WASHINGTON — When five Dominicans were ordained on May 23 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., it was the fruit of a long process.

The Order of Preachers, whose religious and priests are commonly called Dominicans after their founder St. Dominic, took a high profile role in Pope Benedict XVI’s U.S. visit. And their profile is only getting higher.

The Dominican House of Studies — the order’s prominent seminary in Washington, D.C. — recently announced plans to build a new academic center and theological library, confirming an increase in vocations and a broad expansion of the order.

The Dominicans’ long-standing reputation for forming highly educated religious and priests appeals to many called to vocations these days, but study alone is not the draw, said Father John Langlois, master of students at the Dominican House of Studies.

“We see study as a contemplative activity,” he said. “We seek to integrate it into our prayer life. It’s pushing lectio divina [prayerful reading of Scripture] to a new level: This is a meditative study of theology, nourishing our life of prayer.”

To that end, the study of St. Thomas Aquinas — one of the Church’s master theologians and a Dominican himself — is an important emphasis for those in formation.

“They imbibe the teaching of Aquinas,” said Father Langlois, who agreed that the Angelic Doctor is neglected even in Catholic education these days. “If they don’t do it here, where are they going to do it?”

The new priests for the Dominicans are: Father Martin Philip Nhan, Father Pius Pietrzyk, Father Hugh Vincent Dyer, Father John Martin Ruiz-Mayorga, and Father Thomas Joseph White. There are as many stories as there are Dominicans.

“Our formation takes place in the context of our community life,” said Father Langlois, “which models the life for the brothers. There’s a fraternity with the older members who’ve been active for many years, and they share their experience. It’s a complete integration of study, prayer, common life and the apostolate, from direct service with the poor to hospital and campus ministries to RCIA in parishes.”

Even the order’s prayers, while deeply liturgical and traditional, have their own ring to them.

“There are distinctive antiphons and Psalm tones,” Father Langlois said, “as well as Dominican propers. There are some chants that are proper to the order. We do a fair amount of chant, and we’re trying to integrate it more. While our Salve Regina and Regina Coeli are in the same modes as the Gregorian, they are distinctive, with their own flourishes.”

This unique path within the living tradition of the Church comes down from the establishment of the order, said Father Gabriel O’Donnell, vice president and academic dean of the pontifical faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies.

“Our way is unique in that we are tied together by the decision of St. Dominic and St. Thomas,” said Father O’Donnell, who has spent some of his life in diocesan seminaries. “We’re tied inextricably together through liturgical life and community life; it’s not possible to be formed for the priesthood without the whole life.”

That corpus, as it were, goes beyond preparation for the priesthood. A more apt description, said Father O’Donnell, “is formation for a way of life in which one is a priest. You’re not a Dominican and a priest; you’re a Dominican priest.”

The same charism cannot be mirrored in diocesan formation, which prepares a man for a way of life he carries with him from one parish to the next.

“Dominican formation,” said Father O’Donnell, “is not preparatory; it is the way of life we continue until we die. Formation is never outside of the framework of the strong community of faith. The community takes responsibility for caring for each other, and there’s a lot of freedom there.”

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