Benedict XVI's tribute
to St. Dominic
Translated from
the Italian service of
Today the Church celebrates the liturgical feast of St. Domingo de Guzman, whom the Pope called a 'model' for the Church at last Sunday's Angelus.
Founder of the Order of Preachers (OP), better known as the Dominicans, Dominic was born near Burgos, Spain, in 1170. After a life entirely spent in announcing the Gospel and charity towards the weakest, he died in Bologna in 1221.
In 1234, he was canonized by Gregory IX who said of him: "He was a man who followed in everything and for everyone the apostles' way of life".
Today, the Dominican order has more than 600 houses and 6000 priests around the world.
Alessandro Gisotti reports further:
"He opened his mouth only to speak with God in prayer or to speak of God". In this traditional saying handed down through the centuries, we find the key to the humble but extraordinary life of St. Domingo de Guzman.
A preacher who was capable of conjoining faith and reason, love adn truth. As an adolescent, as he studied theology, he came in contact with the miseries caused by continuous wars and famine. He decided then to sell off all superfluous possessions to help the poor.
Indeed, the grace which he most insistently asked of God was that of ardent charity. After finishing his studies, he was sent to preach the Gospel to the peoples of southern France which was then prey to Cathar heretics.
The urgent need to bring the Word of God to the center of every Christian's life, so ardently underscored by St. Dominic, has not lost its relevance.
Here is the exhortation made by Benedict XVI at the opening of the Bishops' Synod General Assembly last year on the Word of God:
"We are aware of all that is necessary in order to place the Word of God at the center of our life, to accept Christ as our only Redeemer, as the Kingdom of God in person, in order that his light may illumine every field of mankind: from the family to the school, to culture, to work, to free time and other sectors of society and our life".
A Word that must be proclaimed along all the roads of the world. St. Dominic, faithful to his motto 'Preach and walk', did so tirelessly.
After two missionary trips to Denmark, Innocent II called him to preach against the Albigensian heretics in the south of France, where he engaged himself in defeating the heresy and conquering as many souls as he could.
Most devoted to the Virgin Mary, he taught the faithful to meditate on the mysteries of the Incarnation. Over the years, the number of friends around Dominic continued to grow, leading him to decide that he would give a stable and organized form to preaching.
On December 22, 1216, Honorius II officially gave his approval to the Order of Preachers. The missionary zeal of Dominic and his followers re-echoed the statement St. Paul had said of himself: "Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel!"
It is a duty that is no less urgent today, as Benedict XVI said: "It becomes indispensable for Christians in every continent to be ready to respond to whoever asks them the reason for the hope that they have (cfr 1 Pt 3,16), announcing with joy the Word of God and living the Gospel without compromises" (Oct. 5, 2005).
A man of prayer and study, Dominic was committed fervently to the fruitful dialog of faith and reason. An effort that culminated in the work of his spiritual son, Thomas Aquinas. Not by chance, Dominic sent his preacher-friars to study in Paris and Bologna, the premier universities of the Middle Ages.
The same intuition about faith and reason is particularly present in the Magisterium of Benedict XVI:
"The dialog between faith and reason, if carried on with sincerity and rigor, offers the possiblity of perceiving, in a most effective and convincing way, the reasonableness of faith in God - not in any God but in the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ - as well as to show that in Jesus Christ one finds the fulfillment of every authentic human aspiration".
Exhausted by his apostolic work and by his penitences, Dominic died on August 8, 1221, in his beloved convent in Bologna. To his friars who surrounded him with filial devotion and admiration, he left this testament: "Have charity, keep your humility, and gather the treasures of holy poverty".
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 08/08/2009 17:40]