I am sure you all know the founder of the Dominican Order. He was also the person to whom Our Lady taught the Rosary prayer and together with his followers, was responsible for the spread of this devotion. Friends, our saint for today is St. Dominic de Guzman. Dominic was a Spaniard, born in Caleruega, Old Castile, Spain on August 8, 1170. His parents were Felix de Guzman, a wealthy, honorable man and Juana Aca, a saintly woman, who was beatified in 1829 by Pope Leo XXII. His maternal uncle was an archbishop. At the age of fourteen. Dominic was sent to a monastery until he was transferred for further studies in Palencia. He studied various arts in six years and devoted four years to theology. He also became a canon at a certain seminary. When Spain was devastated by famine in 1191, Dominic, at the astonishment of his schoolmates, sold his clothes, furniture, precious manuscripts and even gave his money to those who were getting hungry. At the age of 24, he was ordained as a priest and joined the canonry of the Cathedral of Osma. In 1215, Dominic, with six others established themselves in a house given by a rich benefactor in Toulouse, France. He saw that there was a need to have a new organization to address the spiritual needs of the world that would combine dedication and systematic education with more flexible rules. He and his companions adopted monastic rules, prayer and made penances and the Bishop gave them the authority to preach throughout Toulouse. In that same year, when the Fourth Lateran Council was held, he and a companion went to Rome to seek approval of their newly established religious Order. They returned in January 1217 with the authority and approval from Pope Honorius III of the Ordo Praedicatorum, now known as the “Order of Preachers” or the Dominican Order.The members of the Dominican Order increased and spread out in Europe. Dominic travelled often to maintain contact with the members of the flourishing Order but he established his main headquarter in Rome and through the invitation of the Pope occupied the Basilica of Sta. Sabina. Pope Honorius III donated his property to the Dominicans in 1220. The first Roman headquarter would later be transformed into the College of Saint Thomas in the 16thcentury, and in the 20th century into the Pontifical University of Thomas Aquinas, now known as the famous Angelicum , which teaches philosophy, theology, canon law and social sciences. Dominic preached against the Albigensian heresy which believed that matter is evil. The body is matter so it is evil.Dominic was very prayerful and austere. He was mortified and avoided anything luxurious. In fact, he slept on the floor and chose simple clothes. He often travelled barefoot and never complained of the discomforts from the heat of the sun or the water from the rain. He chose the meanest and poorest accommodation, whenever he travelled. As a person, he was described to be thin and of middle height. He had a handsome and fair face, beautiful eyes, reddish hair and beard. Exhausted with his many labors he was sick when he reached the convent of St. Nicholas at Bologna, Italy. He asked the monks to stretch out sacks for him to lay down, then he spent his remaining last minutes in exhorting those around him to be humble, charitable and poor. He died at noon time on August 6, 1221. Dominic was canonized in 1234.
