Almighty God, whose servant Dominic grew in knowledge of thy truth and formed an order of preachers to proclaim the good news of Christ: Give to all thy people a hunger for your Word and an urgent longing to share the Gospel, that the whole world may come to know thee as thou art revealed in thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
St. Dominick founded one of the great monastic orders, that is popularly known as “the Dominicans,” but is properly known as the Order of Preachers (abbreviated O.P.). Like the Franciscans, the Dominicans represented a radical innovation in monastic life, i.e., they were itinerant preachers, who weren’t confined to living within the secluded walls of some monastery, but went out to preach the gospel and defend the Christian faith (against the Albigensian sect, etc.). Ever since the time of Thomas Aquinas, that order has been known for its combination of intellectual rigor and commitment to earnest, reasoned, but staunchly orthodox faith.
For the Anglican readers of T19, this feast day of St. Dominick might lead us to wonder: Why is it that we have so many more Anglican Franciscans or Benedictines than Dominicans? Now granted, there are pitifully few Anglican monastics of any sort, but the fact remains that the few that we have are seldom inclined to pursue the Dominican vision. I suppose I bring this up because I’ve long thought that if I were ever to be called to the monastic life, I’d want to be an Anglican Dominican (being Benedictine would be my second choice, but a distant second).
David Handy+