preachers, Part 2
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
Pierre Mandonnet, O.P., S.T.D.,
Rector, University of Fribourg.FIRST PART: ce.htm Previous file.
I. LEGISLATION AND NATURE.
A. Formation of the Legislative Texts.
B. Nature of the Order of Preachers.
(1) Its Object.
(2) Its Organization.
(3) Forms of its Activity.
(4) Nature of the Order of the Dominican Sisters.
(5) The Third Order.
II. THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER
A. The Friars Preachers.
(1) The Middle Ages.
(a) Development and Statistics.
(b) Administration.
(c) Modification of the Statute.
(d) Preaching and Teaching.
(e) Academic Organization.
(f) Literary and Scientific Productions.
(i) Works on the Bible.
(ii) Philosophical works.
(iii) Theological works.SECOND PART: ce2.htm This file.
(iv) Apologetic works.
(v) Educational literature.
(vi) Canon law.
(vii) Historical writings.
(viii) Miscellaneous works.
(ix) Liturgy.
(x) Humanistic works.
(g) The Preachers and Art.
(h) The Preachers and the Roman Church.
(i) The Friars Preachers and the Secular Clergy.
(j) The Preachers and Civil Society.
(k) The Preachers and the Faithful.
(l) The Preachers and the Foreign Mission.
(m) The Preachers and Sanctity.
(2) Modern Period.
(a) Geographical Distribution and Statistics.
(b) Administration of the Order.
(c) Scholastic Organization.
(d) Doctrinal Activity.
(e) Scientific productions.
(f) The Preachers and Christian Society.
(g) The Preachers and the Missions.
(h) Dominican Saints and Blessed.
(3) Contemporaneous Period.
B. The Second Order. Dominican Sisters.
C. The Third Order.(iv) Apologetic works. --
The Preachers, born amid the Albigensian heresy and founded especially for the defense of the Faith, bent their literary efforts to reach all classes of dissenters from the Catholic Church. They produced by far the most powerful works in the sphere of apologetics. The "Summa contra Catharos et Valdenses" (Rome, 1743) of Moneta of Cremona, in course of composition in 1244, is the most complete and solid work produced in the Middle Ages against the Cathari and Waldenses. The "Summa contra Gentiles" of St. Thomas Aquinas is one of that master's strongest creations. It is the defense of the Christian Faith against Arabian philosophy. Raymond Marti in his "Pugio fidei", in course of composition in 1278, #86 measures arms with Judaism. This work, to a large extent based on Rabbinic literature, is the most important medieval monument of Orientalism. #87 The Florentine, Riccoldo di Monte Croce, a missionary in the East (d. 1320), composed his "Propugnaculum Fidei" against the doctrine of the Koran. It is a rare medieval Latin work based directly on Arabian literature. Demetrius Cydonius translated the "Propugnaculum" into Greek in the fourteenth century and Luther translated it into German in the sixteenth. #88(v) Educational literature. --
Besides manuals of theology the Dominicans furnished a considerable literary output with a view to meeting the various needs of all social classes and which may be called educational or practical literature. They composed treatises on preaching, models or materials for sermons, and collections of discourses. Among the oldest of these are the "Distinctiones" and the "Dictionarius pauperum" of Nicholas of Biard (d. 1261), the "Tractatus de diversis materiis prædicabilibus" of Stephen of Bourbon (d. 1261), the "De eruditione prædicatorum" of Humbert of Romans (d. 1277), the "Distinctiones" of Nicholas of Goran (d. 1295), and of Maurice of England (d. circa 1300). #89 The Preachers led the way in the composition of comprehensive collections of the lives of the saints or legendaries, writings at once for the use and edification of the faithful. Bartholomew of Trent compiled his "Liber epilogorum in Gesta Sanctorum" in 1240. After the middle of the thirteenth century Roderick of Cerrate composed a collection of "Vitæ Sanctorum". #90 The "Abbreviatio in gestis et miraculis sanctorum", composed in 1243 according to the "Speculum historiale" of Vincent of Beauvais, is the work of Jean de Mailly. The "Legenda Sanctorum" of Jacopo de Voragine (Vorazze) called also the "Golden Legend", written about 1260, is universally known. "The success of the book," writes the Bollandist, A. Poncelet, "was prodigious; it far exceeded that of all similar compilations." It was besides translated into all the vernaculars of Europe. The "Speculum Sanctorale" of Bernard Guidonis is a work of a much more scholarly character. The first three parts were finished in 1324 and the fourth in 1329. About the same time Peter Calo (d. 1348) undertook under the title of "Legenda sanctorum" an "immense compilation" which aimed at being more complete than its predecessors. #91Catechetical literature was also early taken in hand. In 1256-7 Raymond Marti composed his "Explanatio symboli ad institutionem fidelium". #92 Thomas Aquinas wrote four small treatises which represent the contents of a catechism as it was in the Middle Ages: "De articulis fidei et Ecclesiae Sacramentis"; "Expositio symboli Apostolorum"; "De decem præceptis et lege amoris"; "Expositio orationis dominicae". Several of these writings have been collected and called the catechism of St. Thomas. #93 In 1277 Laurent d'Orléans composed at the request of Philip the Bold, whose confessor he was, a real catechism in the vernacular known as the "Somme le Roi". #94 At the beginning of the fourteenth century Bernard Guidonis composed an abridgment of Christian doctrine which he revised later when he had become Bishop of Lodève (1324-31) into a sort of catechism for the use of his priests in the instruction of the faithful. #95 The "Discipulus" of John Hérolt was much esteemed in its day. #96
The order also produced pedagogical works. William of Tournai composed a treatise "De Modo docendi pueros" #97 which the General Chapter of 1264 recommended, as well as one on preaching and confession for school children. #98 Vincent of Beauvais wrote especially for the education of princes. He first composed his "De eruditione filiorum regalium" (Basle, 1481), then the "De eruditione principum", published with the works of St. Thomas, to whom as well as to Guillaume Perrault it has been incorrectly ascribed; finally (c. 1260) the "Tractatus de morali principis institutione", which is a general treatise and is still unedited. #99 Early in the fifteenth century (1405) John Dominici composed his famous "Lucula noctis", in which he deals with the study of pagan authors in the education of Christian youth. This is a most important work, written against the dangers of Humanism. #100 Dominici is also the author of a much esteemed work on the government of the family. #101 St. Antoninus composed a "Regola a ben vivere". #102 Works on the government of countries were also produced by members of the order; among them are the treatises of St. Thomas "De rege et regno", addressed to the King of Cyprus (finished by Bartolommeo of Lucca), and the "De regimine subditorum", composed for the Countess of Flanders. At the request of the Florentine Government Girolamo Savonarola drew up (1493) his "Trattati circa il reggimento e governo della cittá di Firenze" in which he shows great political insight. #103
(vi) Canon law. --
St. Raymond of Pennafort was chosen by Gregory IX to compile the Decretals (1230-34); to his credit also belong opinions and other works on canon law. Martin of Troppau, Bishop of Gnesen, composed (1278) a "Tabula decreti" commonly called "Margarita Martiniana", which received wide circulation. Martin of Fano, professor of canon law at Arezzo and Modena and podeatà of Genoa in 1260-2, prior to entering the order, wrote valuable canonical works. Nicholas of Ennezat at the beginning of the fourteenth century composed tables on various parts of canon law. During the pontificate of Gregory XII John Dominici wrote copious memoranda in defense of the rights of the legitimate pope, the two most important being still unedited. #104 About the middle of the fifteenth century John of Torquemada wrote extensive works on the Decretals of Gratian which were very influential in defense of the pontifical rights. Important works on inquisitorial law also emanated from the order, the first directories for trial of heresy being composed by Dominicans. The oldest is the opinion of St. Raymond of Pennafort (1235). #105 The same canonist wrote (1242) a directory for the inquisitions of Aragon. #106 About 1244 another directory was composed by the inquisitors of Provence. #107 But the two classical works of the Middle Ages on inquisitorial law are that of Bernard Guidonis composed in 1321 under the title of "Directorium Inquisitionis hereticae pravitatis" #108 and the "Directorium Inquisitorum" of Nicholas Eymerich (1399). #109(vii) Historical Writings. --
The activity of the Preachers in the domain of history was considerable during the Middle Ages. Some of their chief works incline to be real general histories which assured them great success in their day. The "Speculum Historiale" of Vincent of Beauvais (d. circa 1264) is chiefly, like the other parts of the work, of the nature of a documentary compilation, but he has preserved for us sources which we could never otherwise reach. #110 Martin the Pole, called Martin of Troppau (d. 1279), in the third quarter of the thirteenth century composed his chronicles of the popes and emperors which were widely circulated and had many continuators. #111 The anonymous chronicles of Colmar in the second half of the thirteenth century have left us valuable historical materials which constitute a sort of history of contemporary civilization. #112 The chronicle of Jacopo da Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa (d. 1298) is much esteemed. #113 Ptolemy of Lucca and Bernard Guidonis are the two great ecclesiastical historians of the early fourteenth century. The "Historia ecclesiastica nova" of the former and the "Flores cronicorum seu cathalogus pontificum romanorum" of the latter contain valuable historical information.But the historical activity of Bernard Guidonis far exceeded that of Ptolemy and his contemporaries; he is the author of twenty historical publications, several of which, such as his historical compilation on the Order of Preachers, are very important in value and extent. Bernard Guidonis is the first medieval historian who had a wide sense of historical documentation. #114 The fourteenth century beheld a galaxy of Dominican historians, the chief of whom were: Francesco Pipini of Bologna (d. 1320), the Latin translator of Marco Polo and the author of a "Chronicon" which began with the history of the Franks; #115 Nicholas of Butrinto (1313), author of the "Relatio de Henrici VII imperatoris itinere italico"; #116 Nicholas Trevet, compiler of the "Annales sex regum Angliæ"; #117 Jacopo of Acqui and his "Chronicon imaginis mundi" (1330); #118 Galvano Fiamma (d. circal 1340) composed various works on the history of Milan; #119 John of Colonna (c. 1336) is the author of a "De viris illustribus" and a "Mare Historiarum". #120 In the second half of the fourteenth century Conrad of Halberstadt wrote a "Chronographia summorum Pontificum et Imperatorum romanorum"; #121 Henry of Hervordia (d. 1370) wrote a " Liber de rebus memorabilibus"; #122 Stefanardo de Vicomercato is the author of the rhythmical poem "De gestis in civitate Mediolani". #123 At the end of the fifteenth century Hermann of Lerbeke composed a "Chronicon comitum Schauenburgensium" and a "Chronicon episcoporum Mindensium". #124 Hermann Korner left an important "Chronica novella". #124b The "Chronicon" or "Summa Historialis" of St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, composed about the middle of the fifteenth century is a useful compilation with original data for the author's own times. #125 Felix Fabri #126 left valuable historical works; his "Evagatorium in Terræ Sanctæ, Arabiæ et Aegypti peregrinationem" #127 is the most instructive and important work of this kind during the fourteenth century. He is also the author of a "Descriptio Sueviæ" #128 and a "Tractatus de civitate Ulmensi". #129
(viii) Miscellaneous works. --
Being unable to devote a section to each of the different spheres wherein the Preachers exercised their activity, we shall mention here some works which obtained considerable influence or are particularly worthy of attention The "Specula" ("Naturale", "doctrinale", "historiale"; the "Speculum morale" is apocryphal) of Vincent of Beauvais constitute the largest encyclopedia of the Middle Ages and furnished materials for many subsequent writers. #130 The work of Humbert of Romans, "De tractandis in concilio generali", composed in 1273 at the request of Gregory X and which served as a programme to the General Council of Lyons in 1274, contains the most remarkable views on the condition of Christian society and the reforms to be undertaken. #131 Burchard of Mount Sion with his "Descriptio Terræ Sanctae" written about 1283, became the classic geographer of Palestine during the Middle Ages. #132 William of Moerbeke, who died as Archbishop of Corinth about 1286, was the revisor of translations of Aristotle from the Greek and the translator of portions not hitherto translated. To him are also due translations of numerous philosophical and scientific works of ancient Greek authors. #133 The "Catholicon" of the Genoese John Balbus, completed in 1285, is a vast treatise on the Latin tongue, accompanied by an etymological vocabulary. It is the first work on profane sciences ever printed. It is also famous because in the Mainz edition (1460) John Guttenberg first made use of movable type. #134 The "Philobiblion" edited under the name of Richard of Bury, but composed by Robert Holcot (d. 1349), is the first medieval treatise on the love of books. #135 John of Tambach (d. 1372), first professor of theology at the newly-founded University of Prague (1347), is the author of a valuable work, the "Consolatio Theologiæ". #136 Towards the end of the fifteenth century Frederico Frezzi, who died as Bishop of Foligno (1416), composed in Italian a poem in the spirit of the "Divine Commedia" and entitled "Il Quadriregio" (Foligno, 1725). #137 The Florentine Thomas Sardi (d. 1517) wrote a long and valued poem, "L'anima peregrina", the composition of which dates from the end of the fifteenth century. #138(ix) Liturgy. --
Towards the middle of the thirteenth century the Dominicans had definitely established the liturgy which they still retain. The final correction (1256) was the work of Humbert of Romans. It was divided into fourteen sections or volumes. The prototype of this monumental work is preserved at Rome in the general archives of the order. #139 A portable copy for the use of the master general, a beautiful specimen of thirteenth-century book-making, is preserved in the British Museum, no. 23,935. #140 Jerome of Moravia, about 1250, composed a "Tractatus de Musica", #141 the most important theoretical work of the thirteenth century on liturgical chant, some fragments of which were placed as preface to the Dominican liturgy of Humbert of Romans. It was edited by Coussemaker in his "Scriptores de musica medii ævi", I (Paris, 1864). #142 The Preachers also left numerous liturgical compositions, among the most renowned being the Office of the Blessed Sacrament by St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the masterpieces of Catholic liturgy. #143 Armand du Prat (d. 1306) is the author of the beautiful Office of St. Louis, King of France. His work, selected by the Court of Philip the Bold, came into universal use in France. #144 The "Dies Iræ" has been attributed to Cardinal Latino Malabranca who was in his time a famous composer of ecclesiastical chants and offices. #145(x) Humanistic works. --
The order felt more than is commonly thought the influence of Humanism and furnished it with noteworthy contributions. This influence was continued during the following period in the sixteenth century and reacted on its Biblical and theological compositions. Leonardo Giustiniani, Archbishop of Mytilene, in 1449, composed against the celebrated Poggio a treatise "De vera nobilitate", edited with Poggio's "De nobilitate" (Avellino, 1657). The Sicilian Thomas Schifaldo wrote commentaries on Perseus about 1461 and on Horace in 1476. He is the author of a "De viris illustribus Ordinis Prædicatorum", written in humanistic style, and of the Office of St. Catherine of Siena, usually but incorrectly ascribed to Pius II. #146 Colonna's work aims to condense in the form of a romance all the knowledge of antiquity. It gives evidence of its author's profound classical learning and impassioned love for Græco-Roman culture. The work, which is accompanied by the most perfect illustrations of the time, has been called "the most beautiful book of the Renaissance". #147 Tommaso Radini Todeschi (Radinus Todischus) composed under the title "Callipsychia" (Milan, 1511) an allegorical romance in the manner of Apuleius and inspired by the Dream of Poliphilus. The Dalmatian, John Polycarpus Severitanus of Sebenico, commentated the eight parts of the discourse of Donatus and the Ethics of Seneca the Younger #148 and composed "Gramatices historicæ, methodicæ et exegeticæ" (Perugia, 1518). The Bolognese Leandro Alberti (d. 1550) was an elegant Latinist and his "De viris illustribus ordinis praedicatorum" (Bologna, 1517), written in the humanistic manner, is a beautiful specimen of Bolognese publishing. #149 Finally Matteo Bandello (d. 1555), who was called the "Dominican Boccacio", is regarded as the first novelist of the Italian Cinquecento and his work shows what an evil influence the Renaissance could exert on churchmen. #150(g) The Preachers and Art. --
The Preachers hold an important place in the history of art. They contributed in many ways to the artistic life of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Their churches and convents offered an extraordinary field of activity to contemporary artists, while a large number of the Preachers themselves did important work in the various spheres of art. Finally by their teaching and religious activity they often exercised a profound influence on the direction and inspiration of art. Primarily established under a regime of evangelic poverty, the order took severe measures to avoid in its churches all that might suggest luxury and wealth. Until the middle of the thirteenth century its constitutions and general chapters energetically legislated against anything tending to suppress the evidence of poverty. #151 But the order's intense activity, its establishment in large cities and familiar contact with the whole general movement of civilization triumphed over this state of things. As early as 1250, churches and convents appeared called opus sumptuosum. #152 They were, however, encouraged by ecclesiastical authority and the order eventually relinquished its early uncompromising attitude. Nevertheless ascetic and morose minds were scandalized by what they called royal edifices. #153 The second half of the thirteenth century saw the beginning of a series of monuments, many of which are still famous in history and art. "The Dominicans," says Cesare Cantù, "soon had in the chief towns of Italy magnificent monasteries and superb temples, veritable wonders of art. Among others may be mentioned: the Church of Santa Maria Novella, at Florence; Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, at Rome; St. John and St. Paul, at Venice; St. Nicholas, at Treviso; St. Dominic, at Naples, at Perugia, at Prato, and at Bologna, with the splendid tomb of the founder, St. Catherine, at Pisa; St. Eustorgius and Sta Maria delle Grazie, at Milan, and several others remarkable for a rich simplicity and of which the architects were mostly monks". #154France followed in Italy's footsteps. Here mention must be made of the Jacobins of Toulouse; #155 St. Jacques de Paris; #156 St. Maximin in Provence; #157 Notre-Dame-de-Confort at Lyons. #158 A comprehensive account of the architectural work of the Dominicans in France may be found in the magnificent publication of Rohault de Fleury "Gallia Dominicana, Les couvents de Saint-Dominique en France au moyen-âge". #159 Spain was also covered with remarkable monuments: St. Catherine of Barcelona and St. Thomas of Madrid were destroyed by fire; S. Esteban at Salamanca, S. Pablo and S. Gregorio at Valladolid, Santo Tomas at Avila, San Pablo at Seville and at Cordova. S. Cruz at Granada, Santo Domingo at Valencia and Saragossa. #160 Portugal also had beautiful buildings. The church and convent of Batalha are perhaps the most splendid ever dwelt in by the order. #161 Germany had beautiful churches and convents, usually remarkable for their simplicity and the purity of their lines. #162
Whatever may be said to the contrary the Dominicans as well as other mendicant orders created a special architectural art. They made use of art as they found it in the course of their history and adapted it to their needs. They adopted Gothic art and assisted in its diffusion, but they accepted the art of the Renaissance when it had supplanted the ancient forms. Their churches varied in dimensions and richness, according to the exigencies of the place. They built a number of churches with double naves and a larger number with open roofs. The distinct characteristic of their churches resulted from their sumptuary legislation which excluded decorated architectural work, save in the choir. Hence the predominance of single lines in their buildings. This exclusivism, which often went as far as the suppression of capitals on the columns, gives great lightness and elegance to the naves of their churches. While we lack direct information concerning most of the architects of these monuments, there is no doubt that many of the men who supervised the construction of its churches and convents were members of the order and they even assisted in works of art outside of the order. Thus we know that Brother Diemar built the Dominican church of Ratisbon (1273-77). #163 Brother Volmar exercised his activity in Alsace about the same time and especially at Colmar. #164 Brother Humbert was the architect of the church and convent of Bonn, as well as of the stone bridge across the Aar, in the Middle Ages the most beautiful in the city. #165 In Italy architects of the order are known to fame, especially at Florence, where they erected the church and cloisters of S. Maria Novella, which epitomize the whole history of Florentine art. #166 At first the order endeavoured to banish sculpture from its churches, but eventually accepted it and set the example by the construction of the beautiful tomb of St. Dominic at Bologna, and of St. Peter of Verona at the Church of St. Eustorgius at Milan. A Dominican, William of Pisa, worked on the former. #167 Brother Paschal of Rome executed interesting sculptural works, e. g. his sphinx of Viterbo, signed and dated (1286), and the paschal candlestick of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. #168
There were many miniaturists and painters among the Preachers. As early as the thirteenth century Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg (d. 1268) was renowned as a painter. #169 But the lengthy list is dominated by two masters who overshadow the others, Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo. The work of Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole (d. 1455) is regarded as the highest embodiment of Christian inspiration in art. #170 Fra Bartolommeo belongs to the golden age of the Italian Renaissance. He is one of the great masters of drawing. His art is scholarly, noble and simple and imbued with a tranquil and restrained piety. #171 The order also produced remarkable painters on glass: James of Ulm (d. 1491), who worked chiefly at Bologna and William of Marcillat (d. 1529), who in the opinion of his first biographer was perhaps the greatest painter on glass who ever lived. #172 As early as the fourteenth century Dominican churches and convents began to be covered with mural decorations. Some of these edifices became famous sanctuaries of art, such as S. Maria Novella and S. Marco of Florence. But the phenomenon was general at the end of the fifteenth century, and thus the order received some of the works of the greatest artists, as for instance the "Last Supper" of Leonardo da Vinci (1497-98) in the refectory of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. #173
The Preachers exercised a marked influence on painting. The order infused its apostolic zeal and theological learning into the objects of art under its control, thus creating what may be called theological painting. The decoration of the Campo Santo of Pisa, Orcagna's frescoes in the Strozzi chapel and the Spanish chapel at S. Maria Novella, Florence, have long been famous. #174 To the same causes were due the numerous triumphs of St. Thomas Aquinas (Hettner, op. cit.; Berthier, "Le triomphe de Saint Thomas dans la chapelle des Espagnols à Florence", Fribourg, 1897; Ucelli, "Dell' iconografia di s. Tommaso d'Aquino", Naples, 1867). The influence of Savonarola on the artists and the art of his time was profound. #175 The Dominicans also frequently furnished libretti, i. e. dogmatic or symbolic themes for works of art. They also opened up an important source of information to art with their sanctoriaux and their popularizing writings. Artistic works such as the dances of death and sybils allied with the prophets are greatly indebted to them. #176 Even the mystical life of the order, in its way, exercised an influence on contemporary art. #177 Its saints and its confraternities, especially that of the Rosary, inspired many artists. #178
(h) The Preachers and the Roman Church. --
The Order of Preachers is the work of the Roman Church. She found in St. Dominic an instrument of the first rank. But it was she who inspired the establishment of the order, who loaded it with privileges, directed its general activity, and protected it against its adversaries. From Honorius III (1216) till the death of Honorius IV (1287) the papacy was most favourable to the Preachers. Innocent IV's change of attitude at the end of his pontificate (10 May, 1254), caused by the recriminations of the clergy and perhaps also by the adhesion of Arnold of Trier to Frederick II's projects of anti-ecclesiastical reform, was speedily repaired by Alexander IV (22 Dec., 1254). #179 But as a general thing during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the popes remained much attached to the order, displaying great confidence in it, as is made manifest by the "Bullarium" of the Preachers. No other religious order, it would seem, ever received eulogies from the papacy like those addressed to it by Alexander IV, 23 May, 1257. #180 The order co-operated with the Church in every way, the popes finding in its ranks assistants who were both competent and devoted. Beyond doubt through its own activity, its preaching and in instruction, it was already a powerful agent of the papacy; nevertheless the popes requested of it a universal co-operation. Matthew Paris states in 1250: "The Friars Preachers, impelled by obedience, are the fiscal agents, the nuncios and even the legates of the pope. They are the faithful collectors of the pontifical money by their preaching and their crusades and when they have finished they begin again. They assist the infirm, the dying, and those who make their wills. Diligent negotiators, armed with powers of every kind, they turn all to the profit of the pope". #181 But the commissions of the Church to the Preachers far exceeded those enumerated by Matthew Paris, and among the weightiest must be mentioned the visitation of monasteries and dioceses, the administration of a large number of convents of nuns and the inquisitorial office. The order attempted to withdraw from its multifarious occupations, which distracted it from its chief end. Gregory IX partially yielded to their demands (25 Oct., 1239), #182 but the order never succeeded in wholly winning its cause. #183The Dominicans gave to the Church many noted personages: among them during the Middle Ages were two popes, Innocent V (1276) and Benedict XI (1303-4). #184 There were twenty-eight Dominican cardinals during the first three centuries of the order's existence. Some of them were noted for exceptional services to the papacy. The earliest of them, Hugh of Saint Cher, had the delicate mission of persuading Germany to accept William of Holland after the deposition of Frederick II. #185 Cardinal Latino Malabranca is famous for his legations and his pacification of Florence (1280). #186 Nicholas Albertini of Prato (1305-21) also undertook the pacification of Florence (1304). #187 Cardinal Giovanni Dominici (1408-19) was the staunchest defender of the legitimate pope, Gregory XII, at the end of the Great Schism; and in the name of his master resigned is the papacy at the Council of Constance. #188 Cardinal John de Torquemada (Turrecremata, 1439-68), an eminent theologian, was one of the strongest defenders of the pontifical rights at the time of the Council of Basle. #189
Many important officials were furnished to the Church: Masters of the Sacred Palace; #190 pontifical penitentiaries; #191 and especially pontifical inquisitors. The defense of the Faith and the repression of heresy is essentially an apostolic and pontifical work. The Preachers also furnished many delegate judges holding their powers either from the bishops or from the pope, but the order as such had no mission properly so called, and the legislation for the repression of heresy was in particular absolutely foreign to it. The extreme dangers run by the Church at the beginning of the thirteenth century owing to the progress of the Albigensians and Cathari impelled the papacy to labour for their repression. It first urged the bishops to act, and the establishment of synodal witnesses was destined to make their mission more effective, but the insufficiency of their arrangement induced Gregory IX to advise the bishops to make use of the Preachers and finally doubtless owing to the lack of zeal displayed by many bishops, to create inquisitorial judges by pontifical delegation. The Preachers were not chosen de jure but de facto and successively in the various provinces of the order. The pope usually charged the Dominican provincials with the nomination of inquisitorial officers whose jurisdiction ordinarily coincided with the territory of the Dominican province. In their office the inquisitors were removed from the authority of their order and dependent only on the Holy See. The first pontifical inquisitors were invariably chosen from the Order of Preachers, the reason being the scarcity of educated and zealous clerics. The Preachers, being vowed to study and preaching, were alone prepared for a ministry, which required both learning and courage. The order received this like many other pontifical commissions, only with regret. The master general, Humbert of Romans declared that the friars should flee all odious offices and especially the Inquisition. #192
The same solicitude to remove the order from the odium of the inquisitorial office impelled the provincial chapter of Cahors (1244) to forbid that anything should accrue to the friars from the administration of the Inquisition, that the order might not be slandered. The provincial chapter of Bordeaux (1257) even forbade the religious to eat with the inquisitors in places where the order had a convent. #193 In countries where heresy was powerful, for instance in the south of France and the north of Italy, the order had much to endure, pillage, temporary expulsion, and assassination of the inquisitors. After the putting to death of the inquisitors at Avignonet (28 May, 1242) and the assassination of St. Peter of Verona (29 April, 1242) #194 the order, whose administration had much to suffer from this war against heresy, immediately requested to be relieved of the inquisitorial office. Innocent IV refused (10 April, 1243), #195 and the following year the bishops of the south of France petitioned the pope that he would retain the Preachers in the Inquisition. #196 Nevertheless the Holy See understood the desire of the Preachers; several provinces of Christendom ceased to be administered by them and were confided to the Friars Minor viz., the Pontifical States, Apulia, Tuscany, the March of Trevisa and Slavonia, and finally Provence. #197 The suppression of heresy which had been especially active in certain more affected parts of Christendom, diminished notably in the second half of the thirteenth century. The particular conditions prevailing in Spain brought about the reestablishment of the Inquisition with new duties for the inquisitor general. These were exercised from 1483 to 1498 by Thomas of Torquemada, who reorganized the whole scheme of suppression, and by Diego de Deza from 1498 to 1507. These were the first and last Dominican inquisitors general in Spain. #198
(i) The Friars Preachers and the Secular Clergy. --
The Preachers, who had been constituted from the beginning as an order of clerics vowed to ecclesiastical duties with a view to supplementing the insufficiency of the secular clergy, were universally accepted by the episcopate, which was unable to provide for the pastoral care of the faithful and the instruction of clerics. It was usually the bishops who summoned the Preachers to their dioceses. The conflicts which broke out here and there during the thirteenth century were not generally due to the bishops but to the parochial clergy who considered themselves injured in their temporal rights because of the devotion and generosity of the faithful towards the order. As a general thing compromises were reached between the convents and the parishes in which they were situated and peaceful results followed. The two great contests between the order and the secular clergy broke out in France during the thirteenth century. The first took place at the University of Paris, led by William of Saint-Amour (1252-59), and was complicated by a scholastic question. The episcopate had no share in this, and the church supported with all its strength the rights and privileges of the order, which emerged victorious. #199 The strife broke out anew in the north of France after the privilege of Martin IV, "Ad fructus uberes" (13 Dec., 1281), and lasted until the Council of Paris in 1290. It was to a large extent conducted by Guillaume de Flavacourt, Bishop of Amiens, but in this instance also the two great mendicant orders triumphed over their adversaries, thanks to the energetic assistance of two cardinal legates. #200The order gave many of its members to the episcopate, but endeavoured to prevent this. Sts. Dominic and Franeis seem to have disapproved of the accession of their religious to ecclesiastical dignities. #201 Jordanus of Saxony the immediate successor of St. Dominic, forbade all acceptance of election or postulation to the episcopate, under pain of excommunication, without special permission of the pope, the general chapter, and the master general. #202 During his administration he resisted with all his strength and declared that he would rather see a friar buried than raised to the episcopate. #203 Everyone knows the eloquent letter which Humbert of Romans wrote to Albertus Magnus to dissuade him from aecepting the nomination to the See of Ratisbon (1260) #204 But all this opposition could not prevent the nomination of a great many to high ecclesiastical dignities. The worth of many religious made them so prominent that it was impossible that they should not be suggested for the episcopate. Princes and nobles who had sons or kinsmen in the order often laboured for this result with interested motives, but the Holy See especially saw in the accession of Dominicans to the episcopate the means of infusing it with new blood. From the accession of Gregory IX the appointment of Dominicans to dioceses and archdioceses became an ordinary thing. Hence until the end of the fifteenth century about fifteen hundred Preachers were either appointed or translated to dioceses or archdioceses, among them men remarkable for their learning, their competent administration, their zeal for souls, and the holiness of their lives. #205
(j) The Preachers and Civil Society. --
During the Middle Ages the Preachers influenced princes and communities. Princes found them to be prudent advisers, expert ambassadors, and enlightened confessors. The French monarchy was much attached to them. As early as 1226 Jordanus of Saxony was able to write, in speaking of Blanche of Castile "The queen tenderly loves the friars and she has spoken with mc personally and familiarly about her affairs". #206 No prince was more devoted to the order than St. Louis, nor did any grant it more favours. The French monarchy sought most of its confessors during the Middle Ages from the Order of Preachers. #207 It was the entrance of Humbert II, Dauphin of Vienna, into the order, which gained Dauphiny for France. #208 The Dukes of Burgundy also sought their confessors from the order. #209 The kings of England did likewise and frequently employed its members in their service. #210 Several German emperors were much attached to the order nevertheless the Preachers did not hesitate to enter into conflict with Frederick II and Louis of Bavaria when these princes broke with the Church. #211 The kings of Castile and Spain invariably chose their confessors from among the Preachers. #212 The kings of Portugal likewise sought their directors from the same source. #213The first to be established in the centres of cities, the Dominicans exercised a profound influence on municipal life, especially in Italy. A witness at the canonization of St. Dominic in 1233 expresses the matter when he says that nearly all the cities of Lombardy and the Marches placed their affairs and their statutes in the hands of the Preachers, that they might arrange and alter them to their taste and as seemed to them fitting. The same was true of the extirpation of wars, the restoration of peace, restitution for usury, hearing of confessions and a multitude of benefits which would be too long to enumerate. #214 About this time the celebrated John of Vicenza exercised powerful influence in the north of Italy and was himself podestà of Verona. #215 An idea of the penetration of the order into all social classes may be formed from the declaration of Pierre Dubois in 1300 that the Preachers and the Minors knew better than anyone else the condition of the world and of all social classes. #216 The part played by Catherine of Siena in the pacification of the towns of Central Italy and the return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome is well known. "She was the greatest figure of the second half of the fourteenth century, an Italian, not only a saint, a mystic, a miracle-worker, but a statesman, and a great statesman, who solved for the welfare of Italy and all Christendom the most difficult and tragic question of her time". #217 It was the Dominican Bishop of Geneva Adémar de la Roche, who granted that town its liberties and franchise in 1387. #218 Finally reference must be made to the profound influence exercised by Girolamo Savonarola (1498) on the political life of Florence during the last years of the fifteenth century. #219
(k) The Preachers and the Faithful. --
During the thirteenth century the faithful were almost without pastoral care and preaching. The coming of the Preachers was an innovation which won over the people eager for religious instruction. What a chronicler relates of Thuringia was the case almost everywhere: "Before the arrival of the Friars Preachers the word of God was rare and precious and very rarely preached to the people. The Friars Preachers preached alone in every section of Thuringia and in the town of Erfurt and no one hindered them". #220 About 1267 the Bishop of Amiens, Guillaume de Flavacourt, in the war against heresy already mentioned, declared that the people refused to hear the word of God from any save the Preachers and Minors. #221 The Preachers exercised a special influence over the piously inclined of both sexes among the masses, so numerous in the Middle Ages, and they induced to penance and continence a great many people living in the world, who were commonly called Beguins, and who lived either alone or in more or less populous communities. Despite the order's attraction for this devout, half-lay, half-religious world, the Preachers refused to take it under their jurisdiction in order not to hamper their chief activity nor distort their ecclesiastical ideal by too close contact with lay piety. The General Chapters of 1228 and 1229 forbade the religious to give the habit to any woman or to receive her profession, or to give spiritual direction to any community of women not strictly subject to some authority other than that of the order. #222 But the force of circumstances prevailed, and, despite everything, these clients furnished the chief elements of the Penitential Order of St. Dominic, who received their own rule in 1285, and of whom more has been said above. #223 The Order especially encouraged congregations of the Blessed Virgin and the saints, which developed greatly, especially in Italy. Many of them had their headquarters in convents of the Preachers, who administered them spiritually. After the Penitential movement of 1260 confraternities were formed commonly called Disciplinati, Battuti, etc. Many of them originated in Dominican churches (there is no general historical work on this subject). In 1274, during the Council of Lyons, Gregory X confided to the Dominicans the preaching of the Holy Name of Jesus, whence arose confraternities of that name. #224 Finally the second half of the fifteenth century saw the rapid development of confraternities of the Holy Rosary under the influence of the Preachers. #225 With the object of developing the piety of the faithful the Preachers allowed them to be buried in the habit of the order. #226 From the time of Jordanus of Saxony they issued letters of participation in the spiritual goods of the order. The same general established at Paris the custom of the evening sermon (collatio) for the students of the University, in order to turn them aside from dissipation, which custom passed to all the other universities. #227(l) The Preachers and the Foreign Missions. --
During the Middle Ages the Order of Preachers exercised considerable activity within the boundaries of Christendom and far beyond. The evangelization of heathen countries was confided to the nearest Dominican provinces. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the missions of Asia became a special group, the congregation of Friars Pilgrims for Christ. Some of the remote provinces, especially those of Greece and the Holy Land, were recruited from volunteers throughout the order. Besides the work of evangelization the religious frequently assumed the mission of ambassador or agent to schismatic or pagan princes, and Friars Preachers frequently occupied sees in partibus infidelium. A number of them, faithful to the order's doctrinal vocation, composed works of all kinds to assist their apostolate to defend the Christian Faith, to inform the Roman Church or Latin princes concerning the condition of the East, and to indicate measures to be taken against the dangers threatening Christianity. Finally they frequently shed their blood in these inhospitable and unfruitful countries. The province of Spain laboured for the conversion of the Arabs of the Peninsula, and in 1256 Humbert of Romans described the satisfactory results. #228 In 1225 the first Spanish Dominicans evangelized Morocco and the head of the mission, Brother Dominic, was consecrated in that year first Bishop of Morocco. #229 Some years later they were already established at Tunis. #230 In 1256 and the ensuing years Alexander IV, at the instance of St. Raymond of Pennafort, gave a vigorous impulse to this mission. #231In the north of Europe the province of England or that of Dacia carried its establishments as far as Greenland. #232 As early as 1233 the province of Germany promoted the crusade against the Prussians and the heretical Stedingers, and brought them to the Faith. #233 The province of Poland, founded by St. Hyaeinth (1221), extended its apostolate by means of this saint as far as Kieff and Dantizig. In 1246 Brother Alexis resided at the Court of the Duke of Russia, and in 1258 the Preachers evangelized the Ruthenians. #234 The province of Hungary, founded in 1221 by Bl. Paul of Hungary, evangelized the Cumans and the people of the Balkans. As early as 1235-37 Brother Richard and his companions set out in quest of Greater Hungary -- the Hungarian pagans still dwelling on the Volga. #235
The province of Greece, founded in 1228, occupied those territories of the empire of the East which had been conquered by the Latins, its chief centre of activity being Constantinople. Here also the Preachers laboured for the return of the schismatics to eeelesiastical unity. #236 The province of the Holy Land established in 1228, occupied all the Latin conquest of the Holy Land besides Nicosia and Tripoli. Its houses on the Continent were destroyed one after the other with the defeat of the Christians, and at the beginning of the fourteenth century the province was reduced to the three convents on the Island of Cyprus. #237 The province of the Holy Land was the starting point for the evangelization of Asia during the thirteenth century. As early as 1237 the provincial, Philip, reported to Gregory IX extraordinary results obtained by the religious; the evangelization reached Jacobites and Nestorians, Maronites and Saracens. #238 About the same time the Friars established themselves in Armenia and in Georgia. #239
The missions of Asia continued to develop through out the thirteenth century and part of the fourteenth and missionaries went as far as Bagdad and India. #240 In 1312 the master general, Béranger de Landore, organized the missions of Asia into a special congregation of "Friars Pilgrims", with Franco of Perugia as vicar general. As a base of evangelization they had the convent of Pera (Constantinople), Capha, Trebizond, and Ncgropont. Thence they branched out into Armenia and Persia. In 1318 John XXII appointed Franco of Perugia Archbishop of Sultanieh, with six other Dominicans as suffragans. During the first half of the fourteenth century the Preachers occupied many sees in the East. When the missions of Persia were destroyed in 1349, the Preachers possessed fifteen monasteries there, and the United Brethren (see below) eleven monasteries. In 1358 the Congregation of Pilgrims still had two convents and eight residences. This movement brought about the foundation, in 1330, of the United Brethren of St. Gregory the Illuminator. It was the work of Bl. Bartolommeo Petit of Bologna, Bishop of Maragha, assisted by John of Kerni. It was formed by Armenian religious who adopted the Constitution of the Dominicans and were incorporated with the order after 1356. Thirty years after their foundation the United Brethren had in Armenia alone 50 monasteries with 700 religious. This province still existed in the eighteenth century. #241
(m) The Preachers and Sanctity. --
It is characteristic of Dominican sanctity that its saints attained holiness in the apostolate, in the pursuit or promotion of learning, administration, foreign missions, the papacy, the cardinalate, and the episcopate. Until the end of the fifteenth century the order in its three branches gave to the Church nine canonized saints and at least seventy-three blessed. Of the first order (the Preachers) are St. Dominic, St. Peter of Verona, martyr, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Raymond of Pennafort, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Antoninus of Florence. Among the Dominican saints in general there is a predominance of the intellectual over the emotional qualities; their mystical life is more subjective than objective; and asceticism plays a strong part in their holiness. Meditation on the sufferings of Christ and His love was common among them. Mystic states, with the phenomena which accompany them, were ordinary, especially in convents of women in German countries. Many received the stigmata in various forms. St. Thomas Aquinas and Meister Eckhart were, from different standpoints, the greatest medieval theorists concerning the mystical state. #242(2) Modern Period. --
The modern period consists of the three centuries between the religious revolution at the beginning of the sixteenth century (Protestantism) and the French Revolution with its consequences. The Order of Preachers, like the Church itself, felt the shock of these destructive revolutions but its vitality enabled it to withstand them successfully. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the order was on the way to a genuine renaissance when the Revolutionary upheavals occurred. The progress of heresy cost it six or seven provinces and several hundreds of convents, but the discovery of the New World opened up a fresh field of activity. Its gains in America and those which arose as a consequence of the Portuguese conquests in Africa and the Indies far exceeded the losses of the order in Europe, and the seventeenth century saw its highest numerical development. The sixteenth century was a great doctrinal century, and the movement lasted beyond the middle of the eighteenth. In modern times the order lost much of its influence on the political powers, which had universally fallen into absolutism and had little sympathy for the democratic constitution of the Preachers. The Bourbon Courts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were particularly unfavourable to them until the suppression of the Society of Jesus. In the eighteenth century there were numerous attempts at reform which created, especially in France, geographical confusion in the administration. During the eighteenth century the tyrannical spirit of the European Powers and, still more, the spirit of the age lessened the number of recruits and the fervour of religious life. The French Revolution ruined the order in France, and the crises which more or less rapidly followed considerably lessened or wholly destroyed numerous provinces.(a) Geographical Distribution and Statistics. --
The modern period saw a great change in the geographical distribution of provinces and the number of religious in the order. The establishment of Protestantism in Anglo-Saxon countries brought about during the sixteenth century, the total or partial disappearance of certain provinces. The provinces of Saxony, Dacia, England, and Scotland completely disappeared, that of Teutonia was mutilated; that of Ireland sought refuge in various houses on the Continent. The discovery and evangelization of America opened up vast territories, where the first Dominican missionaries established themselves as early as 1510. The first province, with San Domingo and the neighbouring islands for its territory, was erected, under the name of the Holy Cross, in 1530. Others followed quickly -- among them St. James of Mexico (1532), St. John Baptist of Peru (1539), St. Vincent of Chiapa (1551), St. Antoninus of New Granada (1551), St. Catherine of Quito (1580), St. Lawrence of Chile (1592). In Europe the order developed constantly from the middle of the sixteenth century till the middle of the eighteenth. New provinces or congregations were formed. Under the government of Serafino Cavalli (1571-78) the order had thirty-one provinces and five congregations. In 1720 it had forty-nine provinces and four congregations. At the former date there were about 900 convents; at the latter, 1200. During Cavalli's time the order had 14,000 religious, and in 1720 more than 20,000. It seems to have reached its greatest numerical development during the seventeenth century. Mention is made of 30,000 and 40,000 Dominicans; perhaps these figures include nuns; it does not seem probable that the number of Preachers alone ever exceeded 25,000. The secularization in Austria-Hungary under Joseph II began the work of partial suppression of convents, which was continued in France by the Committee of Regulars (1770) until the Convention (1793) finally destroyed all religious life in that country. The Napoleonic conquest overthrew many provinces and houses in Europe. Most of them were eventually restored; but the Revolution destroyed partially or wholly the provinces of Portugal (1834), Spain (1834), and Italy (1870). The political troubles brought about by the revolt of Latin America from the mother country at the beginning of the nineteenth century partially or wholly destroyed several provinces of the New World. #243(b) Administration of the Order. --
During the modern period the Preachers remained faithful to the spirit of their organization. Some modifications were necessitated by the general condition of the Church and civil society. Especially noteworthy was the attempt, in 1569, of St. Pius V, the Dominican pope, to restrict the choice of superiors by inferiors and to constitute a sort of administrative aristocracy. #244 The frequent intervention of popes in the government of the order and the pretensions of civil powers, as well as its great development, diminished the frequency of general chapters; the rapid succession of masters general caused many chapters to be convened during the seventeenth century; in the eighteenth century chapters again became rare. The effective administration passed into the hands of the general assisted by pontifical decrees. During these three centuries the order had many heads who were remarkable for their energy and administrative ability, among them Thomas de Vio (1508-18), Garcia de Loaysa (1518-24), Vincent Giustiniani (1558-70), Nicolo Ridolfi (1629-44), Giovanni Battista de' Marini (1650-69), Antonin Cloche (1686-1720), Antonin Brémond (1748-55), John Thomas de Boxadors. #245(c) Scholastic Organization. --
The scholastic organization of the Dominicans during this modern period tended to concentration of studies. The conventual school required by the Constitutions disappeared, at least in its essentials, and in each province or congregation the studies were grouped in particular convents. The studia generalia multiplied, as well as convents incorporated with universities. The General Chapter of 1551 designates 27 convents in university towns where, and where only, the religious might take the degree of Master in Theology. Through the generosity of Dominicans in high ecclesiastical offices large colleges for higher education were also established for the benefit of certain provinces. Among the most famous of these were the College of St. Gregory at Valladolid, founded in 1488 by Alonzo of Burgos, adviser and confessor of the kings of Castile; #246 that of St. Thomas at Seville, established in 1515 by Archbishop Diego de Deza. #247 The Preachers also established universities in their chief provinces in America -- San Domingo (1538), Santa Fé de Bogotá (1612), Quito (1681), Havana (1721) -- and even in the Philippines, where the University of Manila (1645) is still flourishing and in their hands. During the sixteenth and following centuries the schedule of studies was more than once revised, and the matter extended to meet the needs of the times. Oriental studies especially received a vigorous impulse under the generalship of Antonin Brémond. #248(d) Doctrinal Activity. --
The doctrinal activity of the Preachers continued during the modern period. The order, closely connected with the events of the Reformation in German countries, faced the revolutionary movement as best it could, and by preaching and writing deserved what Dr. Paulus has said of it: "It may well be said that in the difficult conflict through which the Catholic Church had to pass in Germany in the sixteenth century no other religious order furnished in the literary sphere so many champions, or so well equipped, as the Order of St. Dominic". #249 The order was conspicuous by the number and influence of the Dominican bishops and theologians who took part in the Council of Trent. To a certain extent Thomistic doctrine predominated in the discussions and decisions of the council, so that Clement VII, in 1593, could say, when he desired the Jesuits to follow St. Thomas, that the council approved and accepted his works. #250 The "Catechismus ad Parochos", the composition of which had been ordered by the council, and which was published at the command of Pius V (1566), is the work of Dominican theologians. #251 The Spanish Dominican School of the sixteenth century, inaugurated by Francisco de Vitoria (d. 1540), produced a series of eminent theologians: Melchior Cano (1560), the celebrated author of "De locis theologicis"; Domingo Soto (1500); Bartolomé de Medina (1580); Domingo Bañez. This. line of theologians was continued by Tomás de Lemos (1629); Diego Alvarez (1635); Juan de S. Tomás (1644). #252Italy furnished a contingent of Dominican theologians of note, of whom Thomas de Vio Cajetan (d. 1534) was incontestably the most famous. #253 Franceseo Silvestro di Ferrara (d. 1528) left a valuable commentary on the "Summa contra Gentiles". #254 Chrysostom Javelli, a dissenter from the Thomistic School, left very remarkable writings on the moral and political sciences. #255 Catharinus (1553) is a famous polemicist, but an unreliable theologian. #256 France likewise produced excellent theologians -- Jean Nicolai (d. 1673); Vincent de Contenson (d. 1674); Antoine Reginald (d. 1676); Jean-Baptiste Gonet (d. 1081); Antoine Gondin (d. 1695); Antonin Manoulié (d. 1706); Noël Alexandre (Natalie Alexander) (d. 1724); Hyacinthe de Graveson (d. 1733); Hyacinthe Serry (d.1738). #257 From the sixteenth century to the eighteenth the Thomistic School upheld by the authority of Dominican general chapters and theologians, the official adhesion of new religious orders and various theological faculties, but above all by the Holy See, enjoyed an increasing and undisputed authority.
The disputes concerning moral theology which disturbed the Church during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, originated in the theory of probability advanced by the Spanish Dominican Bartolomé de Medina in 1577. Several theologians of the order adopted, at the beginning of the seventeenth century the theory of moral probability; but in consideration of the abuses which resulted from these doctrines the General Chapter of 1656 condemned them, and after that time there were no more Probabilists among the Dominicans. The condemnations of Alexander VII (1665, 1667), the famous Decree of Innocent XI, and various acts of the Roman Church combined to make the Preachers resolute opponents of Probabilism. The publication of Concina's "Storia del probabilismo" in 1743 renewed the controversy. He displayed enormous activity, and his friend and disciple, Giovanni Vicenzo Patuzzi (d. 1769) defended him in a series of vigorous writings. St. Alphonsus Liguori felt the consequences of these disputes, and, in consideration of the position taken by the Holy See, greatly modified his theoretical system of probability and expressed his desire to adhere to the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas. #258
(e) Scientific productions. --
The literary activity of the Preachers of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was not confined to the theological movement noticed above, but shared in the general movement of erudition in the sacred sciences. Among the most noteworthy productions were the works of Pagnini (d. 1541) on the Hebrew text of Scripture; his lexicons and grammars were famous in their day and exercised a lasting influence; #259 Sixtus of Siena (d. 1569), a converted Jew created the science of introduction to the sacred Books with his "Bibliotheca Sancta"; #260 Jacques Goar, liturgist and Orientalist published the "Euchologium sive rituale Græeorum" (Paris, 1647), a work which, according to Renaudot, was unsurpassed by anything in its time. #261 François Combefis (d. 1679) issued editions of the Greek Fathers and writers. #262 Michel le Quien, Orientalist, produced a monumental work in his "Oriens Christianus". Vansleb (d. 1679) was twice sent by Colbert to the Orient, whence he brought a large number of MSS. for the Bibliothèque du Roi. #263 Thomas Mammachi (d. 1792) left a large unfinished work, "Origines et Antiquitates Christianæ " (Rome, 1753-57).In the historical field mention must be made of Bartholomew de Las Casas (d. 1566) who left a valuable "Historia de las Indias" (Madrid, 1875), Noël Alexandre (d. 1724) left an ecclesiastical history which was long held in esteem. #264 Joseph Augustin Orsi (d. 1761) wrote an "Historia eelesiastica" which was continued by his confrère Filippo Angelo Becchetti (d. 1814). The last edition (Rome, 1838) ; numbers 50 volumes. #265 Nico, las Coeffeteau was, according to Vaugelas, one of the two greatest masters of the French language at the beginning of the eighteenth century. #266 Thomas Campanella (d. 1639) won renown by his numerous writings on philosophy and sociology as well as by the boldness of his ideas and his eventful life. #267 Jacques Barelier (d. 1673) left one of the foremost botanical works of his time, which was edited by A. y de Jussieu, "Icones plantarum per Galliam, Hispaniam et Italiam observatarum ad vivum exhibitarum" (Paris, 1714). #268
(f) The Preachers and Christian Society. --
During the modern period the order performed countless services for the Church. Their importance may be gathered from the fact that during this period it gave to the Church two popes, St. Pius V (1566-72) and Benedict XIII (1724-30), forty cardinals, and more than a thousand bishops and archbishops. From the foundation of the Roman Congregations in the sixteenth century a special place was reserved for the Preachers; thus the titulars of the Commissariat of the Holy Office and the secretary of the Index were always chosen from this order. The title of Consultor of the Holy Office also belonged by right to the master general and the Master of the Sacred Palace. #269 The influence of the Preachers on the political powers of Europe was unequally exercised during this period: they remained confessors of the kings of Spain until 1700; in France their credit decreased especially under Louis XIV, from whom they had much to suffer. #270(g) The Preachers and the Missions. --
The missions of the Preachers reached their greatest development during the modern period. They were fostered, on the one hand, by the Portuguese conquests in Africa and the East Indies and, on the other, by the Spanish conquests in America and Western Asia. As early as the end of the fifteenth century Portuguese Dominicans reached the West Coast of Africa and, accompanying the explorers, rounded the Cape of Good Hope to settle on the coast of East Africa. They founded temporary or permanent missions in the Portuguese African settlements and went in succession to the Indies, Ceylon, Siam, and Malacca. They made Goa the centre of these missions which in 1548 were erected into a special mission of the Holy Cross, which had to suffer from the British conquest, but continued to flourish till the beginning of the nineteenth century. The order gave a great many bishops to these regions. #271 The discovery of America soon brought Dominican evangelization in the footsteps of the conquistadores, one of them Diego de Deza, was the constant defender of Christopher Columbus, who declared (letter of 21 Dec. 1504) that it was to him the Sovereigns of Spain owed the possession of the Indies. #272 The first missionaries reached the New World in 1510, and preaching was quickly extended throughout the conquered countries, where they organized the various provinces already mentioned and found in Bartolomé de las Casas who took the habit of the order, their most powerful assistant in the defence of the Indians.St. Louis Bertrand (d. 1581) was the great apostle of New Granada, and St. Rose of Lima (d. 1617) the first flower of sanctity in the New World. #273 Dominican evangelization went from America to the Philippines (1586) and thence to China (1590), where Gaspar of the Holy Cross, of the Portuguese Congregation of the Indies, had already begun to work in 1559. The Preachers established themselves in Japan (1601), in Tonking (1676), and in the Island of Formosa. This flourishing mission passed through persecutions, and the Church has raised its numerous martyrs to her altars. #274 In 1635 the French Dominicans began the evangelization of the French Antilles, Guadaloupe, Martinique etc., which lasted until the end of the eighteenth century. #275 In 1750 the Mission of Mesopotamia and Kurdistan was founded by the Italian religious; it passed to the Province of France (Paris) in 1856. #276
(h) Dominican Saints and Blessed. --
From the beginning of the sixteenth century members of the Order of St. Dominic eminent for sanctity were the subjects of twenty-one canonizations or beatifications. Some of the beatifications included a more or less large number at one time: such were the Annamite martyrs, who formed a group of twenty-six beati canonized 21 May, 1900, by Leo XIII, and the martyrs of Tonking, who numbered eight, the last of whom died in 1861, and who were canonized by Pius X, 28 Nov., 1905. Five saints were canonized during this period; St. John of Gorkum (d. 1572), , martyr; St. Pius V (d. 1572), the last pope canonized; St. Louis Bertrand (d. 1581), missionary in the New World; St. Catherine de' Ricci (d. 1589), of the second order, and St. Rose of Lima (d. 1617), tertiary, the first American saint. #277(3) Contemporaneous Period . --
The contemporaneous period of the history of the Preachers begins with the different restorations of provinces under taken after the revolutions which had destroyed the order in several countries of the Old World and the New. This period begins more or less early in the nineteenth century, and it cannot be traced down to the present day without naming religious who are still living and whose activity embodies the present life of the order. The revolutions not having totally destroyed certain of the provinces, nor decimated them, simultaneously, the Preachers were able to take up the laborious work of restoration in countries where the civil legislation did not present insurmountable obstacles. During this critical period the number of Preachers seems never to have sunk below 3500. The statistics for 1876 give 3748 religious, but 500 of these had been expelled from their convents and were engaged in parochial work. The statistics for 1910 give a total of very nearly 4472 religious both nominally and actually engaged in the proper activities of the order. They are distributed in 28 provinces and 5 congregations, and possess nearly 400 convents or secondary establishments.In the revival movement France held a foremost place, owing to the reputation and convincing power of the immortal orator, Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (1802-61). He took the habit of a Friar Preacher at Rome (1839), and the province of France was canonically erected in 1850. From this province were detached the province of Lyons, called Occitania (1862), that of Toulouse (1869), and that of Canada (1909). The French restoration likewise furnished many labourers to other provinces, to assist in their organization and progress. From it came the master general who remained longest at the head of the administration during the nineteenth century, Père Vincent Jandel (1850-72). Here should be mentioned the province of St. Joseph in the United States. Founded in 1805 by Father Dominic Fenwick, afterwards first Bishop of Cincinnati, Ohio (1821-32), this province has developed slowly, but now ranks among the most flourishing and active provinces of the order. In 1910 it numbered 17 convents or secondary houses. In 1905 it established a large house of studies at Washington.
The province of France (Paris) has produced a large number of preachers, several of whom became renowned. The conferences of Notre-Dame-de-Paris were inaugurated by Père Lacordaire. The Dominicans of the province of France furnished most of the orators: Lacordaire (1835-36, 1843-51), Jacques Monsabré (1869-70, 1872-90), Joseph Ollivier (1871, 1897), Thomas Etourneau (1898-1902). Since 1903 the pulpit of Notre Dame has again been occupied by a Dominican. Père Henri Didon (d. 1900) was one of the most esteemed orators of his time. The province of France displays greater intellectual and scientific activity than ever, the chief centre being the house of studies at present situated at Kain, near Tournai, Belgium, where are published "L'Année Dominicaine" (founded 1859), "La Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Theologiques" (1907), and "La Revue de la Jeunesse" (1909).
The province of the Philippines, the most populous in the order, is recruited from Spain, where it has several preparatory houses. In the Philippines it has charge of the University of Manila, recognized by the Government of the United States, two colleges, and six establishments; in China it administers the missions of North and South Fo-Kien, in the Japanese Empire, those of Formosa and Shikoku, besides establishments at New Orleans, at Caracas (Venezuela) and at Rome. The province of Spain has seventeen establishments in the Peninsula and the Canaries, as well as the missions of Urubamba (Peru). Since 1910 it has published at Madrid an important review, "La Ciencia Tomista". The province of Holland has a score of establishments, and the missions of Curaçao and Puerto Rico. Other provinces also have their missions. That of Piedmont has establishments at Constantinople and Smyrna; that of Toulouse, in Brazil; that of Lyons, in Cuba, that of Ireland, in Australia and Trinidad; that of Belgium, in the Belgian Congo, and so on.
Doctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration of the Preachers. Several institutions besides those already mentioned have played important parts. Such is the Biblical school at Jerusalem, open to the religious of the order and to secular clerics, and which publishes the "Revue Biblique", so highly esteemed in the learned world. The faculty of theology of the University of Freiburg, confided to the care of the Dominicans in 1890, is flourishing and has about 250 students. The Collegium Angelicum, established at Rome (1911) by Hyacinth Cormier (master general since 1902), is open to regulars and seculars for the study of the sacred sciences. To the reviews mentioned above must be added the "Revue Thomiste", founded by Père Thomas Coconnier (d. 1908), and the "Analecta Ordinis Prædicatorum" (1893). Among the numerous writers of the order in this period are: Cardinals Thomas Zigliara (d. 1893) and Zephirin González (d. 1894), two esteemed philosophers; Father Alberto Guillelmotti (d. 1893), historian of the Pontifical Navy, and Father Heinrich Denifle, one of the most famous writers on medieval history (d. 1905). In 1910 the order had twenty archbishops or bishops, one of whom, Andreas Frühwirth, formerly master general (1892-1902), is Apostolic nuncio at Munich. #278
B. The Second Order; Dominican Sisters. --
The circumstances under which St. Dominic established the first convent of nuns at Prouille (1206) and the legislation given the second order have been related above. As early as 1228 the question arose as to whether the Order of Preachers would accept the government of convents for women. The order itself was strongly in favour of avoiding this ministry and struggled long to maintain its freedom. But the sisters found, even among the Preachers, such advocates as the master general, Jordanus of Saxony (d. 1236), and especially the Dominican cardinal, Hugh of St. Cher (d. 1263), who promised them that they would eventually be victorious (1267). The incorporation of monasteries with the order continued through the latter part of the thirteenth and during the next century. In 1288 the papal legate, Giovanni Boccanazzi, simultaneously placed all the Penitent Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen in Germany under the government of the provincial of the Preachers, but this step was not final. The convents of sisters incorporated with the order were especially numerous in the province of Germany The statistics for 1277 show 58 monasteries already incorporated, 40 of which were in the single province of Teutonia. The statistics for 1303 give 149 convents of Dominican nuns, and these figures increased during the succeeding centuries. Nevertheless, a certain number of monasteries passed under the jurisdiction of bishops. In the list of convents drawn up during the generalship of Serafino Cavalli (1571-78) there are only 168 monasteries. But the convents of nuns are not indicated for most provinces, and the number should really be much higher. The Council of Trent placed all the convents of nuns under the jurisdiction of bishops, but the Preachers frequently provided these houses with chaplains or almoners. The statistics for 1770 give 180 monasteries, but they are incomplete. The revolutions, which affected the ecclesiastical situation in most Catholic countries from the end of the eighteenth century, brought about the suppression of a great many monasteries; several, however, survived these disturbances, and others were re-established. In the list for 1895 there are more than 150 monasteries including some of the Third Order, which are cloistered like the Second Order. These monasteries are most numerous in Spain. In Germany the convents of nuns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries witnessed the development of an intense mystical life, and several of these houses have preserved accounts of the life of the sisters, usually in the vernacular. The Dominican sisters, instructed and directed by an order of preachers and teachers, were remarkable not only for spiritual but also for intellectual culture. In the course of seven centuries various nuns have left literary and artistic works which bear witness to the culture of some of these monasteries. #279C. The Third Order. --
Neither St. Dominic nor the early Preachers wished to have under their jurisdiction -- and consequently under their responsibility -- either religious or lay associations. We have seen their efforts to be relieved of the government of nuns who, nevertheless, were following the rule of the order. But numerous laymen, and especially lay women, who were leading in the world a life of penance or observing continence, felt the doctrinal influence of the order and grouped themselves about its convents. In 1285 the need of more firmly uniting these lay elements and the idea of bringing under the direction of the Preachers a portion of the Order of Penance led the seventh master general, Muñon de Zamora, at the instance of Honorius IV to draw up the rule known as that of the Penance of St. Dommic. Inspired by that of the Brothers of Penance, this rule had a more ecclesiastical character and firmly subordinated the conduct of the brothers to the authority of the Preachers. Honorius IV confirmed the foundation by the collation of a privilege (28 Jan., 1286). The former master general of the Friars Minor, Jerome d'Ascoli, having become pope in 1288 under the name of Nicholas IV, regarded the action of his predecessor and of the master general of the Friars-Preachers as a kind of defiance of the Friars Minor who considered themselves the natural protectors of the Brothers of Penance, and by his letters of 17 August, 1289, he sought to prevent the desertion of the Brothers of Penance. Muñon de Zamora discharged his office of master general as it had been confided to him by Martin IV. The Order of Preachers protested with all its might against what it regarded as an injustice. These events retarded the development of the Dominican Third Order, a portion of the Preachers remaining un favourable to the institution. Nevertheless, the Third Order continued to exist; one of its fraternities, that of Siena, was especially flourishing, a list of its members from 1311 being extant The sisters numbered 100 in 1352, among them she who was to become St. Catherine of Siena. They numbered 92 in 1378. The reforming movement of Raymund of Capua, confessor and historian of St. Catherine, aimed at the spread of the Third Order; in this Thomas Caffarini of Siena was especially active. The Dominican Third Order received new approbation from Boniface IX, 18 January, 1401, and on 27 April of the following year the pope published its rule in a Bull, whereupon its development received a fresh impetus. It never became very widespread, the Preachers having sought quality rather than number of tertiaries. St. Catherine of Siena, canonized in 1461, is the patroness of the Third Order, and, following the example of her who has been called the Joan of Arc of the papacy, the Dominican tertiaries have always manifested special devotion to the Roman Church. Also in imitation of their patroness, who wrote splendid mystical works, they endeavoured to acquire a special knowledge of their religion, as befits Christians incorporated with a great doctrinal order. The Third Order has given several blessed to the Church, besides St. Catherine of Siena and St. Rose of Lima. For several centuries there have been regular convents and congregations belonging to the Third Order. The nineteenth century witnessed the establishment of a large number of regular congregations of tertiaries devoted to works of charity or education. In 1895 there were about 55 congregations with about 800 establishments and 20,000 members. In the United States there are flourishing convents at Sinsinawa (Wisconsin), Jersey City, Traverse (Michigan), Columbus (Ohio), Albany (New York), and San Francisco (California).In 1852 Père Lacordaire founded in France a congregation of Priests for the education of youth called the Third Teaching Order of St. Dominic. It is now regarded as a special province of the Order of Preachers, and had flourishing and select colleges in France at Oullins (1853), Sorèze (1854), Arceuil (1863), Arcachon (1875), Paris (Ecole Lacordaire 1890). These houses have ceased to be directed by Dominicans since the persecution of 1903. The teaching Dominicans now have the Collège Lacordaire at Buenos Aires, Champittet at Lausanne (Switzerland), and San Sebastian (Spain). During the Paris Commune four martyrs of the teaching order died in company with a priest of the First Order, 25 May, 1871. One of them, Père Louis Raphael Captier was an eminent educator. #280
P. MANDONNET