Spiritual Corner -- St. Dominic: Biography and the Founding of the Dominican Order

St. Dominic was born in Calaroga, a small village in mid-northern Spain at about 1170. His parents were descendants of noble families. His family was a model Catholic family. Other than Dominic was canonized, his mother and a brother (also a Dominican), were beatified, too. Another brother of his was also a priest. Dominic was brought up in a fervent Catholic atmosphere; his parents sent him when he was 7 years old to his uncle who was a priest for education. His vocation was seeded at that stage. At the age of 14, he went to Parancia to study philosophy and theology and was a prospective candidate for priesthood. He joined the chanting group of the Burgo de Osma Cathedral when he was 24 and was soon promoted to be the priest of the chanting group. In 1203, Dominic accompanied the bishop of Osma to Denmark, and passed by southern France where heresy was pervasive. He stayed in a hotel and debated for the whole night with the hotel owner and ultimately, the owner was converted to Christianity. This incident laid the seed of founding a religious order in Dominic’s mind.

There was an important date in Dominic’s life, July 22, 1206, the feast day of Mary Magdalene. It was also the beginning of his new career. Dominic was sitting outside the north gate of Fanjeaux (in southern France) meditating how this sinful woman could have turned into “Apostle of the Apostles”. This was also the moment when Dominic was puzzling about the scanty effect of evangelization. He prayed for God’s guidance and asked the Holy Mother to tell him what to do and where he should choose as the centre of his apostolic ministry. While he was gazing at the dark sky, suddenly a fire ball descended, whirling for a while then fell with a brilliant sparkle onto a ruined church in Prui (southern France). Dominic asked himself, “Could this be a spiritual vision?” The same strange vision appeared in the following two nights. This strange vision affirmed Dominic’s determination. It gave him what he was praying for: He should start working in Prui and in that desolate church. Within half a year, Dominic summoned 9 women who had been converted from heresy, and built a monastery for cloistered Dominican nuns in Prui.
(To be continued)

Yours,
Sr. Magdalena Yang
(Excerpted from the “Spirit and Devotion of the Dominican Order” by Fr. Pun Ching Yu )