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Saint Dominic is the patron saint of the small town of Vittoriosa in Malta. Since 1876 the town has celebrated with great enthusiasm and passion the feast of Saint Dominic. The Statue of Saint Dominic is carried through the town and then placed back in the piazza.
Today is the day on which the universal Church celebrates the feast of Our Holy Father, St. Dominic. St. Dominic was born around the year 1171. He died on the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, 1221. Until the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, his feast day was celebrated on August 4th. The Order now celebrates with the whole Church on this day, August 8th.
In honor of the feast, we have uploaded a PDF file with a few short excerpts from some of the Popes of the 20th century on the Dominican Order.
In addition, below are the verse lines in honor of St. Dominic from Dante’s Paradiso. In this great epic poem, these lines are spoken by St. Bonaventure in honor of the virtues of St. Dominic.
From The Comedy of Dante Alighieri the Florentine
Cantica III: Paradise (Il Paradiso)
(Canto XII, Lines 37 – 105)
Translated into English by Dorothy L. Sayers
Following its banner with uncertain stride,
Christ’s army, once rearmed at such dear cost,
Was straggling on, thin-ranked and terrified,So that the eternal Emperor was disposed -
Not by their merit, but by His sole grace -
To reinforce His gravely threatened host,And for His Bride’s relief was pleased to raise
Two champions, fit (as has been shown to us)
By word and deed to rally those poor strays.Within that province where sweet Zephyrus
Swells till the springtide foliage is unfurled,
Wherewith all Europe is made beauteous,Nor distant from that coastline where the hurled
Waves beat on which, his longest course pursued,
The sun at times hides him from all the world,Long time hath happy Calahorra stood,
Protected by the mighty shield which shows
The lion by turns subduing and subdued;And in that town was born the amorous
Sweet leman of the Faith, the wrestler-saint,
Kind to his friends and ruthless to his foes;A soul created so pre-eminent
In living might, that a prophetic power
From her womb’s burden through his mother went.And when the sacred font in nuptial hour
Had wed the Faith to him and him to her,
With their salvation for their mutual dower,The lady who stood sponsor for him there
Dreamed of the wondrous fruit that afterward
He and his heirs should foster by their care;And there, that name and nature might accord,
Seeing Whose he was, the Spirit going forth
Named him by the possessive of the Lord.Dominic was his name, whose work and worth
I publish, as the husbandman whom Christ
Called to His garden to help till the earth.
From the Dominican House of Studies Website:
The Analogy of Being: Invention of the Anti-Christ, or the Wisdom of God?
A Theological Symposium
Date: April 4—6, 2008
Place: The John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington , D.C.
Is there any ‘natural’ knowledge of God available to the human person, apart from Christian revelation, or is all knowledge of God given to human beings uniquely in Christ? Is Christianity irrevocably wed to the classical metaphysical tradition, or can God’s nature and character be rethought in distinctly modern ways, based upon a renewed reading of Scripture? What relationship or likeness, if any, exists between created nature and the grace of God? Does Christian theology presuppose a natural philosophical ‘capacity’ for knowledge of God in the human person?
All of these fundamental theological questions are situated at the heart of the famous 20th century debate between Erich Przywara S.J. and Karl Barth, and were treated in Przywara’s famous work Analogia Entis. These topics were also revisited by Hans Urs von Balthasar in his ecumenical landmark, The Theology of Karl Barth. On the occasion of a forthcoming English translation of Analogia Entis by John Betz and David Bentley Hart, this symposium will invite contemporary theologians indebted to Aquinas, Przywara, Barth and Balthasar to discuss these issues. Is the theological concept of the ‘analogy of being’ in fact an ‘invention of the anti-Christ’ as Karl Barth suggested, or is it a truth about creation revelatory of the wisdom of God?
Featured Speakers:
John Betz
Martin Bieler
Peter Casarella
Michael Hanby
David Bentley Hart
Reinhard Hütter
Bruce McCormack
Bruce Marshall
Richard Schenk O.P.
John Webster
Thomas Joseph White O.P.
Sponsored by:
The Dominican House of Studies
The John Paul II Cultural Center
Eerdmans Press
(Flyer Illustration by fr. Antoninus Niemiec, O.P., after Giusto, Creation of the World; © 2007.)
We have a new webcam for the construction site of the Academic Center & Theological Library. Click on the picture above and enter the user name: dhs2007 and password: 2007dhs
Don’t tell anyone it’s top secret!
On Saturday, Setpember 15, 2007, our brothers Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P., and Thomas Joseph White, O.P., will be ordained to the order of Deacons. The ordination will occur at our Priory of the Immaculate Conception (Dominican House of Studies) in Washington, DC. The Mass of Ordination will begin at 11:00am in the Priory chapel.
The ordaining prelate will be Most Rev. Edwin F. O’Brien, Archbishop-designate of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, formerly Archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Military Services of the United States of America.
Please keep these brothers in your prayers as they prepare for their ordination.
You can see the latest updates by clicking the flickr badge at the bottom of the sidebar. For the Slide show click on the photo.
On Thursday, June 21, 2007, Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, came to our church of St. Catherine to bless our new priory there. St. Catherine’s is located on east 68th street in New York’s Upper East Side. In addition to the parish, the friars of St. Catherine minister to three hospitals located in the area: Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center, Hospital for Special Surgery, and New York Presbyterian.
The new priory is located in the new research facility of Memorial Sloane-Kettering. Formerly the site of an dold priory and elementary school, these were sold to Memorial Sloane-Kettering for their new cancer research building. As part of the sale, space was reserved in the building for a new priory for the Dominican friars. In addition, the lower floors will provide much needed meeting and classroom space for the parish of St. Catherine.
Fr. John Baptist Ku, O.P., a Dominican friar of the Eastern Province, speaks about Humanae Vitae and parish preaching. (Video 19 min.) of a talk given at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C. on June 18, 2007.
Click on the photo to see the album which follows the construction of the new Dominican Academic Center & Theological Library.
Father Robert Christian O.P. a professor at the Angelicum speaks about a former classmate of mine Father Ragheed Ganni.
On Sunday 10 June, the Feast of Corpus Christi, Catholics of Oxford took part in a Eucharistic Procession from the Oxford Oratory to the Catholic Chaplaincy, pausing at Blackfriars Priory for a sermon given by Bishop William Kenney CP, auxiliary of Birmingham.
Uploaded by Lawrence OP on 10 Jun 07, 3.28PM PDT.
The latest issue of the Dominican Review, the Journal of the Student Brothers of the Eastern Province, is now available. This issue includes a reflection by the editor on the relationship between the theological virtue of hope and the Blessed Sacrament. Also, Br. Ignatius Schweitzer, O.P., writes on “The Holy Name of Jesus and Blessed Henry Suso, O.P.” In an article entitled “Our God is Not Like Other Gods”, Br. Austin Litke, O.P., constasts God’s revelation of himself to Israel and in Christ to the understanding of gods in the ancient pagan religions. Finally, Rev. James Cuddy, O.P., who was just ordained to the priesthood this past May, reflects on the nature of the Holy Eucharist and the feast of Corpus Christi.
The latest issue of the Dominican Review can be read as a .PDF file here.
Brs. Francis de Sales Johnston, OP, and Ignatius Schweitzer, OP, will be co-hosting a summer lecture series at our parish of St. Patrick in downtown Columbus, OH. The series will be on Thursday nights from June 7 to July 26 at 7:00pm in the parish hall. The title of the Series is “Exploring Catholicism: Rediscovering the Splendor of a Catholic Life” and will include topics on faith & reason, biblical interpretation, and the uniqueness of Christ.
St. Patrick church is located at 280 N. Grant Street, Columbus, OH 43215.
They can be found on the Web at http://home.catholicweb.com/stpatrickcolumbus/index.cfm
“In life today, which is often noisy and scattered, it is more important than ever to recover the capacity for interior silence and recollection: Eucharistic adoration permits one to do this…”
- Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Message, June 10, 2007
Rev. Br. Pius Pietrzyk, OP, who was ordained a transitional deacon this past January, has been assigned to our parish of St. Vincent Ferrer on New York’s Upper East Side. As a part of his ministry, Br. Pius will offer adoration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament each Friday throughout the summer. Exposition will being shortly following the 12:10pm parish Mass and end with benediction at 1:30pm. Within the context of adoration, Br. Pius will also offer a preaching series entitled: Eucharistic Adoration & Virtue”. This series will focus on the relationship between the spiritual life (adoration) and the moral life (virtue).
When: Every Friday During Summer (June 15 to August 10, 2007)
Exposition following the 12:10 Mass, Benediction at 1:30
Beginning on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Where: St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church
869 Lexington Ave. (Lexington at East 66th Street)
New York, NY 10065
For information, call the parish at (212) 744-2080.
(10 min video) Fathers James Cuddy, O.P., Dominic Legge, O.P. and Allen Moran, O.P. were ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Donald Wuerl at St. Dominic Church, Washington, D.C.
Sen. Thomas Dodd a true servant- The friars at Providence College are mentioned in this article by JULIE SHERMAN For the Norwich Bulletin
“Since Tom (Dodd) shared the Catholic faith with the priests, he was stimulated by the opportunity to blend academic work with continuous personal exposure to the spiritual outlook that underlay the pedagogy of his instructors. He sought them out for conversation outside of class. These relationships would be of lasting help to him later, as he strove to achieve a balance between spirituality, free inquiry and practicality.”
While serving at St. Mary’s in New Haven I’ve come upon several interesting stories. This video is an excerpt (5 min) from EWTN’s Life on the Rock in which three Yale Bulldogs speak about living their faith on campus and St. Mary’s Church.
Br. Jim McCormack, MIC (a Marian seminarian) is no stranger to the Dominicans, currently a student at the Dominican House of Studies, Br. Jim recalls his time at Yale attending Mass at St. Mary’s and his call to the priesthood.
Read the rest of this entry »
CATHOLICISM AT IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITIES SPECIAL REPORT- May 2007
Pockets of orthodoxy exist. But students and teachers face secularist intolerance and some of them succumb to it, reports Jeff Ziegler. The Dominican Friars are mentioned for their campus ministry at Dartmouth and Columbia. Yale’s Stephen Schmalhofer also speaks of the Friars at St. Mary’s…
Yale Bulldogs: David Miller, Stephen Schmalhofer and Stephen Bassermann appeared on EWTN’s Life on the Rock speaking about living their faith on campus and their experience with the Dominican Friars at St. Mary’s Parish. Also check out Stephen Schmalhofer’s blog.
To enter religious life in the early twenty-first century, one has to pass a relatively mild battery of psychological and physical exams. To enter religious life in the early fifteenth century, St. Antoninus had to memorize the Decretals of Gratian. It took him a year to do it, but a successful examination, and the mercy of his superiors, afforded him entrance into the Order.
Video (57 min) of a lecture by Fr. Kurt J. Pritzl, O.P., entitled “Contemplation and Truth when Made in the Image of God: Aristotelian Reflections in Post-Modern Times.” Given at the Dominican House of Studies on April 12, 2007. Fr. Pritzl serves as Dean of the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America.
(Video 32min.) also read Fr. Sherwin’s article:
(Video 3mins. 57 sec.)
(3min. video) The Dominican friars in the traditional monastic Holy Week liturgy commemorating the death and burial of the Light of lights, punctuated by the haunting melodies of the Lamentations of Jeremiah as sung on the lips of Jesus Christ weeping over the lost children of Jerusalem.
an Article by Br. Bruno M. Shah, O.P.
I. Playing A Part
During the first days at the seminary, the Master of Students gathers the newly arrived to discover what practical talents are available for the community’s benefit. (We blithely refer to the house’s chores as “privileges.”) Each of our sixty men has some share in the work of home–maintenance–this brother is handy with electrical equipment, that brother has a background in carpentry, this brother is literate in computers, et cetera. Well, this brother claimed that he could cut hair. And for an order that vows evangelical poverty, getting haircuts for free is what philosophers call a “useful good.”
Br. James Brent with Cardinal Avery Dulles and Br. Bruno M. Shah
See Avery Dulles’ ordination news clip
Short interview with Br. James Brent, O.P. on the recent conference (2mins 37 secs)
Bro. J. Thomas Petri was recently on Lexington Catholic Radio Station
Click here to hear Bro. J. Thomas Petri on Diocese Live speaking on end of life issues
The Marian Role in the Restoration of the Image of God (Video 49 mins.) by Rev. John Corbett, O.P. Assistant Professor of Moral Theology Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.
Father John received his doctorate at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, studying with the noted moralist Servais Pinckaers, O.P., and writing a dissertation on the theology of virtue in the thought of St.Thomas Aquinas. Previously he has served on the theology faculties at Providence College in Providence, RI, and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, OH. Father John is a popular preacher and retreat director.
“Charity’s Knowledge: The Relationship Between Knowledge and Love in Aquinas’ Account of Human Action” (60 min. Video) presented by: Michael S. Sherwin, O.P., is Associate Professor of Fundamental Moral Theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He is the author of By Knowledge and by Love: Charity and Knowledge in the Moral Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, for which he received the 2006 Charles Cardinal Journet Prize from Ave Maria University’s Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal. Alasdair MacIntyre says of Fr. Sherwin’s By Knowledge and By Love, “Sherwin has provided a wonderfully illuminating study of the development and structure of Aquinas’ thought on these matters. Both as a guide to recent scholarship and as an insightful account of what is philosophically and theologically at stake, this is an excellent book.”
(Talk: 48 mins Q & A: 9 mins) FR. PETER JOHN CAMERON, O.P., (Editor-in-Chief of MAGNIFICAT) explains the importance of Dominican preaching for the New Evangelization whereby the preacher speaks directly to people’s hearts in order to lead them to an encounter with Christ. Fr. Cameron gave this talk to 27 men during the February 2007 Vocation Weekend.
Video (46mins. lecture 20 mins Q&A) “What Can the Human Genome Project Tell Us about What it is to be a Human Being?” Thursday, February 1, 2007 Presented by Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. Assistant Professor of Biology and Instructor of Theology at Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island. Consultant to the Committee on Science and Human Values of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
