Dominican+friars

Dominican Friars were begun by Dominic Guzman and approved by Pope Honorius III (1216-27) on 22 December 1216 in France. Also known as the Order of Preachers, or //Ordo praedicatorum//.

- Founded to preach the gospel and to combat heresy, the order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers.

- Like his contemporary, [|Francis of Assisi], Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization, and the quick growth of the Dominicans and [|Franciscans] during their first century confirms that the orders of mendicant friars met a need.

- 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. Dominic's new order was to be a [|preaching] order, trained to preach in the [|vernacular] languages but with a sound background in academic [|theology.]Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the monasteries had done, the new friars would survive by begging, "selling" themselves through persuasive preaching. -The Order's origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its later development and reputation. Many later Dominicans battled heresy as part of their apostolate. Indeed, many years after St. Dominic reacted to the Cathars, the first [|Grand Inquistor of Spain], [|Tomás de Torquemada], would be drawn from the Dominican order, and the Dominicans were prominent in all Catholic [|Inquisitions]

- Saint Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican Monk

JOTISCHKY p. 68:

"the most effective strategy used by the Church to combat heresy was to improve the preaching and the provision of the sacraments in the parishes. The leader of this reform was Dominic Guzman, a Spanish Augustinian canon who founded a community of preachers in Toulouse before 1209. The Order of Preachers (Dominicans) soon spread across areas where heresy had taken root. The aim of the Order was twofold: to ensure that the Christian message was preached effectively and to train future preachers to supplement the work of the parish priesthood. Consequently, the order placed special value on theological learning and by the mid-13th century had begun to dominate the universities of Paris and Oxford. Dominican friars lived in urban priories, following the Augustinian Rule which allowed them to combine communal life with study and preaching." --Anna R.