Vocations
What Is Dominican Formation?
What is Dominican Formation? The formation program is ultimately nothing more or nothing less than various Dominicans, in different roles,…
Province of Saint Joseph
Dominican History in a Timeline
» Explore our historical timeline
Based on THE DOMINICANS: A Short History by William A. Hinnebusch, O.P.,…
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The Holy Preaching
"Made cooperators of the episcopal order by priestly ordination, we have as our special function the prophetic office by which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed everywhere both by word and example, with due consideration for the conditions of persons, times, and places so that faith is awakened or penetrates more deeply all life in the building up of the body of Christ, which is perfected by the sacraments of faith."
- Constitutions of the Order of Friars Preachers
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.
