Stefan's Florilegium

Domin-Order-art

Domin-Order-art - 11/7/97

"Friars Preachers: The Dominican Order in the Middle Ages" by Nicolaa de
Bracton of Leicester.

NOTE: See also the files: monks-msg, nuns-msg, religion-msg.

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While the author will likely give permission for this work to be
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Thank you,
Mark S. Harris
AKA: Stefan li Rous
stefan@florilegium.org
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Friars Preachers: The Dominican Order in the Middle Ages
--Nicolaa de Bracton of Leicester

Ask most laymen what they associate with the Dominicans, and the usual
answer is "the Inquisition". Of the two major mendicant orders to emerge in the
early thirteenth century, the Ordo Predicatoris, or the Order of Preachers, is
much less loved in the popular imagination than its cousin, the Friars Minor,
or Franciscans. St. Francis, with his love of animals and nature and devotion
to the ideals of poverty and humility, more naturally catches the imagination
than St. Dominic, with his devotion to preaching against heresy. Both orders,
however, share a number of common traits: they both are mendicant orders, which
meant that they received no official church funding, living instead off the alms
of the communities they lived in; unlike monks, both of these orders of
mendicant friars saw a need to work in their communities, rather than staying
cloistered away from society; and finally, in an age of Church reform and
educational revival, both Orders recognized very early the uses of learning and
thus were vital figures in the growth of the universities in Europe. This
article will attempt to give readers a wider view of the Dominican Order in
medieval society beyond their role in the Inquisition

St. Dominic and the Early Years
The late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries were a time of profound
change for the Church. The Papal See was at the height of its influence as a
guiding force in the lives of Europeans, and it was using this influence to
attempt to correct many of the abuses which had plagued it for so long. Great
church councils called by reforming popes like Innocent III were attempting to
introduce uniformity in practice and doctrine, such that the Church in Sweden or
France would closely resemble that in Rome. Attempts to insure the celibacy and
education of clergy went along with these reforms as well. And, with the
conversion of Europe nearly complete, the Church turned its attention to the
troubling problem of heresy within its own ranks.The Dominican Order was a
product of this era, and its eventual place in the Church would reflect each of
these concerns.

Dominic himself was born about 1170 in Castile and was prepared for a
career in the Church from boyhood. He eventually entered the cathedral chapter
of Osma, becoming a canon (a staff official for the cathedral church, who lived
according to a Rule as monks did) there. By 1201, he had become subprior there.
It was on a trip to Denmark with his mentor, Bishop Diego, that he first became
interested in missionary activities, but because of his commitments at home, he
was not permitted to go, and he and Diego returned home. On the way back, they
passed through southern France, where they learned of unsuccessful efforts to
preach against the Albigensian heresy. The Albigensians, noted for their
austere devotion to imitation of the apostles, were unimpressed with the first
preachers sent by the Pope, with their huge entourages and shows of worldly
wealth-- which only served to reinforce their ideas about the corruptness of the
Church.

Dominic and Diego came up with an idea that at the time was revolutionary:
Why not imitate the apostles themselves, traveling through the countryside
barefoot and simply clad, preaching and living off alms? And when preaching,
why not resort to good, solidly-argued doctrine, rather than flashy shows of
wealth? This was revolutionary because it, in part, resembled what the
Albigensians themselves were doing -- living austere lives and preaching their
vision to the world. The Pope, however, convinced of Dominic and Diegošs sound
doctrine, leant his support. But the Albigensian problem soon blew into a full-
fledged political as well as religious issue when a papal legate was
assassinated and a count suspected of sympathizing with the heretics was
implicated; the result was the infamous Albigensian Crusade. Dominic continued
to preach when he could, during lulls in the fighting, and eventually founded a
community of preachers to serve the diocese of Toulouse -- not only in preaching
against heresy, but also in instructing Catholics in the basics. This was the
seed of what became the Dominican Order, which was formally recognized in 1215.
From Toulouse, Dominicans were sent out all over Europe to found Dominican
houses, such that by Dominic's death in 1221, there were five established
Dominican provinces and six more in process.

The Mission of the Order
The Dominican order is often mistakenly thought to have been founded
purely to combat heresy. This is only part of the story. The real focus of the
order is contained in their name, the Ordo Predicatorum, or the Order of
Preachers. While the Franciscans chose to imitate the apostles by focusing on
poverty, the Dominicans focused on imitation through preaching. The Albigensian
heresy was indeed the first focus of this preaching, but the Dominicans soon
realized that there was a much greater need for preaching doctrine to Catholics
-- after all, the Albigensians were confined mostly to southern France and
northern Spain, but there were Catholics all over Europe. The parish clergy was
notoriously ill-educated, sometimes not even understanding the Mass they said
every day and botching the Latin, such that one official discovered to his
horror that one of his charges had been baptizing his flock in nomine patriae,
et filiae, et spiritu sancti -- "in the name of the nation, the daughter, and
the Holy Spirit"! If the clergy were not even educated enough to know the
correct wordings to the Mass and other ceremonies, how could they ever be
expected to carry out the "care of souls" that was the chief duty of each parish
priest? It had been long realized that most actual religious instruction did
not take place during the Sacraments, which were in Latin and therefore
inaccessible to all but the more educated laymen, but during preaching. Priests
were expected to preach as often as they could; usually, a liturgical calendar
determined which passage of Scripture should form the basis of the sermon, but
the actual content was up to the individual.

The Dominicans thus began to specialize in preaching. They discovered
quickly that to assemble a good sermon, one had to have a solid grounding in
basic theology; thus, one of the first rules adopted by the Order was that each
Dominican house had to have a a school with a lector in theology. Lectors in
theology were by no means common in the Order's early years, but the best place
to find them was near a school, or, better yet, one of the universities which
were now beginning to dot Europe. It is no coincidence that the first Dominican
house outside of Toulouse was founded at Paris, home of Europešs largest
university specializing in theology, and that the first English Dominican house
was founded at Oxford, also known as a centre for theology. The schools founded
by Dominicans were open not only to Dominicans from all over Europe, but also to
outside students. By the middle of the thirteenth centuries, Dominicans (and
Franciscans) were beginning to dominate the university schools of theology
(often to the chagrin of other clergy, enraged at their rapid rise to
prominence).

Some of the chief products of the Dominican education system were
preaching aids and their cousins, confessional manuals, both of which fall under
the wider heading of literature of pastoral care, or pastoralia. Even the great
Summa Theologicae of the Order's most famous member, Thomas Aquinas, was at its
heart designed to give preachers a good grounding in theology upon which to base
their sermons; the fact that Thomas was a Dominican shows the place of the
Order in the forefront of intellectual activity in the thirteenth century. Aids
for preaching included treatises on the Virtues and Vices (always good sermon
material), works of Biblical exegesis (usually an attempt by the author to
explain the many meanings of Scripture, based both on previous writers and his
own insight), whole published sermons or sermon collections of preachers of
note, and collections of exempla or anecdotes, which were useful in
illustrating a point of theology to lay audience. Very early, the Dominicans
became interested in aids for use in the confessional, since, being learned,
they were often sought out as men who would know the "cure" for a particular
sin. (The medicinal allegory here is not accidental -- medieval theologians
believed that just as a doctor could tend to the illnesses of the body, the
confessor could help remedy the soul). This led to the writing of fairly
detailed manuals discussing the nature and variety of sins amongst different
classes of people, so as to help the confessor find the right remedy. These
manuals became widely used by clerics outside the Order as well.

Life in the Dominican Order
When Dominic received papal permission to found his Order, he adopted as
its Rule that of St. Augustine, probably the most flexible of all such Rules.
Flexibility became a hallmark of the Dominicans, as Humbert of Romans puts it in
the prologue to the Constitutions of the Order:
Different countries all have different customs, and out of this diversity
different
people have brought different things to the Order, even though it is only one
Order.

Unlike many other Orders, the Dominicans were quite content to adapt their
lives to the circumstances around them. Part of this arose from the necessity
of living off of alms, which could mean, for instance, that the clothing of the
friars could differ from place to place, depending on what they were given. The
Dominicans were usually more interested in getting their message out to the
people than in following rules, and in fact their Constitutions were the first
to mention specifically that breaking a rule was not a sin. Perfection was not
demanded, but repeated efforts towards it was.

The Order as a whole was headed by a Master General, who was elected and
served until he either retired or was removed. For administrative purposes, the
Order was divided into provinces, each headed by a provincial prior, who was
elected by the priors of his province. Some provinces, such as that of England,
consisted of an entire country, while other countries were divided into two or
more provinces. The lowest level in the order was the priory, which was
governed by a prior elected by the brothers of the house.

The Dominican habit was almost always made of wool. They wore a white
tunic, a white scapular with an attached white hood, and a black cloak with a
black hood. In winter, the friars were allowed to wear extra tunics or a
sheepskin tunic for warmth. At their waist they wore a leather belt from which
to suspend their eating knife, handkerchief, and (later) their rosary. Unlike
Franciscans, Dominicans usually wore shoes. Humbert of Romans makes it clear
that variance was tolerated in the habit --for instance, the kind of wool
available locally might dictate that the cloak be grey, rather than black.

Those who chose to join the Order usually came from one of two classes:
mature, already ordained priests, or youths still in their teens who needed
training. The desire to pursue knowledge for the sake of effective preaching was
paramount in any candidate. The Dominicans were particularly successful at
appealing to youthful clerics at universities and preferred such men as novices,
though they were willing to provide preliminary training to entrants who lacked
schooling. In theory, no one under 18 was supposed to take the habit without
special permission, but in fact this seems often to have been ignored.

Though the Dominicans were a preaching order, not just anyone was allowed
to preach. Competence, learning, character, and maturity were essential before
any given friar would be granted their license to preach. Such "preachers-in-
ordinary" usually traveled in pairs and were not permitted to preach outside the
district of their own priory without special leave. More skilled preachers
could be licensed as preachers-general by their provincial prior, giving them
permission to preach anywhere in the province. Once licensed, Dominican
preachers were expected to preach as much as possible,unless administrative
duties or studies limited their time. Priors were excused from preaching,
though they were welcome to continue if they wanted to and it did not interfere
excessively with their duties.

The Dominicans were active in many other aspects of society as well.
Their roles in the growth of universities and as confessors have already been
mentioned. The Order seems to have been heavily involved in secular politics,
particularly in the fields of negotiation and mediation, which eventually grew
to be a significant burden. Dominicans were in such demand as learned
arbitrators that restrictions had to be introduced allowing the Order to recall
those on such assignments at any time. Royal and noble patronage became a
significant source of alms for the Order; for instance, the Close Rolls note
repeated grants of shoes and cloth to various groups of Dominicans by Henry III.

The Second and Third Orders
Dominican houses for women (later termed the Second Order) were part of
the Order almost from the beginning. Dominic recognized that there was a need
for a well-organized religious life for women, since many of the older monastic
orders had become unwilling to support nunneries. Unlike the friars, Dominican
nuns lived a more traditional monastic lifestyle in cloistered communities
(interestingly enough, there had previously been more opportunities for women to
live as religious in the community than as cloistered nuns). Dominican
nunneries were administered under the same constitutions that governed the
friars, and while the women did not preach, they were expected to take an
interest in the work of the friars, act as their friends, and support their
efforts with their prayers. As the Dominicans were one of the few orders
willing to support female religious houses, the number of Dominican nunneries
soon leapt skyward.

The Dominican Order of Penance (later called the Third Order) was
officially established in 1285 to accommodate laypeople who wanted to formally
adopt the status of penitent into more organized groups under a single
jurisdiction. This Order assisted the friars by running hospitals, hospices,
almshouses, and other missions to the sick and poor. Perhaps its most famous
member was Catherine of Siena. There were also Dominican lay confraternities,
who did similar kinds of work and who often had a local chapter where they could
hear Dominican preachers and receive instruction. Such confraternities were
often organized around a particular aspect of Dominican life, such as assisting
the struggle against heresy or veneration of the Virgin.

I hope this article has acquainted the reader a bit more with one of the
more maligned religious orders of the Middle Ages. While the Domincans'
reputation as bulwarks of the Inquisitions is quite deserved, it is only a small
part of the big picture.

For Further Reading:

Hinnebusch, W.A. History of the Dominican Order. New York, 1973.
Tugwell, Simon, ed. Early Domincians: Selected Writings. New York: Paulist
Press, 1982.
_____________. The Way of the Preacher. Springfield, IL, 1979.

------
Copyright 1996 by Susan Carroll-Clark, 53 Thorncliffe Park Dr. #611,
Toronto, Ontario M4H 1L1 CANADA. Permission granted for
republication in SCA-related publications, provided author is credited
and receives a copy.

<the end>