Order of Preachers

The Order of Preachers, whose members are known as Dominicans, (Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum, postnominal abbreviation OP), is a mendicant order of the Catholic Church founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest Saint Dominic. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the Papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally carry the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, the meaning of the Order of Preachers. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and affiliated lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries)

Foundation of the Dominican Order

The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they traveled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this idea emerged two orders of mendicant friars: one, the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi; the other, the Friars Preachers, by Dominic of Guzman. Like his contemporary, Francis, Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization, and the quick growth of the Dominicans and Franciscans during their first century of existence confirms that the orders of mendicant friars met a need. Little 1983 argues the Dominicans and other mendicant orders were an adaptation to the rise of the profit economy in medieval Europe.

Dominic sought to establish a new kind of order, one that would bring the dedication and systematic education of the older monastic orders like the Benedictines to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of cities, but with more organizational flexibility than either monastic orders or the secular clergy. The Order of Preachers was founded in response to a then-perceived need for informed preaching.[9] Dominic new order was to be trained to preach in the vernacular languages.

Dominic inspired his followers with loyalty to learning and virtue, a deep recognition of the spiritual power of worldly deprivation and the religious state, and a highly developed governmental structure.[10] At the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a mixed” spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer, and meditation. The brethren of the Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and mystical in their spirituality. While these traits affected the women of the order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter characteristics and made those characteristics their own. In England, the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a spirituality and collective personality that set them apart.

St. Dominic and the Dominican Tradition

The Dominican Tradition has its origin in the life and ministry of St. Dominic de Guzman (1172- 1221), the son of a Spanish noble, who founded one of the largest religious Orders in the Catholic Church.  His charismatic vision of a way of responding to the needs of the Church in the thirteenth century led to the establishment of the Order of Preachers popularly known as the Dominicans.

The Thirteenth Century World of St. Dominic

The growth of an increasingly literate laity within the urban centers of thirteenth-century Italy and Southern France posed a serious pastoral problem for the Medieval Church.  These urbanized men and women experienced a strong dichotomy between the New Testament values of Christian life and the institutional Church.  The simplicity of Gospel living portrayed in the Acts of the Apostles, with its emphasis upon shared common life and the preaching of the Good News of Jesus Christ in poverty, appealed to the hearts and minds of many and seemed to stand in stark contrast to the opulent lifestyle and moral laxity that often marked the clergy.