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| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
As the Order of the Friars Preachers is the principal part of the entire Order of St. Dominic, we shall include under this title the two other parts of the order: the Dominican Sisters (Second Order) and the Brothers of Penitence of St. Dominic (Third Order). First, we shall study the legislation of the three divisions of the order, and thenature of each. Secondly, we shall give an historical survey of the three branches of the order.
In its formation and development, the Dominican legislation as a whole is closely bound up with historical facts relative to the origin and progress of the order. Hence some reference to these isnecessary, the more so as this matter has not been sufficiently studied. For each of the three groups, constituting the ensemble of the Order of St. Dominic, we shall examine: A. Formation of the Legislative Texts; B. Nature of the Order, resulting from legislation.
In regard to their legislation the first two orders are closely connected, and must be treated together. The preaching ofSt. Dominic and his first companions in Languedoc led up to the pontifical letters ofInnocent III, 17 Nov., 1205 (Potthast, "Reg., Pont., Rom.", 2912). They created for the first time in theChurch of theMiddle Ages the type of apostolic preachers, patterned upon the teaching of the Gospel. In the same year, Dominic founded the Monastery of Prouille, in the Diocese ofToulouse, for thewomen whom he had converted fromheresy, and he made this establishment the centre of union of his missions and of his apostolic works (Balme-Lelaidier, "Cartulaire ou Histoire Diplomatique de St. Dominic", Paris, 1893, I, 130sq.; Guiraud, "Cart. de Notre Dame de Prouille,"Paris, 1907, I, CCCXX sq). St. Dominic gave to the newmonastery theRule of St. Augustine and also the special Institutions which regulated the life of the Sisters, and of the Brothers who lived near them, for the spiritual and temporal administration of the community. The Institutions are edited in Balme, "Cart." II, 425; "Bull. Ord. Præd.", VII, 410; Duellius, "Misc.", bk. I (Augsburg, 1723), 169; "Urkundenbuch der Stadt.", I (Fribourg, Leipzig, 1883), 605. On 17 Dec., 1219,Honorius III, with a view to a general reform among the religious of theEternal City, granted themonastery of the Sisters of St. Sixtus ofRome to St. Dominic, and the Institutions of Prouille were given to thatmonastery under the title of Institutions of the Sisters of St. Sixtus ofRome. With this designation they were granted subsequently to othermonasteries and congregations of religious. It is also under this form that we possess the primitive Institutions of Prouille, in the editions already mentioned. St. Dominic and his companions, having received fromInnocent III authorization to choose a rule, with a view to theapprobation of their order, adopted in 1216,that of St. Augustine, and added thereto the "Consuetudines" which regulated the ascetic and canonical life of the religious. These were borrowed in great part from the Constitutions of Prémontré, but with some essential features, adapted to the purposes of the new Preachers who also renounced private possession ofproperty, but retained the revenues. The "Consuetudines" formed the first part(prima distinctio) of the primitive Constitutions of the order (Quétif-Echard, "Scriptores Ord. Præd.", L 12-13;Denifle, "Archiv. für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte", I, 194; Balme, "Cart.", II, 18). The order wassolemnly approved, 22 Dec., 1216. A first letter, in the style of those granted for the foundation of regular canons, gave the order canonical existence; a second determined the special vocation of the Order of Preachers as vowed to teaching and defending thetruths offaith. "Nos attendentes fratres Ordinis tui futuros pugiles fidei et vera mundi lumina confirmamus Ordinem tuum" (Balme, "Cart." II, 71-88; Potthast, 5402-5403). (Expecting the brethren of your order to be the champions of the Faith andtrue lights of the world, we confirm your order.)
On 15 Aug., 1217 St. Dominic sent out his companions from Prouille. They went throughFrance,Spain, andItaly, and established as principal centres,Toulouse, Paris,Madrid,Rome, and Bologna. Dominic, by constant journeyings, kept watch over these new establishments, and went toRome to confer with theSovereign Pontiff (Balme, "Cart." II, 131; "Annales Ord. Præd.", Rome, 1756, p. 411; Guiraud, "St. Dominic", Paris, 1899, p. 95). In May, 1220, St. Dominic held at Bologna the first general chapter of the order. This assembly drew up the Constitutions, which are complementary to the "Consuetudines" of 1216 and form the second part(secunda distinctio). They regulated the organization and life of the order, and are the essential and original basis of the Dominican legislation. In this chapter, the Preachers also gave up certain elements of the canonical life; they relinquished all possessions and revenues, and adopted the practice of strict poverty; they rejected the title ofabbey for theconvents, and substituted therochet of canons for the monasticscapular. The regime of annual general chapters was established as the regulative power of the order, and the source of legislative authority. ("Script. Ord. Præd.", I, 20;Denifle, "Archiv.", I, 212; Balme, "Cart.", III, 575). Now that the legislation of the Friars Preachers was fully established, the Rule of the Sisters of St. Sixtus was found to be very incomplete. The order, however, supplied what was wanting by compiling a few years after, theStatuta, which borrowed from the Constitutions of the Friars, whatever might be useful in amonastery of Sisters. We owe the preservation of theseStatuta, as well as the Rule of St. Sixtus, to the fact that thislegislation was applied in 1232 to the Penitent Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen inGermany, who observed it without further modification. TheStatuta are edited im Duellius, "Misc.", bk. I, 182. After the legislative work of the general chapters had been added to the Constitution of 1216-20, without changing the general ordinance of the primitive text, the necessity was felt, a quarter of a century later, of giving a morelogical distribution to the legislation in its entirety. The great canonist Raymond of Penaforte, on becoming master general of the order, devoted himself to this work. The general chapters, from 1239 to 1241, accepted the new text, and gave it the force of law. In this form it has remained to the present time as the official text, with some modification, however, in the way of suppressions and especially of additions due to later enactments of the general chapters. It was edited inDenifle, "Archiv.", V, 553; "Acta Capitulorum Generalium", I (Rome, 1898), II, 13, 18, in "Monum. Ord. Præd. Hist.", bk. III.
The reorganization of the Constitutions of the Preachers called for a corresponding reform in the legislation of the Sisters. In his letter of 27 Aug., 1257,Alexander IV orderedHumbert of Romans, the fifth master general, to unify the Constitutions of the Sisters. Humbert remodelled them on the Constitutions of the Brothers, and put them into effect at the General Chapter of Valenciennes, 1259. The Sisters were henceforth characterized asSorores Ordinis Prædicatorum. The Constitutions are edited in "Analecta, Ord. Præd." (Rome, 1897), 338; Finke, "Ungedruckte Dominicanerbriefe des 13 Jahrhunderts" (Paderborn, 1891), D. 53; "Litterae Encyclicae magistrorum generalium" (Rome, 1900), in "Mon. Ord. Praed. Hist.", V, p. 513. To thislegislation, theprovincials ofGermany, who had a large number of religiousconvents under their care, added certainadmonitiones by way of completing and definitely settling the Constitutions of the Sisters. They seem to be the work of Herman ofMinden, Provincial of Teutonia (1286-90). He drew up at first a concise admonition (Denifle, "Archiv.", II, 549); then other series of admonitions, more important, which have not been edited (Rome, Archives of the Order, Cod. Ruten, 130-139). The legislation of the Friars Preachers is the firmest and most complete among the systems of law by which institutions of this sort were ruled in the thirteenth century. Hauck is correct in saying: "We do not deceive ourselves in considering the organization of the Dominican Order as the most perfect of all the monastic organizations produced by theMiddle Ages" ("Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands", part IV, Leipzig, 1902, p. 390). It is not then surprising that the majority of thereligious orders of the thirteenth century should have followed quite closely the Dominican legislation, which exerted an influence even upon institutions very dissimilar in aim and nature. TheChurch considered it the typical rule for new foundations.Alexander IV thought of making the legislation of the Order of Preachers into a special rule known as that of St. Dominic, and for that purpose commissioned the Dominicancardinal, Hugh of St. Cher (3 Feb., 1255), but the project encountered many obstacles, and nothing came of it. (Potthast, n. 1566; Humberti de Romanis, "Opera de vita regulari", ed., Berthier, I, Rome, 1888, n. 43)
The canonical title of "Order of Preachers", given to the work of St. Dominic by theChurch, is in itself significant, but it indicates only the dominant feature. The Constitutions are more explicit: "Our order was instituted principally for preaching and for thesalvation ofsouls." The end or aim of the order then is thesalvation ofsouls, especially by means of preaching. For the attainment of this purpose, the order must labour with the utmostzeal — "Our main efforts should be put forth, earnestly and ardently, in doing good to thesouls of our fellow-men."
The aim of the order and the conditions of its environment determined the form of its organization. The first organic group is theconvent, which may not be founded with less than twelve religious. At first only largeconvents were allowed and these were located in important cities (Mon. Ger. Hist.: SS. XXXII, 233, 236), hence the saying:
Bernardus valles, montes Benedictus amabat,
Oppida Franciscus, celebres Dominicus urbes.
(Bernardloved the valleys,Benedict the mountains, Francis the towns, Dominic the populous cities).
The foundation and the existence of theconvent required a prior as governor, and a doctor as teacher. The Constitution prescribes the dimensions of the church and theconvent buildings, and these should be quite plain. But in the course of the thirteenth century the order erected large edifices, real works of art. Theconvent possesses nothing and lives onalms. Outside of the choral office (the Preachers at first had the title ofcanonici) their time is wholly employed in study. The doctor gives lectures intheology, at which all the religious, even the prior, must be present, and which are open tosecular clerics. The religiousvow themselves to preaching, both within and without theconvent walls. The "general preachers" have the most extended powers. At the beginning of the order, theconvent was calledpraedicatio, orsancta praedicatio. Theconvents divided up the territory in which they were established, and sent out on preaching tours religious who remained for a longer or shorter time in the principal places of their respective districts. The Preachers did not take thevow of stability, but could be sent from one locality to another. Eachconvent receivednovices, these, according to the Constitutions, must be at least eighteen years of age, but this rule was not strictly observed. The Preachers were the first amongreligious orders to suppress manual labour, thenecessary work of the interior of the house being relegated tolay brothers calledconversi whose number was limited according to the needs of eachconvent. The prior was elected by the religious and the doctor was appointed by the provincial chapter. The chapter, when it saw fit, relieved them from office.
The grouping of a certain number ofconvents forms the province, which is administered by a provincial prior, elected by the prior and two delegates from eachconvent. He is confirmed by the general chapter, or by the master general, who can also remove him when it is found expedient. He enjoys in his province the same authority as the master general in the order; he confirms the election of conventualpriors, visits the province, sees to it that the Constitutions and the ordinances are observed and presides at the provincial chapters. The provincial chapter, which is held annually, discusses the interests of the province. It is composed of a provincial prior,priors from theconvents, a delegate from eachconvent, and the general preachers. The capitulants (members of the chapter), choose from among themselves, four counsellors or assistants, who, with theprovincial, regulate the affairs brought before the chapter. The chapter appoints those who are to visit annually each part of the province. The provinces taken together constitute the order, which has at its head a master general, elected by the provincialpriors and by two delegates from each province. For a long time his position was for life;Pius VII (1804), reduced it to six years, andPius IX (1862) fixed it at twelve years. At first the master general had no permanent residence; since the end of the fourteenth century, he has lived usually atRome. He visits the order, holds it to the observance of thelaws and corrects abuses. In 1509, he was granted two associates(socii); in 1752, four; in 1910, five. The general chapter is the supreme authority within the order. From 1370, it was held every two years; from 1553, every three years, from 1625, every six years. In the eighteenth and at the beginning of the nineteenth century, chapters were rarely held. At present they take place every three years. From 1228, for two years in succession, the general chapter was composed of definitors or delegates from the provinces, each province sending one delegate; the following year it was held by the provincialpriors. The chapterpromulgates new constitutions, but to become law they must be accepted by three constitutive chapters. The chapter deals with all the general concerns of the order, whether administrative or disciplinary. It corrects the master general, and in certain cases can depose him. From 1220 to 1244, the chapters were held alternately at Bologna andParis; subsequently, they passed round to all the principal cities ofEurope. The generalissimo chapter acknowledged by the Constitution and composed of two definitors from each province, also ofprovincials, i.e. equivalent to three consecutive general chapters, was held only in 1228 and 1236. The characteristic feature of government is the elective system which prevails throughout the order. "Such was the simple mechanism which imparted to the Order of Friars Preachers a powerful and regular movement, and secured them for a long time a real preponderance in Church and in State" (Delisle, "Notes et extraits des mss. de la Bibl. Nat.", Paris, xxvii, 1899, 2nd part, p. 312. See the editions of the Constitutions mentioned above: "Const. Ord. Fr. Præd.", Paris, 1, 1888, "Acta Capit. Gen. Ord. Fr. Præd.", ed., Reichert, Rome, 1898, sq. 9 vols.; Lo Cicero, Const., "Declar. et Ord. Capit. Gen. O. P.", Rome, 1892; Humbert de Romanis, "Opera de vita regulari", ed. Berthier, Rome, 1888; Reichert, "Feier und Gesehäftsordung der Provincialkapitel des Dominikanerordens im 13 Jahrhundert" in "Römische Quart.", 1903, p. 101).
The forms of life or activity of the Order of Preachers are many, but they are all duly subordinated. The order assimilated the ancient forms of thereligious life, the monastic and the canonical, but it made them subservient to theclerical and the apostolic life which are its peculiar and essential aims. The Preachers adopted from the monastic life the three traditionalvows of obedience, chastity, and poverty; to them they added the ascetic element known as monastic observances; perpetual abstinence,fasting from 14 Sept. untilEaster and on all the Fridays throughout the year the exclusive use of wool for clothing and for the bed a hard bed, and a common dormitory, silence almost perpetual in their houses, public acknowledgment of faults in the chapter, a graded list of penitential practices, etc. The Preachers, however, did not take these observances directly from the monastic orders but from the regular canons, especially the reformed canons, who had already adopted monastic rules The Preachers received from the regular canons the choral Office for morning and evening, but chanted quickly. They added, on certain days, the Office of the Holy Virgin, and once a week theOffice of the Dead. The habit of the Preachers, as of the regular canons, is a white tunic and a black cloak. Therochet, distinctive of the regular canons, was abandoned by the Preachers at the General Chapter of 1220, and replaced by thescapular. At the same time they gave up various canonical customs, which they had retained up to that period. They suppressed in their order the title ofabbot for the head of theconvent, and rejected allproperty, revenues, the carrying of money on their travels, and the use of horses. The title even of canon which they had borne from the beginning tended to disappear about the middle of the thirteenth century, and the General Chapters of 1240-1251 substituted the wordclericus forcanonicus in the article of the Constitutions relating to the admission ofnovices; nevertheless the designation, "canon" still occurs in some parts of the Constitutions. The Preachers, in fact, are primarily and essentiallyclerics. The pontifical letter of foundation said: "These are to be the champions of the Faith and thetrue lights of the world." This could apply only toclerics. The Preachers consequently made study their chief occupation, which was the essential means, with preaching and teaching as the end. The apostolic character of the order was the complement of itsclerical character. The Friars had tovow themselves to thesalvation ofsouls through the ministry of preaching and confession, under the conditions set down by the Gospel and by the example of the Apostles: ardentzeal, absolute poverty, andsanctity of life.
The ideal Dominican life was rich in the multiplicity and choice of its elements, and was thoroughly unified by its well-considered principles and enactments; but it was none the less complex, and it, full realization was difficult. The monastic-canonical element tended to dull and paralyze the intense activity demanded by a clerical-apostolic life. The legislators warded off the difficulty by a system ofdispensations, quite peculiar to the order. At the head of the Constitutions the principle ofdispensation appears jointly with the very definition of the order's purpose, and is placed before the text of thelaws to show that it controls and tempers their application. "The superior in eachconvent shall have authority to grantdispensations whenever he may deem it expedient, especially in regard to what may hinder study, or preaching, or the profit ofsouls, since our order was originally established for the work of preaching and thesalvation ofsouls", etc. The system ofdispensation thus broadly understood while it favoured the most active element of the order, displaced, but did not wholly eliminate, the difficulty. It created a sort ofdualism in the interior life, and permitted an arbitrariness that might easily disquiet theconscience of the religious and of the superiors. The order warded off this new difficulty by declaring in the generalissimo chapter of 1236, that the Constitutions did notoblige under pain ofsin, but under pain of doing penance (Acta Cap. Gen. I, 8.) This measure, however, was not heartily welcomed by everyone in the order (Humbert de Romanis, Op., II, 46), nevertheless it stood.
Thisdualism produced on one side, remarkable apostles anddoctors, on the other, stern ascetics and great mystics. At all events the interior troubles of the order grew out of the difficulty of maintaining the nice equilibrium which the first legislators established, and which was preserved to a remarkable degree during the first century of the order's existence. Thelogic of things and historical circumstances frequently disturbed this equilibrium. The learned and active members tended to exempt themselves from monastic observance, or to moderate its strictness; the ascetic members insisted on the monastic life, and in pursuance of their aim, suppressed at different times the practice ofdispensation, sanctioned as it was by the letter and the spirit of the Constitutions ["Cons". Ord. Praed.", passim;.Denifle, "Die Const. des Predigerordens" in "Archiv. f. Litt. u. Kirchengesch.", I, 165; Mandonnet, "Les Chanoines — Prêcheurs de Bologne d'après Jacques de Vitry" in "Archives de la société d'histoire du canton de Fribourg", bk. VIII, 15; Lacordaire, "Mémoire pour la restauration des Frères Prêcheurs dans la Chrétienté",Paris, 1852; P. Jacob, "Mémoires sur la canonicité de l'institut de St. Dominic", Béziers, 1750, tr. into Italian under the title, "Difesa del canonicato dei FF. Predicatori", Venice, 1758; Laberthoni, "Exposé de l'état, du régime, de la legislation et des obligations des Frères Prêcheurs", Versailles, 1767 (new ed., 1872)].
We have indicated above the various steps by which the legislation of the Dominican Sisters was brought into conformity with the Constitutions ofHumbert of Romans (1259). The primitive type of religious established at Prouille in 1205 by St. Dominic was not affected by successive legislation. The Dominican Sisters are strictlycloistered in theirmonasteries; they take the three religiousvows, recite the canonical Hours in choir and engage in manual labor. Theeruditio litterarum inscribed in the Institutions of St. Sixtus disappeared from the Constitutions drawn up byHumbert of Romans. The ascetic life of the Sisters is the same as that of the Friars. Each house is governed by aprioress, elected canonically, and assisted by a sub-prioress, a mistress ofnovices, and various other officers. Themonasteries have theright to holdproperty in common; they must be provided with an income sufficient for the existence of the community; they are independent and are under thejurisdiction of the provincial prior, the master general, and of the general chapter. A subsequent paragraph will deal with the various phases of the question as to the relation existing between the Sisters and the Order of Preachers. Whilst the Institutions of St. Sixtus provided a group of brothers,priests, and lay servants for the spiritual and temporal administration of themonastery, the Constitutions ofHumbert of Romans were silent on these points. (See the legislative texts relating to the Sisters mentioned above.)
St. Dominic did not write a rule for the Tertiaries, for reasons which are given further on in the historical sketch of theThird Order. However, a large body of thelaity, vowed topiety, grouped themselves about the rising Order of Preachers, and constituted, to all intents and purposes, aThird Order. In view of this fact and of some circumstances to be noted later on, the seventh master general of the order, Munio de Zamora, wrote (1285) a rule for the Brothers and Sisters of Penitence of St. Dominic. The privilege granted the new fraternity 28 Jan., 1286, byHonorius IV, gave it a canonical existence (Potthast, 22358). The rule of Munio was not entirely original; some points being borrowed from the Rule of the Brothers of Penitence, whose origin dates back toSt. Francis of Assisi; but it was distinctive on all essential points. It is in a sense more thoroughlyecclesiastical; the Brothers and Sisters are grouped in different fraternities; their government is immediately subject toecclesiastical authority; and the various fraternities do not form a collective whole, with legislative chapters, as was the case among the Brothers of Penitence of St. Francis. The Dominican fraternities are local and without any bond of union other than that of the Preaching Brothers who govern them. Some characteristics of these fraternities may be gathered from the Rule of Munio de Zamora. The Brothers and Sisters, astrue children of St. Dominic, should be, above all things, trulyzealous for theCatholicFaith. Their habit is a white tunic, with black cloak and hood, and a leathern girdle. After making profession, they cannot return to the world, but may enter other authorizedreligious orders. They recited a certain number of Paters and Aves, for the canonical Hours; receive communion at least four times a year, and must show great respect to theecclesiastical hierarchy. They fast duringAdvent,Lent, and on all the Fridays during the year, and eat meat only three days in the week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. They are allowed to carry arms only in defense of theChristian Faith. They visit sick members of the community, give them assistance ifnecessary, attend the burial of Brothers or Sisters and aid them with theirprayers. The head orspiritual director is apriest of the Order of Preachers, whom the Tertiaries select and propose to the master general or to the provincial; he may act on their petition or appoint some other religious. The director and the older members of the fraternity choose the prior orprioress, from among the Brothers and Sisters, and their office continues until they are relieved. The Brothers and the Sisters have, on different days, a monthly reunion in the church of the Preachers, when they attend Mass, listen to an instruction, and to an explanation of the rule. The prior and the director can grantdispensations; the rule, like the Constitutions of the Preachers, does notoblige under pain ofsin.
The text of the Rule of the Brothers of the Penitence of St. Dominic is in "Regula S. Augustini et Constitutiones FF. Ord. Praed." (Rome, 1690), 2nd pt. p. 39; Federici, "Istoria dei cavalieri Gaudent" (Venice, 1787), bk. II, cod. diplomat., p. 28; Mandonnet, "Les règles et le gouvernement de l'Ordo de Poenitentia au XIIIe siècle" (Paris, 1902); Mortier, "Histoire des Maîtres Généraux des Frères Prêcheurs", II (Paris, 1903), 220.
Their history may be divided into three periods: (1) TheMiddle Ages (from their foundation to the beginning of the sixteenth century); (2) The Modern Period up to theFrench Revolution; (3) The Contemporaneous Period. In each of these periods we shall examine the work of the order in its various departments.
The thirteenth century is the classic age of the order, the witness to its brilliant development and intense activity. This last is manifested especially in the work of teaching. By preaching it reached all classes ofChristiansociety, foughtheresy,schism,paganism, by word and book, and by its missions to the north ofEurope, toAfrica, andAsia, passed beyond the frontiers ofChristendom. Itsschools spread throughout the entire Church itsdoctors wrote monumental works in all branches ofknowledge and two among them,Albertus Magnus, and especiallyThomas Aquinas, founded aschool ofphilosophy andtheology which was to rule the ages to come in the life of theChurch. An enormous number of its members held offices inChurch and State — aspopes,cardinals,bishops,legates, inquisitors, confessors of princes, ambassadors, andpaciarii (enforcers of the peace decreed bypopes or councils). The Order of Preachers, which should have remained a select body, developed beyond bounds and absorbed some elements unfitted to its form of life. A period of relaxation ensued during the fourteenth century owing to the general decline ofChristiansociety. The weakening ofdoctrinal activity favoured the development here and there of the ascetic and contemplative life and there sprang up, especially inGermany andItaly, an intense and exuberantmysticism with which the names ofMaster Eckhart,Suso,Tauler,St. Catherine of Siena are associated. This movement was the prelude to the reforms undertaken, at the end of the century, by Raymond ofCapua, and continued in the following century. It assumed remarkable proportions in the congregations ofLombardy and ofHolland, and in the reforms ofSavonarola at Florence. At the same time the order found itself face to face with theRenaissance. It struggled againstpagan tendencies inHumanism, inItaly through Dominici andSavonarola, inGermany through thetheologians of Cologne but it also furnishedHumanism with such advanced writers as Francis Colonna (Poliphile) and Matthew Brandello. Its members, in great numbers, took part im the artistic activity of the age, the most prominent beingFra Angelico andFra Bartolomeo.
(a) Development and Statistics
When St. Dominic, in 1216, asked for the official recognition of his order, the first Preachers numbered only sixteen. At the general Chapter of Bologna, 1221, the year of St. Dominic's death, the order already counted some sixty establishments, and was divided into eight provinces:Spain, Provence,France,Lombardy,Rome, Teutonia,England, andHungary. The Chapter of 1228 added four new provinces: the Holy Land,Greece,Poland, and Dacia (Denmark and Scandinavia).Sicily was separated fromRome (1294),Aragon fromSpain (1301). In 1303Lombardy was divided into Upper and LowerLombardy; Provence intoToulouse and Provence; Saxony was separated from Teutonia, andBohemia fromPoland, thus forming eighteen provinces. The order, which in 1277 counted 404convents of Brothers, in 1303 numbered nearly 600. The development of the order reached its height during theMiddle Ages; new houses were established during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but in relatively small numbers As to the number of religious only approximate statements can be given. In 1256, according to the concession of suffrages granted byHumbert of Romans to St. Louis, the order numbered about 5000 priests; the clerks andlay brothers could not have been less than 2000. Thus towards the middle of the thirteenth century it must have had about 7000 members (de Laborde, "Layette du trésor des chartes",Paris 1875, III, 304). According to Sebastien de Olmeda, the Preachers, as shown by the census taken underBenedict XII, were close on to 12,000 in 1337. (Fontana, "Monumenta Dominicana", Rome, 1674, pp. 207-8). This number was not surpassed at the close of theMiddle Ages; the Great Plague of 1348, and the general state ofEurope preventing a notable increase, The reform movement begun in 1390 by Raymond ofCapua established the principle of a twofold arrangement in the order. For a long time it istrue, the reformedconvents were not separate from their respective provinces; but with the foundation of the congregation ofLombardy, in 1459, a new order of things began. The congregations were more or less self-governing, and, according as they developed, overlapped several provinces and even several nations. There were established successively the congregations ofPortugal (1460),Holland (1464),Aragon, andSpain (1468), St. Mark in Florence (1493),France (1497), the Gallican (1514). About the same time some new provinces were also established:Scotland (1481),Ireland (1484), Bétique or Andalusia (1514), LowerGermany (1515). (Quétif-Echard, "Script. Ord. Praed.", I, p. 1-15; "Anal. Ord. Praed.", 1893,passim; Mortier, "Hist. des Maîtres Généraux", I-V,passim).
(b) Administration
The Preachers possessed a number of able administrators among their masters general during theMiddle Ages, especially in the thirteenth century. St. Dominic, the creator of the institution (1206-1221), showed a keen intelligence of the needs of the age. He executed his plans with sureness of insight, firmness of resolution, and tenacity of purpose. Jordan of Saxony (1222-1237) sensitive, eloquent, and endowed with rare powers of persuasion, attracted numerous and valuable recruits. St. Raymond of Penaforte (1238-1240), the greatest canonist of the age, ruled the order only long enough to reorganize its legislation. John the Teuton (1241-1252),bishop and linguist, who was associated with the greatest personalities of his time pushed the order forward along the line of development outlined by its founder.Humbert of Romans (1254-1263), a genius of the practical sort, a broad-minded and moderate man, raised the order to the height of its glory, and wrote manifold works, setting forth what, in his eyes, the Preachers andChristiansociety ought to be. John ofVercelli (1264-1283), an energetic and prudent man, during his long government maintained the order in all its vigor. The successors of these illustrious masters did their utmost in the discharge of theirduty, and in meeting the situations which the state of theChurch and ofsociety from the close of the thirteenth century rendered more and more difficult. Some of them did no more than hold their high office, while others had not the genius of the masters general of the golden age [Balme-Lelaidier, "Cart. de St. Dominic"; Guiraud, "St. Dominic" (Paris, 1899); Mothon, "Vie du B. Jourdain de Saxe" (Paris, 1885); Reichert, "Des Itinerar des zweiten Dominikaner-generals Jordanis von Sachsen" in "Festschrift des Deutschen Campo Santo in Rom" (Freiburg, 1897) 153; Mothon, "Vita del B. Giovanini da Vecellio" (Vecellio 1903); Mortier, "Histoire des Maîtres Généraux", I-V]. The general chapters which wielded supreme power were the great regulators of the Dominican life during theMiddle Ages. They are usually remarkable for their spirit of decision, and the firmness with which they ruled. They appeared even imbued with a severe character which, taking no account ofpersons, bore witness to the importance they attached to the maintenance of discipline. (See the Acta Cap. Gen. already referred to.)
(c) Modification of the Statute
We have already spoken of the chief exception to be taken to the Constitution of the order, the difficulty of maintaining an even balance between the monastic and canonical observances and theclerical and apostolical life. The primitive régime of poverty, which left theconvents without an assured income, created also a permanent difficulty. Time and the modifications of the state ofChristiansociety exposed these weak points. Already the General Chapters of 1240-1242 forbade the changing of the generalstatutes of the order, a measure which would indicate at least a hidden tendency towards modification (Acta, I, p. 14-20). Some change seems to have been contemplated also by theHoly See whenAlexander IV, 4 February, 1255, ordered the Dominicancardinal,Hugh of Saint Cher, to recast the entire legislation of the Preachers into a rule which should be called the Rule of St. Dominic (Potthast, 156-69). Nothing came of the project, and the question was broached again about 1270 (Humbert de Romanis, "Opera", I, p. 43). It was during the pontificate ofBenedict XII, (1334-1342), who undertook a general reform of thereligious orders, that the Preachers were on the point of undergoing serious modifications in the secondary elements of their primitive statute. Benedict, desiring to give the order greater efficiency, sought to impose a régime of property-holding asnecessary to its security and to reduce the number of its members (12,000) by eliminating the unfit etc.; in a word, to lead the order back to its primitive concept of a select apostolic and teaching body. The order, ruled at that time by Hugh de Vansseman (1333-41), resisted with all its strength (1337-40). This was a mistake (Mortier, op. cit., III, 115). As the situation grew worse, the order wasobliged to petitionSixtus IV for theright to holdproperty, and this was granted 1 June, 1475. Thence forward theconvents could acquireproperty, and perpetual rentals (Mortier, IV, p. 495). This was one of the causes which quickened the vitality of the order in the sixteenth century.
The reform projects ofBenedict XII having failed, the master general, Raymond ofCapua (1390) sought to restore the monastic observances which had fallen into decline. He ordered the establishment in each province of aconvent of strict observance, hoping that as such houses became more numerous, the reform would eventually permeate the entire province. This was not usually the case. These houses of the observance formed a confederation among themselves under thejurisdiction of a special vicar. However, they did not cease to belong to their original province in certain respects, and this, naturally gave rise to numerous conflicts of government. During the fifteenth century, several groups made up congregations, more or less autonomous; these we have named above in giving the statistics of the order. The scheme of reform proposed by Raymond and adopted by nearly all who subsequently took up with hisideas, insisted on the observance of the Constitutionsad unguem, as Raymond, without further explanation, expressed it. By this, his followers, and, perhaps Raymond himself, understood the suppression of the rule ofdispensation which governed the entire Dominican legislation. "In suppressing the power to grant and theright to acceptdispensation, the reformers inverted the economy of the order, setting the part above the whole, and the means above the end" (Lacordaire, "Mémoire pour la restauration des Frères L Prêcheurs dans la chrétienité", new ed., Dijon, 1852, p. 18). The different reforms which originated within the order up to the nineteenth century, began usually with principles of asceticism, which exceeded the letter and the spirit of the original constitutions. This initial exaggeration was, under pressure of circumstances, toned down, and the reforms which endured, like that of the congregation ofLombardy, turned out to be the most effectual. Generally speaking, the reformed communities slackened the intense devotion to study prescribed by the Constitutions; they did not produce the greatdoctors of the order, and their literary activity was directed preferably tomoral theology, history, subjects ofpiety, and asceticism. They gave to the fifteenth century many holy men (Thomae Antonii Senesis, "Historia disciplinæ regularis instaurata in Cnobiis Venetis Ord. Præd." in Fl. Cornelius, "Ecclesiæ Venetæ", VII, 1749, p. 167; Bl. Raymond ofCapua, "Opuscula et Litterae", Rome, 1899; Meyer, "Buch der Reformacio Predigerordens" in "Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Dominikanerordens in Deutschland", II, III, Leipzig 1908-9; Mortier, "Hist. des Maîtres Généraux", III, IV).
(d) Preaching and Teaching
Independently of their official title of Order of Preachers, theRoman Church especially delegated the Preachers to the office of preaching. It is in fact the only order of theMiddle Ages which thepopes declared to be specially charged with this office (Bull. Ord. Præd., VIII, p. 768). Conformably to its mission, the order displayed an enormous activity. The "Vitæ Fratrum" (1260) (Lives of the Brothers) informs us that many of the brothers refused food until they had first announced the Word ofGod (op. cit., p. 150). In his circular letter (1260), the Master GeneralHumbert of Romans, in view of what had been accomplished by his religious, could well make the statement: "We teach the people, we teach theprelates, we teach the wise and the unwise, religious and seculars,clerics andlaymen, nobles and peasants, lowly and great." (Monum. Ord. Præd. Historia, V, p. 53). Rightly, too, it has been said: "Science on one hand, numbers on the other, placed them [the Preachers] ahead of their competitors in the thirteenth century" (Lecoy de la Marche, "La chaire française au Moyen Age", Paris, 1886, p. 31). The order maintained this supremacy during the entireMiddle Ages (L. Pfleger, "Zur Geschichte des Predigtwesens in Strasburg",Strasburg, 1907, p. 26; F. Jostes, "Zur Geschichte der Mittelalterlichen Predigt in Westfalen", Münster, 1885, p. 10). During the thirteenth century, the Preachers in addition to their regular apostolate, worked especially to lead back to theChurchheretics and renegadeCatholics. An eyewitness of their labours (1233) reckons the number of their converts inLombardy at more than 100,000 ("Annales Ord. Præd.", Rome, 1756, col. 128). This movement grew rapidly, and the witnesses could scarcely believe their eyes, asHumbert of Romans (1255) informs us (Opera, II, p. 493). At the beginning of the fourteenth century, a celebratedpulpit orator, Giordano da Rivalto, declared that, owing to the activity of the order,heresy had almost entirely disappeared from theChurch ("Prediche del Beato Fra Giordano da Rivalto",Florence, 1831, I, p. 239).
The Friars Preachers were especially authorized by theRoman Church to preachcrusades, against theSaracens in favour of the Holy Land, against Livonia andPrussia, and againstFrederick II, and his successors (Bull. O. P., XIII, p. 637). This preaching assumed such importance thatHumbert of Romans composed for the purpose a treatise entitled, "Tractatus de prædicatione contra Saracenos infideles et paganos" (Tract on the preaching of the Cross against theSaracens, infidels andpagans). This still exists in its first edition in theParis Bibliothèque Mazarine, incunabula no. 259; Lecoy de la Marche, "La prédication de la Croisade au XIIIe siècle" in "Rev. des questions historiques", 1890, p. 5). In certain provinces, particularly inGermany andItaly, the Dominican preaching took on a peculiar quality, due to the influence of thespiritual direction which the religious of these provinces gave to the numerousconvents ofwomen confided to their care. It was a mystical preaching; the specimens which have survived are in the vernacular, and are marked by simplicity and strength (Denifle, "Uber die Anfänge der Predigtweise der deutschen Mystiker" in "Archiv. f. Litt. u. Kirchengesch", II, p. 641; Pfeiffer, "Deutsche Mystiker des vierzehnten Jahrhundert", Leipzig, 1845; Wackernagel, "Altdeutsche Predigten und Gebete aus Handschriften", Basle, 1876). Among these preachers may be mentioned: St. Dominic, the founder and model of preachers (d. 1221); Jordan of Saxony (d. 1237) (Lives of the Brothers, pts. II, III); Giovanni di Vincenza, whose popular eloquence stirred NorthernItaly during the year 1233 — called the Age of theAlleluia (Sitter, "Johann von Vincenza und die Italiensche Friedensbewegung", Freiburg, 1891); Giordano da Rivalto, the foremostpulpit orator inTuscany at the beginning of the fourteenth century [d. 1311 (Galletti, "Fra Giordano da Pisa", Turin, 1899)];Johann Eckhart of Hochheim (d. 1327), the celebrated theorist of the mystical life (Pfeiffer, "Deutsche Mystiker", II, 1857; Buttner, "Meister Eckharts Schriften und Predigten", Leipzig, 1903);Henri Suso (d. 1366), the poetical lover of Divine wisdom (Bihlmeyer, "Heinrich Seuse Deutsche Schriften", Stuttgart, 1907);Johann Tauler (d. 1361), the eloquent moralist ("Johanns Taulers Predigten" ed. T. Harnberger, Frankfort, 1864); Venturino la Bergamo (d. 1345), the fiery popular agitator (Clementi, "Un Santo Patriota, Il B. Venturino da Bergamo", Rome, 1909); Jacopo Passavanti (d. 1357), the noted author of the "Mirror of Penitence" (Carmini di Pierro, "Contributo alla Biografia di Fra Jacopo Passavanti" in "Giornale storico della letteratura italiana", XLVII, 1906 p. 1); Giovanni Dominici (d. 1419), the beloved orator of the Florentines (Gallette, "UnaRaccolta di Prediche volgari del Cardinale Giovanni Dominici" in "Miscellanea di studi critici publicati in onore di G. Mazzoni",Florence, 1907, I); Alain de la Rochei (d. 1475), the Apostle of theRosary (Script. Ord. Præd., I, p. 849);Savonarola (d. 1498), one of the most powerful orators of all times (Luotto, "II vero Savonarola",Florence, p. 68).
(e) Academic Organization
The first order instituted by theChurch with an academic mission was the Preachers. Thedecree of theFourth Lateran Council (1215) requiring the appointment of a master oftheology for eachcathedralschool had not been effectual. TheRoman Church and St. Dominic met the needs of the situation by creating areligious order vowed to the teaching of thesacred sciences. To attain their purpose, the Preachers from 1220 laid down as a fundamental principle, that noconvent of their order could be founded without a doctor (Const., Dist. II, cog. I). From their first foundation, thebishops, likewise, welcomed them with expressions like those of theBishop ofMetz (22 April, 1221): "Cohabitatio ipsorum non tantum laicis in praedicationibus, sed et clericis in sacris lectionibus esset plurimum profutura, exemplo Domini Papæ, qui eis Romæ domum contulit, et multorum archiepiscoporum ac episcoporum" etc. (Annales Ord. Præd. I, append., col. 71). (Association with them would be of great value not only tolaymen by their preaching, but also to theclergy by their lectures onsacred science, as it was to the Lord Pope who gave them their house atRome, and to manyarchbishops andbishops.) This is the reason why the second master general, Jordan of Saxony, defined the vocation of the order: "honeste vivere, discere et docere", i.e. upright living, learning and teaching (Vitæ Fratrum, p. 138); and one of his successors, John the Teuton, declared that he was "ex ordine Praedicatorum, quorum proprium esset docendi munus" (Annales, p. 644). (Of the Order of Preachers whose proper function was to teach.) In pursuit of this aim the Preachers established a very complete and thoroughly organized scholastic system, which hascaused a writer of our own times to say that "Dominic was the first minister of public instruction in modernEurope" (Larousse, "Grand Dictionnaire; Universel du XIXe Siècle", s.v. Dominic).
The general basis of teaching was the conventualschool. It was attended by the religious of theconvent, and byclerics from the outside; the teaching was public. Theschool was directed by a doctor, called later, though not in all cases,rector. His principal subject was the text ofHoly Scripture, which he interpreted, and in connection with which he treatedtheological questions. The "Sentences" ofPeter Lombard, the "History" ofPeter Comestor, the "Sum" of cases ofconscience, were also, but secondarily, used as texts. In the largeconvents, which were not calledstudia generalia, but were in the language of the timesstudia solemnia, the teaching staff was more complete. There was a second master or sub-rector, or a bachelor, whoseduty it was to lecture on theBible and the "Sentences". This organization somewhat resembled that of thestudia generalia. The head master held public disputations every fortnight. Eachconvent possessed amagister studentium, charged with the superintendence of the students, and usually an assistant teacher. These masters were appointed by the provincial chapters, and the visitors wereobliged to report each year to the chapter on the condition of academic work. Above the conventualschools were thestudia generalia. The firststudium generale which the order possessed was that of the Convent of St. Jacques atParis. In 1229 they obtained a chair incorporated with theuniversity and another in 1231. Thus the Preachers were the firstreligious order that took part in teaching at theUniversity of Paris, and the only one possessing twoschools. In the thirteenth century the order did not recognize any mastership oftheology other than that received atParis. Usually the masters did not teach for any length of time. After receiving their degrees, they were assigned to differentschools of the order throughout the world. Theschools of St. Jacques atParis were the principal scholastic centres of the Preachers during theMiddle Ages.
In 1248 the development of the order led to the erection of four newstudia generalia — at Oxford,Cologne,Montpellier, and Bologna. When at the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century several provinces of the order were divided, otherstudia were established atNaples,Florence,Genoa,Toulouse,Barcelona, and Salamanca. Thestudium generale was conducted by a master or regent, and two bachelors who taught under his direction. The master taught the text of theHoly Scripture with commentaries. The works ofAlbert the Great andSt. Thomas Aquinas show us the nature of these lessons. Every fifteen days the master held a debate upon a theme chosen by himself. To this class of exercises belong the "Quæstiones Disputatæ" ofSt. Thomas, while his "Quaestiones Quodlibeticae" represent extraordinary disputations which took place twice a year duringAdvent andLent and whose subject was proposed by the auditors. One of the bachelors read and commentated the Book of Sentences. The commentaries of Albert andThomas Aquinas on the Lombard are the fruit of their two-year baccalaureate course assententiarii. Thebiblicus lectured on the Scriptures for one year before becoming asententiarius. He did not commentate, but read and interpreted the glosses which preceding ages had added to the Scriptures for better understanding of the text. The professors of thestudia generalia were appointed by the general chapters, or by the master general, delegated for the purpose. Those who were to teach atParis were taken indiscriminately from the different provinces of the order.
The conventualschools taught only thesacred sciences, i.e.Holy Scripture andtheology. At the beginning of the thirteenth century neitherpriest nor religious studied or taught the profanesciences. As it could not set itself against this general status the order provided in its constitutions, that the master general, or the general chapter, might allow certain religious to take up the study of the liberal arts Thus, at first, the study of the arts, i.e. ofphilosophy was entirely individual. As numerous masters of arts entered the order during the early years, especially atParis and Bologna, it was easy to make a stand against this private teaching. However, the development of the order and the rapidintellectual progress of the thirteenth century soon caused the organization — for the use of religious only — of regularschools for the study of the liberal arts. Towards the middle of the century the provinces established in one or more of theirconvents the study oflogic; and about 1260 thestudia naturalium, i.e. courses in naturalscience. The General Chapter of 1315 commended the masters of the students to lecture on the moralsciences to all the religious of theirconvents; i.e. on the ethics, politics, and economics ofAristotle. From the beginning of the fourteenth century we find also some religious who gave special courses inphilosophy to secular students. In the fifteenth century the Preachers occupied in severaluniversities chairs ofphilosophy, especially ofmetaphysics. Coming in contact as it did with barbaric peoples — principally with the Greeks andArabs — the order was compelled from the outset to take up the study of foreign languages. The Chapter Generalissimo of 1236 ordered that in allconvents and in all the provinces the religious should learn the languages of the neighbouring countries. The following year Brother Phillippe, Provincial of the Holy Land, wrote toGregory IX that his religious had preached to the people in the different languages of the Orient, especially in Arabic, the most popular tongue, and that the study of languages had been added to their conventual course. The province of Greece furnished several Hellenists whose works we shall mention later. The province ofSpain, whose population was a mixture ofJews andArabs, opened specialschools for the study of languages. About the middle of the thirteenth century it also established astudium arabicum atTunis; in 1259 one atBarcelona; between 1265 and 1270 one at Murcia; in 1281 one at Valencia. The same province also established someschools for the study of Hebrew at Barcelona in 1281, and at Jativa in 1291. Finally, the General Chapters of 1310 commanded the master general to establish, in several provinces,schools for the study of Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic, to which each province of the order should send at least one student. In view of this fact aProtestant historian, Molmier, in writing of the Friars Preachers, remarks: "They were not content with professing in theirconvents all the divisions ofscience, as it was then understood; they added an entire order of studies which no otherChristianschools of the time seem to have taught, and in which they had no other rivals than the rabbis of Languedoc andSpain" ("Guillem Bernard de Gaillac et l'enseignement chez les Dominicains", Paris, 1884, p. 30).
This scholastic activity extended to other fields, particularly to theuniversities which were established throughoutEurope from the beginning of the thirteenth century; the Preachers took a prominent part inuniversity life. Thoseuniversities, likeParis,Toulouse etc., which from the beginning had chairs oftheology, incorporated the Dominican conventualschool which was patterned on theschools of thestudia generalia. When auniversity was established as in a city — as was usually the case — after the foundation of a Dominicanconvent which always possessed a chair oftheology, the pontifical letters granting the establishment of theuniversity made no mention whatever of a faculty oftheology. The latter was considered as already existing by reason of the Dominicanschool and others of themendicant orders, who followed the example of the Preachers. For a time in the Dominicantheologicalschools were simply in juxtaposition to theuniversities, which had no faculty oftheology. When theseuniversities petitioned theHoly See for a faculty oftheology, and their petition was granted, they usually incorporated the Dominicanschool, which thus became a part of thetheological faculty. This transformation began towards the close of the fourteenth and lasted until the first years of the sixteenth century. Once established, this state of things lasted until theReformation in the countries which becameProtestant, and until theFrench Revolution and its spread in the Latin countries.
Thearchbishops, who according to thedecree of theFourth Lateran Council (1215) were to establish eachmetropolitan church a master oftheology, considered themselves dispensed from thisobligation by reason of the creation of Dominicanschools open to thesecular clergy. However, when they thought it theirduty to apply thedecree of the council, or when later they wereobliged by theRoman Church to do so, they frequently called in a Dominican master to fill the chair of theirmetropolitanschool. Thus themetropolitanschool ofLyons was entrusted to the Preachers, from their establishment in that city until the beginning of the sixteenth century (Forest, "L'école cathédralede Lyon", Paris-Lyons, 1885, pp. 238, 368; Beyssac, Les Prieurs de Notre Dame de Confort", Lyons, 1909; "Chart. Univer. Paris", III, p. 28). The same arrangement, though not so permanent, was made atToulouse,Bordeaux,Tortosa,Valencia,Urgel,Milan etc. Thepopes, who believed themselves morally obligated to set an example regarding the execution of the scholasticdecree of the Lateran Council, usually contented themselves during the thirteenth century with the establishment ofschools atRome by the Dominicans and otherreligious orders. The Dominican masters who taught atRome or in other cities where thesovereign pontiffs took up their residence, were known aslectores curiae. However, when thepopes, once settled atAvignon, began to require from thearchbishops the execution of thedecree of Lateran, they instituted atheologicalschool in their ownpapal palace; the initiative was taken byClement V (1305-1314). At the request of the Dominican, Cardinal Nicolas Alberti dePrato (d. 1321), this work was permanently entrusted to a Preacher, bearing the name ofMagister Sacri Palatii. The first to hold the position was Pierre Godin, who later becamecardinal (1312). The office ofMaster of the Sacred Palace, whose functions were successively increased, remains to the present day the special privilege of the Order of Preachers (Catalani, "De Magistro Sacri Palatii Apostolici",Rome, p. 175).
Finally, when towards the middle of the thirteenth century the old monastic orders began to take up the scholastic anddoctrinal movement, theCistercians, in particular, applied to the Preachers for masters oftheology in theirabbeys ("Chart. Univ Paris", I, p. 184). During the last portion of theMiddle Ages, the Dominicans furnished, at intervals, professors to the different orders, not themselvesconsecrated to study (Denifle, "Quellen zur Gelehrtengeschichte des Predigerordens im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert" in "Archiv." II, p. 165; Mandonnet, "Les Chanoines Prêcheurs de Bologne", Fribourg, 1903; Douais, "Essai sur l'organisation des études dans l'Ordre des Frères-Prêcheurs", Paris, 1884; Mandonnet, "De l'incorporation des Dominicains dans l'ancienne Universitéde Paris" in "Revue Thomiste", IV 1896, p. 139;Denifle, "Die Universitäten des Mittelalters",Berlin, 1885; I,passim; Denifle-Chatelain, "Chart. Univ., Paris", 1889,passim; Bernard, Les Dominicains dans l'Universitéde Paris", Paris, 183; Mandonnet, "Siger de Brabant et l'averroisme Latin au XIIIe siècle", Louvain, 1911, I, n. 30-95). The legislation regarding studies occurs here and there in the constitutions, and principally in the "Acta Capitularium Generalium", Rome, 1898, sq. and Douais, "Acta Capitulorum Provincialium" (Toulouse, 1894).
The teaching activity of the order and its scholastic organization placed the Preachers in the forefront of theintellectual life of theMiddle Ages. They were the pioneers in all directions as one may see from a subsequent paragraph relative to their literary productions. We speak only of theschool ofphilosophy and oftheology created by them in the thirteenth century which has been the most influential in thehistory of the Church. At the beginning of the thirteenth centuryphilosophical teaching was confined practically to thelogic ofAristotle andtheology, and was under the influence ofSt. Augustine; hence the name Augustinism generally given to thetheological doctrines of that age. The first Dominicandoctors, who came from theuniversities into the order, or who taught in theuniversities, adhered for a long time to the Augustiniandoctrine. Among the most celebrated were Roland ofCremona,Hugh of Saint Cher, Richard Fitzacre,Moneta of Cremona, Peter ofTarentaise, andRobert of Kilwardby. It was the introduction into the Latin world of the great works ofAristotle, and their assimilation, through the action ofAlbertus Magnus, that opened up in the Order of Preachers a new line ofphilosophical andtheological investigation. The work begun byAlbertus Magnus (1240-1250) was carried to completion by his disciple,Thomas Aquinas (q.v.), whose teaching activity occupied the last twenty years of his life (1245-1274). The system oftheology and philosophy constructed by Aquinas is the most complete, the most original, and the most profound, whichChristian thought has elaborated, and the master who designed it surpasses all his contemporaries and his successors in the grandeur of his creative genius. TheThomist School developed rapidly both within the order and without. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries witnessed the struggles of theThomist School on various points ofdoctrine. The Council of Vienne (1311) declared in favour of theThomistic teaching, according to which there is but one form in the human composition, and condemned asheretical any one who should deny that "the rational or intellectivesoul is per se and essentially the form of the human body". This is also the teaching of theFifth Lateran Council (1515). See Zigliara, "De Mente Concilii Viennensis", Rome, 1878, pp. 88-89.
The discussions between the Preachers and the Friars on the poverty of Christ and the Apostles was also settled byJohn XXII in theThomistic sense [(12 Nov., 1323), Ehrle, "Archiv. f. Litt. u Kirchengesch.", III, p. 517; Tocco, "La Questione della povertà nel Secolo XIV", Naples, 1910]. The question regarding the Divinity of the Blood of Christ separated from His Body during HisPassion, raised for the first time in 1351, atBarcelona, and taken up again inItaly in 1463, was the subject of a formal debate beforePius II. The Dominican opinion prevailed; although thepope refused a sentence properly so called (Mortier, "Hist. des Maîtres Généraux", III, p. 287, IV, p. 413; G. degli Agostini, "Notizie istorico-critiche intorno la vita e le opere degli scrittori Viniziani",Venice, 1752, I, p. 401. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries theThomist School had to make a stand againstNominalism, of which a Preacher had been one of the protagonists. The repeated sentences of theuniversities and of princes slowly combatted thisdoctrine (De Wulf, "Histoire de la philosophic médiévale", Louvain-Paris, 1905, p. 453).
TheAverroism against whichAlbert the Great and especiallyAquinas had fought so energetically did not disappear entirely with the condemnation ofParis (1277), but survived under a more or less attenuated form. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the debates were renewed, and the Preachers found themselves actively engaged therein inItaly where theAverroistdoctrine had reappeared. The General of the Dominicans, Thomas de Vio (Cajetan) had published his commentaries on the "De Anima" ofAristotle (Florence, 1509), in which, abandoning the position ofSt. Thomas, he contended thatAristotle had not taught the individualimmortality of thesoul, but affirming at the same time that thisdoctrine was philosophicallyerroneous. The Council of Lateran, by itsDecree, 19 Dec., 1513, not only condemned theAverroistic teaching, but exacted still further that professors ofphilosophy should answer the opposing arguments advanced byphilosophers — a measure which Cajetan did not approve (Mansi, "Councils", I, 32, col. 842). Pietro Pomponazzi, having published at Bologna (1516) his treatise on theimmortality of thesoul in theAverroistic sense, while making an open profession offaith in theChristian doctrine, raised numerous polemics, and was held as a suspect. Chrysostom Javelli, regent oftheology at the Convent of St. Dominic, in agreement with theecclesiastical authority, and at the request of Pomponazzi, sought to extricate him from this difficulty by drawing up a shorttheological exposé of the question which was to be added in the future to the work of Pomponazzi. But this discussion did not cease all at once. Several Dominicans entered the lists. Girolamo de Fornariis subjected to examination the polemic of Pomponazzi with Augustin Nifi (Bologna, 1519); Bartolommeo de Spina attacked Cajetan on one article, and Pomponazzi in two others (Venice, 1519); Isidore of Isolanis also wrote on theimmortality of thesoul (Milan, 1520); Lucas Bettini took up the same theme, and Pico della Mirandola published his treatise (Bologna, 1523); finally Chrysostom Javelli himself, in 1523, composed a treatise onimmortality in which he refuted the point of view of Cajetan and of Pomponazzi (Chrysostomi Javelli, "Opera",Venice, 1577, I-III, p. 52). Cajetan, becomingcardinal, not only held his position regarding theidea ofAristotle, but further declared that theimmortality of thesoul was anarticle of faith, for which philosophy could offer only probable reasons ("In Ecclesiasten", 1534, cap. iv; Fiorentino, "Pietro Pomponazzi", Florence, 1868).
(f) Literary and Scientific Productions
During theMiddle Ages the order had an enormous literary output, its activity extending to all spheres. The works of its writers are epoch-making in the various branches ofhumanknowledge.
(i) Works on theBible. — The study and teaching of theBible were foremost among the occupations of the Preachers, and their studies included everything pertaining to it. They first undertook correctories(correctoria) of theVulgate text (1230-36), under the direction ofHugh of Saint Cher, professor at theUniversity of Paris. The collation with the Hebrew text was accomplished under the sub-prior of St-Jacques, Theobald of Sexania, a convertedJew. Two other correctories were made prior to 1267, the first called the correctory ofSens. Again under the direction ofHugh of Saint Cher the Preachers made the first concordances of theBible which were called the Concordances of St. Jacques or Great Concordances because of their development. TheEnglish Dominicans of Oxford, apparently under the direction of John of Darlington, made more simplified concordances in the third quarter of the thirteenth century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century a German Dominican, Conrad of Halberstadt simplified the English concordances still more; and John Fojkowich ofRagusa, at the time of the Council of Basle, caused the insertion in the concordances of elements which had not hitherto been incorporated in them. The Dominicans, moreover, composed numerous commentaries on the books of theBible. That ofHugh of Saint Cher was the first complete commentary on the Scriptures (last ed., Venice, 1754, 8 vols. in fol.). The commentaries of Bl.Albertus Magnus and especially those ofSt. Thomas Aquinas are still famous. WithSt. Thomas the interpretation of the text is more direct, simply literal, andtheological. These great Scriptural commentaries representtheological teaching in thestudia generalia. Thelecturae on the text of Scripture, also composed to a large extent by Dominicans, represent scriptural teaching in the otherstudia oftheology. St. Thomas undertook an "Expositio continua" of the four Gospels now called the "Catena aurea", composed of extracts from the Fathers with a view to its use byclerics. At the beginning of the fourteenth centuryNicholas of Trevet did the same for all the books of theBible. The Preachers were also engaged in translating theBible into the vernacular. In all probability they were the translators of theFrenchParisian Bible during the first half of the thirteenth century, and in the fourteenth century they took a very active share in the translation of the celebrated Bible of King John. The name of aCatalonian Dominican, Romeu of Sabruguera, is attached to the first translation of the Scriptures into Catalonian. The names of Preachers are also connected with the Valencian andCastilian translations, and still more with the Italian (F.L. Mannoci, "Intorno a un volgarizzamento della Biblia attribuita al B. Jacopo da Voragine" in "Giornale storico e letterario della Liguria", V, 1904, p. 96). The first pre-LutheranGerman translation of theBible, except the Psalms, is due to John Rellach, shortly after the middle of the fifteenth century. Finally theBible was translated from Latin intoArmenian about 1330 by B. Bartolommeo Parvi of Bologna, missionary andbishop inArmenia. These works enabledVercellone to write: "To the Dominican Order belongs the glory of having first renewed in theChurch the illustrious example ofOrigen andSt. Augustine by the ardent cultivation of sacred criticism" (P. Mandonnet "Tràvaux des Dominicains sur les Saintes Ecritures" in "Dict. de la Bible", II, col. 1463; Saul, "Des Bibelstudium im Predigerorden" in "Der Katholik", 82 Jahrg, 3 f., XXVII, 1902, a repetition of the foregoing article).
(ii) Philosophical works. — The most celebratedphilosophical works of the thirteenth century were those ofAlbertus Magnus andSt. Thomas Aquinas. The former compiled on the model ofAristotle a vast scientific encyclopedia which exercised great influence on the last centuries of theMiddle Ages ("Alberti Magni Opera", Lyons, 1651, 20 vols. in fol.; Paris, 1890, 38 vols. in 40; Mandonnet, "Siger de Brabant", I, 37, n. 3).Thomas Aquinas, apart from special treatises and numerousphilosophical sections in his other works, commentated in whole or in part thirteen ofAristotle's treatises, these being the most important of theStagyrite's works (Mandonnet, "Des écrits authentiques de St. Thomas d'Aquin", 2nd ed., p. 104, Opera, Paris, 1889, XXII-XVI).Robert of Kilwardby (d. 1279) a holder of the old Augustinian direction, produced numerousphilosophical writings. His "De ortu et divisione philosophiae" is regarded as "the most important introduction to Philosophy of theMiddle Ages" (Baur "Dominicus Gundissalinus De divisione philosophiae", Münster, 1903, 368). At the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, Dietrich of Vriberg left an importantphilosophical and scientific work (Krebs, "Meister Dietrich, sein Leben, seine Werke, seine Wissenschaft", Münster, 1906). At the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century the Dominicans composed numerousphilosophical treatises, many of them bearing on the special points whereon theThomistic School was attacked by its adversaries ("Archiv f. Litt. und Kirchengesch.", II, 226 sqq.).
(iii) Theological works. — In importance and numbertheological works occupy the foreground in the literary activity of the order. Most of thetheologians composed commentaries on the "Sentences" ofPeter Lombard, which was the classical text intheologicalschools. Besides the "Sentences" the usual work of bachelors in the Universities includedDisputationes andQuodlibeta, which were always the writings of masters. Thetheologicalsummae set forth thetheological matter according to a more complete and well-ordered plan than that ofPeter Lombard and especially with solidphilosophical principles in which the books of the "Sentences" were wanting. Manuals oftheology and more especially manuals, orsummae, on penance for the use of confessors were composed in great numbers. The oldest Dominican commentaries on the "Sentences" are those of Roland ofCremona,Hugh of Saint Cher, Richard Fitzacre,Robert of Kilwardby andAlbertus Magnus. The series begins with the year 1230 if not earlier and the last are prior to the middle of the thirteenth century (Mandonnet, "Siger de Brabant", I, 53). The"Summa" ofSt. Thomas (1265-75) is still the masterpiece oftheology. The monumental work ofAlbertus Magnus is unfinished. The "Summa de bono" of Ulrich of Strasburg (d. 1277), a disciple of Albert is still unedited, but is of paramount interest to the historian of the thought of the thirteenth century (Grabmann, "Studien ueber Ulrich von Strassburg" in "Zeitschrift für Kathol. Theol.", XXIX, 1905, 82). Thetheological summa ofSt. Antoninus is highly esteemed bymoralists and economists (Ilgner, "Die Volkswirtschaftlichen Anschaungen Antonins von Florenz", Paderborn, 1904). The "Compendium theologicæ veritatis" of Hugh Ripelin ofStrasburg (d. 1268) is the most widespread and famous manual of theMiddle Ages (Mandonnet, "Des écrits authentiques de St. Thomas", Fribourg, 1910, p. 86). The chief manual of confessors is that of Paul ofHungary composed for the Brothers of St. Nicholas of Bologna (1220-21) and edited without mention of the author in the "Bibliotheca Casinensis" (IV, 1880, 191) and withfalse assignment of authorship by R. Duellius, "Miscellan. Lib." (Augsburg, 1723, 59). The "Summade Poenitentia" of Raymond of Pennafort, composed in 1235, was a classic during theMiddle Ages and was one of the works of which themanuscripts were most multiplied. The "Summa Confessorum" of John ofFreiburg (d. 1314) is, according to F. von Schulte, the most perfect product of this class of literature. The Pisan Bartolommeo of San Concordio has left us a "Summa Casuum" composed in 1338, in which the matter is arranged in alphabetical order. It was very successful in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The manuals for confessors of John Nieder (d. 1438),St. Antoninus,Archbishop ofFlorence (d. 1459), andGirolamo Savonarola (d. 1498) were much esteemed in their time (Quétif-Echard, "Script. Ord. Praed.", I,passim;Hurter, "Nomenclator literarius; aetas media", Innsbruck, 1906,passim; F. von Schulte, "Gesch. der Quellen und Literatur des canonischen Rechts", Stuttgart, II, 1877, p. 410 sqq.; Dietterle, "Die Summæ confessorum . . . von ihren Anfängen an bis zu Silvester Prierias" in "Zeitschrift für Kirchengesch.", XXIV, 1903; XXVIII, 1907).
(iv) Apologetic works. — The Preachers, born amid theAlbigensian heresy and founded especially for the defense of the Faith, bent their literary efforts to reach all classes of dissenters from theCatholicChurch. They produced by far the most powerful works in the sphere ofapologetics. The "Summa contra Catharos et Valdenses" (Rome, 1743) ofMoneta of Cremona, in course of composition in 1244, is the most complete and solid work produced in theMiddle Ages against theCathari andWaldenses. The "Summa contra Gentiles" ofSt. Thomas Aquinas is one of that master's strongest creations. It is the defense of theChristian Faith against Arabian philosophy. Raymond Marti in his "Pugio fidei", in course of composition in 1278 (Paris, 1642; 1651: Leipzig, 1687), measures arms withJudaism. This work, to a large extent based on Rabbinic literature, is the most importantmedieval monument of Orientalism (Neubauer, "Jewish Controversy and the Pugio Fidei" in "The Expositor", 1888, p. 81 sqq.; Loeb, "La controverse religieuse entre les chrétiens et les Juifs au moyen-âge en France et en Espagne" in "Revue de l'histoire des religions", XVIII, 136). The Florentine,Riccoldo di Monte Croce, a missionary in the East (d. 1320), composed his "Propugnaculum Fidei" against thedoctrine of theKoran. It is a raremedieval Latin work based directly on Arabian literature. Demetrius Cydonius translated the "Propugnaculum" into Greek in the fourteenth century andLuther translated it into German in the sixteenth (Mandonnet, "Fra Riccoldo di Monte Croce, pélerin en Terre Sainte et missionnaire en Orient" in "Revue Biblique", I, 1893, 44; Grabmann, "Die Missionsidee bei den Dominikanertheologien des 13. Jahrhunderts" in "Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft", I, 1911, 137).
(v) Educational literature. — Besides manuals oftheology the Dominicans furnished a considerable literary output with a view to meeting the various needs of all social classes and which may be callededucational or practical literature. They composed treatises on preaching, models or materials for sermons, and collections of discourses. Among the oldest of these are the "Distinctiones" and the "Dictionarius pauperum" of Nicholas of Biard (d. 1261), the "Tractatus de diversis materiis prædicabilibus" ofStephen of Bourbon (d. 1261), the "De eruditione prædicatorum" ofHumbert of Romans (d. 1277), the "Distinctiones" ofNicholas of Goran (d. 1295), and of Maurice ofEngland [d. circa 1300; (Quétif-Echard, "Script. Ord. Præd.", II, 968; 970; Lecoy de la Marche, "La chaire française au moyen âge", Paris, 1886; Crane, "Theexempla or illustrative stories from the 'Sermones vulgares' of Jacquesde Vitry", London, 1890)]. The Preachers led the way in the composition of comprehensive collections of the lives of thesaints or legendaries, writings at once for the use and edification of thefaithful. Bartholomew of Trent compiled his "Liber epilogorum in Gesta Sanctorum" in 1240. After the middle of the thirteenth century Roderick of Cerrate composed a collection of "Vitæ Sanctorum" (Madrid University Library, cod. 146). The "Abbreviatio in gestis et miraculis sanctorum", composed in 1243 according to the "Speculum historiale" ofVincent of Beauvais, is the work of Jean de Mailly. The "Legenda Sanctorum" ofJacopo de Voragine (Vorazze) called also the "Golden Legend", written about 1260, is universally known. "The success of the book," writes theBollandist, A. Poncelet, "was prodigious; it far exceeded that of all similar compilations." It was besides translated into all the vernaculars ofEurope. The "Speculum Sanctorale" of Bernard Guidonis is a work of a much more scholarly character. The first three parts were finished in 1324 and the fourth in 1329. About the same time Peter Calo (d. 1348) undertook under the title of "Legenda sanctorum" an "immense compilation" which aimed at being more complete than its predecessors (A. Poncelet, "Le légendier de Pierre Calo" in "Analecta Bollandiana", XXIX, 1910, 5-116).
Catechetical literature was also early taken in hand. In 1256-7 Raymond Marti composed his "Explanatio symboli ad institutionem fidelium" ("Revue des Bibliothèques", VI, 1846, 32; March, "La 'Explanatio Symboli', obra inedita de Ramon Marti, autor del 'Pugio Fidei'", in "Anuari des Institut d'Estudis Catalans", 1908, and Barcelona, 1910).Thomas Aquinas wrote four small treatises which represent the contents of acatechism as it was in theMiddle Ages: "De articulis fidei et Ecclesiae Sacramentis"; "Expositio symboli Apostolorum"; "De decem præceptis et lege amoris"; "Expositio orationis dominicae". Several of these writings have been collected and called thecatechism ofSt. Thomas. (Portmann-Kunz, "Katechismus des hl. Thomas von Aquin",Lucerne, 1900.) In 1277 Laurent d'Orléans composed at the request of Philip the Bold, whose confessor he was, a realcatechism in the vernacular known as the "Somme le Roi" (Mandonnet, "Laurent d'Orléans l'auteur de la Somme le Roi" in "Revue des langues romanes", 1911; "Dict. de théol. cath.", II, 1900). At the beginning of the fourteenth century Bernard Guidonis composed an abridgment ofChristian doctrine which he revised later when he had becomeBishop of Lodève (1324-31) into a sort ofcatechism for the use of hispriests in the instruction of the faithful ("Notices et extraits de la Bib. Nat.", XXVII, Paris, 1879, 2nd part, p. 362, C. Douais, "Un nouvel écrit de Bernard Gui. Le synodal de Lodève, "Paris, 1944 p. vii). The "Discipulus" of John Hérolt was much esteemed in its day (Paulus, "Johann Hérolt und seine Lehre. Ein Beitrag zur Gesch. des religiosen Volksunterichte am Ausgang des Mittelalters" in "Zeitsch. für kath. Theol.", XXVI, 1902, 417).
The order also produced pedagogical works. William ofTournai composed a treatise "De Modo docendi pueros" (Paris, Bib. Nat. lat. 16435) which the General Chapter of 1264 recommended, as well as one on preaching and confession forschool children. ("Act. Cap. Gen." I, 125; "Script. Ord. Præd.", I, 345).Vincent of Beauvais wrote especially for theeducation of princes. He first composed his "De eruditione filiorum regalium" (Basle, 1481), then the "De eruditione principum", published with the works ofSt. Thomas, to whom as well as to Guillaume Perrault it has been incorrectly ascribed; finally (c. 1260) the "Tractatus de morali principis institutione", which is a general treatise and is still unedited ("Script. Ord. Præd.", I, 239; R. Friedrich, "Vincentius von Beauvais als Pädagog nach seiner Schrift De eruditione filiorum regalium", Leipzig, 1883). Early in the fifteenth century (1405) John Dominici composed his famous "Lucula noctis", in which he deals with the study ofpagan authors in theeducation ofChristian youth. This is a most important work, written against the dangers ofHumanism ("B. Johannis Dominici Cardinalis S. Sixti Lucula Noctis", ed. R. Coulon, Paris, 1908). Dominici is also the author of a much esteemed work on the government of thefamily ("Regola del governo di cure familiare dal Beato Giovanni Dominici", ed. D. Salve, Florence, 1860).St. Antoninus composed a "Regola a ben vivere" (ed. Palermo, Florence, 1858). Works on the government of countries were also produced by members of the order; among them are the treatises of St. Thomas "De rege et regno", addressed to the King ofCyprus (finished by Bartolommeo ofLucca), and the "De regimine subditorum", composed for the Countess ofFlanders. At the request of the Florentine GovernmentGirolamo Savonarola drew up (1493) his "Trattati circa il reggimento e governo della cittá di Firenze" (ed. Audin de Rians, Florence, 1847) in which he shows great political insight.
(vi) Canon law. — St. Raymond of Pennafort was chosen byGregory IX to compile theDecretals (1230-34); to his credit also belong opinions and other works on canon law.Martin of Troppau,Bishop ofGnesen, composed (1278) a "Tabula decreti" commonly called "Margarita Martiniana", which received wide circulation. Martin ofFano, professor of canon law atArezzo andModena and podeatà ofGenoa in 1260-2, prior to entering the order, wrote valuable canonical works. Nicholas of Ennezat at the beginning of the fourteenth century composed tables on various parts of canon law. During the pontificate ofGregory XII John Dominici wrote copious memoranda in defense of therights of the legitimatepope, the two most important being still unedited (Vienna, Hof-bibliothek, lat. 5102, fol. 1-24). About the middle of the fifteenth century John of Torquemada wrote extensive works on theDecretals of Gratian which were very influential in defense of the pontificalrights. Important works on inquisitorial law also emanated from the order, the first directories for trial ofheresy being composed by Dominicans. The oldest is the opinion of St. Raymond of Pennafort [1235 (ed. in Bzovius, "Annal. eccles." ad ann. 1235 "Monum. Ord. Præd. Hist.", IV, fasc. II, 41; "Le Moyen Age", 2nd series III, 305)]. The same canonist wrote (1242) a directory for the inquisitions ofAragon (C. Douais, "L'Inquisition", Paris, I, 1906, p. 275). About 1244 another directory was composed by the inquisitors of Provence ("Nouvelle revue historique du droit français et étranger", Paris, 1883, 670; E. Vacandard, "L'Inquisition", Paris, 1907, p. 314). But the two classical works of theMiddle Ages on inquisitorial law are that of Bernard Guidonis composed in 1321 under the title of "Directorium Inquisitionis hereticae pravitatis" (ed. C. DouaisParis, 1886) and the "Directorium Inquisitorum" ofNicholas Eymerich [(1399) "Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschechte"; Grahit, "El inquisidor F. Nicholas Eymerich", Girona, 1878; Schulte, "Die Gesch. der Quellen und Literatur des Canonischen Rechts", II,passim].
(vii) Historical Writings. — The activity of the Preachers in the domain of history was considerable during theMiddle Ages. Some of their chief works incline to be real general histories which assured them great success in their day. The "Speculum Historiale" ofVincent of Beauvais (d. circa 1264) is chiefly, like the other parts of the work, of the nature of a documentary compilation, but he has preserved for us sources which we could never otherwise reach (E. Boutarie, "Examen des sources du Speculum historiale de Vincent de Beauvais", Paris, 1863). Martin the Pole, calledMartin of Troppau (d. 1279), in the third quarter of the thirteenth century composed his chronicles of thepopes and emperors which were widely circulated and had many continuators ("Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script.", XXII). The anonymous chronicles of Colmar in the second half of the thirteenth century have left us valuable historical materials which constitute a sort of history of contemporary civilization (Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., XVII). The chronicle ofJacopo da Voragine,Archbishop ofGenoa (d. 1298) is much esteemed ("Rer. Ital. Script."; Mannucci, "La Cronaca di Jacopo da Voragine", Genoa, 1904). Ptolemy ofLucca and Bernard Guidonis are the two great ecclesiastical historians of the early fourteenth century. The "Historia ecclesiastica nova" of the former and the "Flores cronicorum seu cathalogus pontificum romanorum" of the latter contain valuable historical information.
But the historical activity of Bernard Guidonis far exceeded that of Ptolemy and his contemporaries; he is the author of twenty historical publications, several of which, such as his historical compilation on the Order of Preachers, are very important in value and extent. Bernard Guidonis is the firstmedieval historian who had a wide sense of historical documentation ("Rer. Ital. Script.", XI K. Krüger, "Des Ptolemäus Lucensis Leben und Werke", Göttingen, 1874; D. König, "Ptolemaus von Lucca und die Flores Chronicorum des B. Guidonis",Würzburg, 1875, Idem, "Tolomeo von Lucca", Harburg, 1878; Delisle, "Notice sur les manuscrits de Bernard Gui" in "Notices et manuscrits de la Bib. Nat.", XVII, pt. II, 169-455; Douais, "Un nouveau manuscrit de Bernard Gui et de ses chroniques des papes d'Avignon" in "Mém. soc. Archéol. Midi", XIV, 1889, p. 417, Paris, 1889; Arbellot, "Etude biographique et bibliographique sur Bernard Guidonis", Paris-Limoges, 1896). The fourteenth century beheld a galaxy of Dominican historians, the chief of whom were: Francesco Pipini of Bologna (d. 1320), the Latin translator ofMarco Polo and the author of a "Chronicon" which began with the history of theFranks (L. Manzoni, "Di frate Francesco Pipini da Bologna, storico, geografo, viaggiatore del sec. XIV", Bologna, 1896); Nicholas of Butrinto (1313), author of the "Relatio de Henrici VII imperatoris itinere italico" (ed. Heyck, Innsbruck, 1888);Nicholas Trevet, compiler of the "Annales sex regum Angliæ" (ed. T. Hog, London, 1845); Jacopo ofAcqui and his "Chronicon imaginis mundi" [(1330); Monumenta historiæ patriæ, script." III, Turin, 1848]; Galvano Fiamma (d. circa 1340) composed various works on the history ofMilan (Ferrari, "Le cronache di Galvano Flamma e le fonti della Galvagnana" in "Bulletino dell' Istituto Storico Italiano", Rome, 1891); John of Colonna (c. 1336) is the author of a "De viris illustribus" and a "Mare Historiarum" (Mandonnet, "Des écrits authentiques de St. Thomas d'Aquin", Fribourg, 2nd ed., 1910, p. 97). In the second half of the fourteenth century Conrad of Halberstadt wrote a "Chronographia summorum Pontificum et Imperatorum romanorum (Merck, "Die Chronographia Konrads von Halberstadt" etc. in "Forsch. deutsch. Gesch." XX, 1880, 279);Henry of Hervordia (d. 1370) wrote a "Liber de rebus memorabilibus" (ed. Potthast, Göttingen, 1859); Stefanardo de Vicomercato is the author of the rhythmical poem "De gestis in civitate Mediolani" (in "Script. Rer. Ital.", IX; G. Calligaris, "Alcune osservazioni sopra un passo del poema 'De gestis in civitate Mediolani' di Stefanardo" in "Misc. Ceriani", Milan, 1910). At the end of the fifteenth century Hermann of Lerbeke composed a "Chronicon comitum Schauenburgensium" and a "Chronicon episcoporum Mindensium" (Eckmann, "Hermann von Lerbeke mit besonderer Berücksichtigung seines Lebens und der Abfassungszeit seiner Schriften" (Hamm, 1879); Hermann Korner left an important "Chronica novella" (ed. J. Schwalm, Göttingen 1895; cf. Waitz, "Ueber Hermann Korner und die Lübecker Chronikon", Göttingen, 1851). The "Chronicon" or "Summa Historialis" ofSt. Antoninus,Archbishop ofFlorence, composed about the middle of the fifteenth century is a useful compilation with original data for the author's own times (Schaube, "Die Quellen der Weltchronik des heil. Antonin Erzbischofs von Florenz" Hirschberg, 1880). Felix Fabri (Schmid, d. 1502) left valuable historical works; his "Evagatorium in Terræ Sanctæ, Arabiæ et Aegypti peregrinationem" (ed., Hassler, Stuttgart, 1843) is the most instructive and important work of this kind during the fourteenth century. He is also the author of a "Descriptio Sueviæ" ("Quellen zer Schweizer Gesch.", Basle, 1884) and a "Tractatus de civitate Ulmensi" (Litterarischesverein in Stuttgart, no. 186, Tübingen, 1889, ed. G. Veesenmeyer; cf., under the names of these writers, Quétif-Echard, "Script. Ord. Præd", Chevalier, "Répertoire . . . du moyen-âge; Bio-Bibl.", Paris, 1907, Potthast "Bib. Hist. Medii Ævi",Berlin, 1896;Hurter, "Nomenclator Lit.", II, 1906).
(viii) Miscellaneous works. — Being unable to devote a section to each of the different spheres wherein the Preachers exercised their activity, we shall mention here some works which obtained considerable influence or are particularly worthy of attention The "Specula" ("Naturale", "doctrinale", "historiale"; the "Speculum morale" isapocryphal) ofVincent of Beauvais constitute the largest encyclopedia of theMiddle Ages and furnished materials for many subsequent writers (Vogel, "Literar-historischen Notizen über den mittelalterlichen Gelehrten Vincenz von Beauvais", Freiburg, 1843; Bourgeat, "Etudes sur Vincent de Beauvais", Paris, 1856). The work ofHumbert of Romans, "De tractandis in concilio generali", composed in 1273 at the request ofGregory X and which served as a programme to the General Council of Lyons in 1274, contains the most remarkable views on the condition ofChristiansociety and the reforms to be undertaken (Mortier, "Hist. des Maîtres généraux de l'ordre des Frères Prêcheurs", I, 88). The treatise is edited in full only in Brown "Appendix ad fasc. rerum expectandarum et fugendarum" (London, 1690, p. 185). Burchard of Mount Sion with his "Descriptio Terræ Sanctae" written about 1283, became the classic geographer of Palestine during theMiddle Ages (J. C. M. Laurent, "Peregrinatores medii ævi quatuor", Leipsig, 1873).William of Moerbeke, who died asArchbishop ofCorinth about 1286, was the revisor of translations ofAristotle from the Greek and the translator of portions not hitherto translated. To him are also due translations of numerousphilosophical and scientific works of ancient Greek authors (Mandonnet, "Siger de Brabant", I, 40). The "Catholicon" of theGenoese John Balbus, completed in 1285, is a vast treatise on the Latin tongue, accompanied by an etymological vocabulary. It is the first work on profanesciences ever printed. It is also famous because in theMainz edition (1460) John Guttenberg first made use of movable type ("Incunabula xylographica et typographica", 1455-1500, Joseph Baer Frankfort, 1900, p. 11). The "Philobiblion" edited under the name ofRichard of Bury, but composed by Robert Holcot (d. 1349), is the firstmedieval treatise on thelove of books (ed. Cocheris, Paris, 1856; tr. Thomas, London, 1888). John of Tambach (d. 1372), first professor oftheology at the newly-foundedUniversity of Prague (1347), is the author of a valuable work, the "Consolatio Theologiæ" (Denifle, "Magister Johann von Dambach" in "Archiv für Litt. u. Kirchengesch" III, 640). Towards the end of the fifteenth century Frederico Frezzi, who died asBishop ofFoligno (1416), composed in Italian a poem in the spirit of the "Divine Commedia" and entitled "Il Quadriregio" (Foligno, 1725); (cf. Canetti, "Il Quadriregio",Venice, 1889; Filippini, "Le edizioni del Quadriregio" in "Bibliofilia", VIII, Florence, 1907). The Florentine Thomas Sardi (d. 1517) wrote a long and valued poem, "L'anima peregrina", the composition of which dates from the end of the fifteenth century (Romagnoli "Frate Tommaso Sardi e il suo poema inedito dell' anima peregrine" in "Il propugnatore", XVIII, 1885, pt. II, 289).
(ix) Liturgy. — Towards the middle of the thirteenth century the Dominicans had definitely established the liturgy which they still retain. The final correction (1256) was the work ofHumbert of Romans. It was divided into fourteen sections or volumes. The prototype of this monumental work is preserved atRome in the general archives of the order ("Script. Ord. Præd." I, 143; "Zeitschr. f. Kathol. Theol.", VII, 10). A portable copy for the use of the master general, a beautiful specimen of thirteenth-century book-making, is preserved in the British Museum, no. 23,935 (J. W. Legg, "Tracts on the Mass", Bradshaw Society, 1904; Barge, "Le Chant liturgique dans 1'Ordre de Saint-Dominique" in "L'Année Dominicaine", Paris, 1908, 27; Gagin, "Un manuscrit liturgique des Frères Prêcheurs antérieur aux réglements d Humbert de Romans" in "Revue des Bibliothèques", 1899, p. 163; Idem, "Dominicains et Teutoniques, conflit d'attribution du 'Liber Choralis'" no. 182 du catalogue 120 de M. Ludwig Rosenthal" in "Revue des Bibliothèques", 1908). Jerome of Moravia, about 1250, composed a "Tractatus de Musica" (Paris, Bib. Nat. lat. 16,663), the most important theoretical work of the thirteenth century onliturgical chant, some fragments of which were placed as preface to the Dominican liturgy ofHumbert of Romans. It was edited byCoussemaker in his "Scriptores de musica medii ævi", I (Paris, 1864). (Cf. Kornmüller "Die alten Musiktheoretiker XX. Hieronymus von Mären" in "Kirchenmusikalisehes Jahrbuch", IV, 1889, 14.) The Preachers also left numerousliturgical compositions, among the most renowned being the Office of theBlessed Sacrament bySt. Thomas Aquinas, one of the masterpieces ofCatholic liturgy (Mandonnet, "Des écrits authentiques de S. Thomas d'Aquin", 2nd ed. p. 127). Armand du Prat (d. 1306) is the author of the beautiful Office of St. Louis, King ofFrance. His work, selected by the Court of Philip the Bold, came into universal use inFrance ("Script. Ord. Præd." I, 499; "Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bib. Nat.", XXVII, 11th pt., 369, n. 6). The "Dies Iræ" has been attributed to Cardinal Latino Malabranca who was in his time a famous composer ofecclesiastical chants and offices ("Scritti vari di Filologia", Rome, 1901, p. 488).
(x) Humanistic works. — The order felt more than is commonly thought the influence ofHumanism and furnished it with noteworthy contributions. This influence was continued during the following period in the sixteenth century and reacted on its Biblical andtheological compositions. Leonardo Giustiniani,Archbishop ofMytilene, in 1449, composed against the celebrated Poggio a treatise "De vera nobilitate", edited with Poggio's "De nobilitate" (Avellino, 1657). TheSicilian Thomas Schifaldo wrote commentaries on Perseus about 1461 and on Horace in 1476. He is the author of a "De viris illustribus Ordinis Prædicatorum", written inhumanistic style, and of the Office ofSt. Catherine of Siena, usually but incorrectly ascribed toPius II (Cozzuli "Tommaso Schifaldo umanista siciliano del sec. XV",Palermo, 1897, in "Documenti per servire alla storia di Sicilia", VI). TheVenetian Francesco Colonna is the author of the celebrated work "The Dream of Poliphilus" ("Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, ubi humane omnia non nisi somnium esse docet", Aldus,Venice, 1499; cf. Popelin, "Le songe de Poliphile ou hypnerotomachia de Frère Francesco Colonna", Paris, 1880). Colonna's work aims to condense in the form of a romance all theknowledge of antiquity. It gives evidence of its author's profound classical learning and impassionedlove for Græco-Roman culture. The work, which is accompanied by the most perfect illustrations of the time, has been called "the most beautiful book of theRenaissance" (Ilg, "Ueber den kunsthistorisches werth der Hypnerotomachia Poliphili",Vienna, 1872; Ephrusi, "Etudes sur le songede Poliphile" in "Bulletin de Bibliophile" 1887, Paris, 1888; Dorez, "Des origines et de la diffusion du songede Poliphile" in "Revue des Bibliothèques", VI, 1896, 239; Gnoli "Il sogno di Polifilo, in "Bibliofila", 1900, 190; Fabrini, "Indagini sul Polifilo" in "Giorn. Storico della letteratura Italiana", XXXV, 1900, I; Poppelreuter, "Der anonyme Meister des Polifilo" in "Zur Kunstgesch. des Auslandes", XX, Strassburg, 1904; Molmenti, "Alcuni documenti concernenti l'autore della (Hypnerotomachia Poliphili)" in "Archivio storico italiano", Ser. V, XXXVIII (906, 291). Tommaso Radini Todeschi (Radinus Todischus) composed under the title "Callipsychia" (Milan, 1511) an allegorical romance in the manner of Apuleius and inspired by the Dream of Poliphilus. The Dalmatian, John Polycarpus Severitanus ofSebenico, commentated the eight parts of the discourse of Donatus and the Ethics of Seneca the Younger (Perugia, 1517; Milan, 1520; Venice, 1522) and composed "Gramatices historicæ, methodicæ et exegeticæ" (Perugia, 1518). The Bolognese Leandro Alberti (d. 1550) was an elegant Latinist and his "De viris illustribus ordinis praedicatorum" (Bologna, 1517), written in thehumanistic manner, is a beautiful specimen of Bolognese publishing ("Script. Ord. Præd.", II, 137; Campori, "Sei lettere inedite di Fra Leandro Alberti" in "Atti e memorie della Deput. di Storia patria per le prov. Modenesi e Parmensi", I, 1864, p. 413). FinallyMatteo Bandello (d. 1555), who was called the "DominicanBoccacio", is regarded as the first novelist of the Italian Cinquecento and his work shows what anevil influence theRenaissance could exert onchurchmen (Masi "Matteo Bandello o vita italiana in un novelliere del cinquecento", Bologna, 1900).
(g) The Preachers and Art
The Preachers hold an important place in the history of art. They contributed in many ways to the artistic life of theMiddle Ages and theRenaissance. Their churches andconvents offered an extraordinary field of activity to contemporary artists, while a large number of the Preachers themselves did important work in the various spheres of art. Finally by their teaching and religious activity they often exercised a profound influence on the direction and inspiration of art. Primarily established under a regime of evangelic poverty, the order took severe measures to avoid in itschurches all that might suggest luxury and wealth. Until the middle of the thirteenth century its constitutions and general chapters energetically legislated against anything tending to suppress the evidence of poverty ("Archiv. f. Litt.-und Kirchgesch.", I, 225, "Acta Cap. Gen.", I,passim). But the order's intense activity, its establishment in large cities and familiar contact with the whole general movement of civilization triumphed over this state of things. As early as 1250, churches andconvents appeared calledopus sumptuosum (Finke, "Die Freiburger Dominikaner und der Münsterbau", Freiburg, 1901 p. 47; Potthast, op. cit., 22,426). They were, however, encouraged byecclesiastical authority and the order eventually relinquished its early uncompromising attitude. Nevertheless ascetic and morose minds werescandalized by what they called royal edifices (MatthewParis, "Hist. maj.", ad. ann. 1243; d'Achéry, "Spicelegium", Paris, 1723, II, 634; Cocheris "Philobiblion", Paris, 1856, p. 227). The second half of the thirteenth century saw the beginning of a series of monuments, many of which are still famous in history and art." The Dominicans," says Cesare Cantù, "soon had in the chief towns ofItaly magnificentmonasteries and superbtemples, veritable wonders of art. Among others may be mentioned: theChurch ofSanta Maria Novella, atFlorence; Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, atRome; St. John and St. Paul, atVenice; St. Nicholas, atTreviso; St. Dominic, atNaples, atPerugia, atPrato, and at Bologna, with the splendidtomb of the founder, St. Catherine, atPisa; St. Eustorgius and Sta Maria delle Grazie, atMilan, and several others remarkable for a rich simplicity and of which the architects were mostlymonks" ("Les Hérétiques de l'Italie", Paris, 1869, I, 165; Berthier, "L'église de Sainte Sabine à Rome", Rome, 1910; Mullooly, "St. Clement, Pope and Martyr, and his Basilica in Rome", Rome, 1873; Nolan, "The Basilica of St. Clement in Rome"Rome, 1910; Brown, "The Dominican Church of Santa Maria Novelli at Florence, An historical, architectural and artistic study",Edinburgh, 1902; Berthier, "L'église de la Minerve àRome,Rome: 1910; Marchese, "San Marco convento dei Padri Predicatori in Firenze",Florence, 1853; Malaguzzi, "La chiesa e il convento di S. Domenico a Bologna secondo nuove richerche" in "Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft", XX, 1897, 174; Caffi, "Della chiesa di Sant' Eustorgio in Milano",Milan, 1841; Valle, "S. Domenico Maggiore di Napoli", Naples, 1854;Milanese, "Le Chiesa monumentale di S. Nicolò in Treviso",Treviso, 1889; Mortier, "Notre Dame de la Guercia"Paris, 1904; Ital. tr. Ferretti,Florence, 1904; Oriandini, "Descrizione storica della chiesa di S. Domenico di Perugia",Perugia, 1798; Biebrach, "Die holzgedeckten Franziskaner und Dominikanerkirchen in Umbrien und Toskana", Berlin, 1908).
France followed inItaly's footsteps. Here mention must be made of the Jacobins ofToulouse (Carrière, "Les Jacobinsde Toulouse", 2nd ed., Toulouse, s. d.); St. Jacques de Paris (Millie, "Antiquités rationales", Paris, 1790, III, 1); St. Maximin in Provence (Rostan, "Notice sur l'église de Saint-Maximin", Brignoles, 1859); Notre-Dame-de-Confort atLyons (Cormier, "L'ancien couvent des Dominicainsde Lyon", Lyons, 1898). A comprehensive account of thearchitectural work of the Dominicans inFrance may be found in the magnificent publication ofRohault de Fleury, "Gallia Dominicana, Les couvents de Saint-Dominique en France au moyen-âge" (Paris, 1903, 2 vols. in 4).Spain was also covered with remarkable monuments: St. Catherine of Barcelona and St. Thomas ofMadrid were destroyed by fire; S. Esteban at Salamanca, S. Pablo and S. Gregorio atValladolid, Santo Tomas atAvila, San Pablo at Seville and atCordova. S. Cruz atGranada,Santo Domingo at Valencia and Saragossa (Martinez-Vigil, "La ordende Predicadores", Barcelona, 1886).Portugal also had beautiful buildings. The church andconvent of Batalha are perhaps the most splendid ever dwelt in by the order (Murphy, "Plans, elevations, sections and views of the Church of Batalha", London, 1795; de Condeixa, "O mosteiro de Batalha em Portugal", Paris, 1892; Vascoucellos, "Batalha. Convento de Santa Maria da Victoria", Porto, 1905).Germany had beautiful churches andconvents, usually remarkable for their simplicity and the purity of their lines (Scherer, "Kirchen und Kloster der Franziskaner und Dominikaner in Thuringen", Jena, 1910; Schneider, "Die Kirchen der Dominikaner und Karmeliten" in "Mittelalterliche Ordensbauten in Mainz", Mainz, 1879; "Zur Wiederherstellung der Dominikanerkirche in Augsburg" in "Augsburger Postzeitung", 12 Nov., 1909; "Des Dominikanerkloster in Eisenach", Eisenach, 1857; Ingold, "Notice sur l'église et le couvent des Dominicainsde Colmar", Colmar, 1894; Burckhardt-Riggenbach, "Die Dominikaner Klosterkirche in Basel", Basle, 1855; Stammler, "Die ehemalige Predigerkirche in Bern und ihre Wandmalerein" in "Berner Kunstdenkmaler", III, Bern, 1908).
Whatever may be said to the contrary the Dominicans as well as othermendicant orders created a specialarchitectural art. They made use of art as they found it in the course of their history and adapted it to their needs. They adopted Gothic art and assisted in its diffusion, but they accepted the art of theRenaissance when it had supplanted the ancient forms. Their churches varied in dimensions and richness, according to the exigencies of the place. They built a number of churches with doublenaves and a larger number with open roofs. The distinct characteristic of their churches resulted from their sumptuary legislation which excluded decoratedarchitectural work, save in the choir. Hence the predominance of single lines in their buildings. This exclusivism, which often went as far as the suppression of capitals on the columns, gives great lightness and elegance to thenaves of their churches. While we lack direct information concerning most of the architects of these monuments, there is nodoubt that many of the men who supervised the construction of itschurches andconvents were members of the order and they even assisted in works of art outside of the order. Thus weknow that Brother Diemar built the Dominican church ofRatisbon (1273-77) (Sighart, "Gesch. d. bildenden Künste im Kgn. Bayern", Munich, 1862). Brother Volmar exercised his activity in Alsace about the same time and especially at Colmar (Ingold, op. cit.). Brother Humbert was the architect of the church andconvent of Bonn, as well as of the stone bridge across the Aar, in theMiddle Ages the most beautiful in the city (Howard, "Des Dominikaner-Kloster in Bern von 1269-1400", Bern, 1857). InItaly architects of the order are known to fame, especially atFlorence, where they erected the church andcloisters of S. Maria Novella, which epitomize the whole history of Florentine art (Davidsohn, "Forschungen zur Gesch. von Florenz",Berlin, 1898, 466; Marchese, "Memorie dei più insigni pittori, scultori e architetti domenicani", Bologna, 1878, I). At first the order endeavoured to banishsculpture from itschurches, but eventually accepted it and set the example by the construction of the beautifultomb of St. Dominic at Bologna, and ofSt. Peter of Verona at the Church of St. Eustorgius atMilan. A Dominican, William ofPisa, worked on the former (Berthier, "Le tombeau de St. Dominique", Paris, 1895; Beltrani, "La cappella di S. Pietro Martire presso la Basilica di Sant Eustorgio in Milano" in "Archivio storico dell' arte", V, 1892). Brother Paschal ofRome executed interesting sculptural works, e.g. his sphinx ofViterbo, signed and dated (1286), and the paschal candlestick of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin,Rome ("Römische Quartalschrift", 1893, 29).
There were many miniaturists andpainters among the Preachers. As early as the thirteenth century Hugh Ripelin ofStrasburg (d. 1268) was renowned as apainter (Mon. Germ. Hist.: SS., XVII, 233). But the lengthy list is dominated by two masters who overshadow the others,Fra Angelico andFra Bartolommeo. The work of Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole (d. 1455) is regarded as the highest embodiment ofChristian inspiration in art (Marchese, "Memorie", I, 245; Tumiàti, "Frate Angelico",Florence, 1897; Supino "Beato Angelico",Florence, 1898; Langton Douglas, "Fra Angelico", London, 1900; Wurm, "Meister und Schülerarbeit in Fra Angelicos Werk",Strasburg, 1907; Cochin, "Le Bienheureux Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole", Paris, 1906; Schottmuller, "Fra Angelico da Fiesole", Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1911 (Fr. ed., Paris, 1911).Fra Bartolommeo belongs to the golden age of theItalianRenaissance. He is one of the great masters of drawing. His art is scholarly, noble and simple and imbued with a tranquil and restrainedpiety (Marchese, "Memorie", II, 1; Franz, "Fra Bartolommeo della Porta", Ratisbon, 1879; Gruyer, "Fra Bartolommeo della Porta et Mariotto Albertinelli", Paris-London, s. d.; Knapp, "Fra Bartolommeo della Porta und die Schule von San Marco", Halle, 1903). The order also produced remarkablepainters on glass: James of Ulm (d. 1491), who worked chiefly at Bologna and William of Marcillat (d. 1529), who in the opinion of his first biographer was perhaps the greatestpainter on glass who ever lived (Marchese, "Memorie", II; Mancini, "Guglielmo de Marcillat francese insuperato pittore sul vetro", Florence, 1909). As early as the fourteenth century Dominican churches andconvents began to be covered with mural decorations. Some of these edifices became famous sanctuaries of art, such as S. Maria Novella and S. Marco of Florence. But the phenomenon was general at the end of the fifteenth century, and thus the order received some of the works of the greatest artists, as for instance the "Last Supper" ofLeonardo da Vinci (1497-98) in the refectory of S. Maria delle Grazie atMilan (Bossi, "Del cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci",Milan, 1910; Sant' Ambrogio, "Note epigrafiche ed artistiche intorno alla sale del Cenacolo ed al tempio di Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milano" in "Archivio Storico Lombardo", 1892).
The Preachers exercised a marked influence onpainting. The order infused itsapostolic zeal andtheological learning into the objects of art under its control, thus creating what may be calledtheologicalpainting. The decoration of the Campo Santo ofPisa,Orcagna's frescoes in the Strozzichapel and theSpanishchapel at S. Maria Novella,Florence, have long been famous (Michel, "Hist. de l'art depuis les premiers temps chrétiens jusqu'à nos jours", Paris, II, 1908; Hettner, "Die Dominikaner in der Kunstgesch. des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts" in "Italienische Studien zur Gesch. der Renaissance",Brunswick, 1879, 99; "Renaissance und Dominikaner Kunst" in "Hist.-polit. Blatter", LXXXXIII, 1884; Perate, "Un Triomphe de la Mort de Pietro Lorenzetti", Paris, 1902; Bacciochi, "Il chiostro verde e la cappella degli Spagnuoli", Florence; Endres, "Die Verherrlichung des Dominikanerordens in der Spanischen Kapelle an S. Maria Novella zu Florenz" in "Zeitschr. f. Christliche Kunst", 1909, p. 323). To the same causes were due the numerous triumphs ofSt. Thomas Aquinas (Hettner, op. cit.; Berthier, "Le triomphe de Saint Thomas dans la chapelle des Espagnols à Florence", Fribourg, 1897; Ucelli, "Dell' iconografia di s. Tommaso d'Aquino", Naples, 1867). The influence ofSavonarola on the artists and the art of his time was profound (Gruyer, "Les illustrations des écrits de Jérôme Savonarole et les paroles de Savonarole sur l'art", Paris, 1879; Lafenestre, "Saint François d' Assise et Savonarole inspirateurs de l'art Italien", Paris, 1911). The Dominicans also frequently furnished libretti, i.e. dogmatic or symbolic themes for works of art. They also opened up an important source of information to art with theirsanctoriaux and their popularizing writings. Artistic works such as the dances of death and sybils allied with theprophets are greatly indebted to them (Neale, "L'art religieux du XIIIe siècle", Paris, 1910; Idem, "L'art religieux de la fin du moyen-âge en France", Paris, 1910). Even the mystical life of the order, in its way, exercised an influence on contemporary art (Peltzer, "Deutsche Mystik und deutsche Kunst", Strassburg, 1899; Hintze, "Der Einfluss des mystiken auf die ältere Kölner Malerschule", Breslau, 1901). Itssaints and its confraternities, especially that of theRosary, inspired many artists (Neuwbarn, "Die Verherrlichung des hl. Dominicus in der Kunst", 1906).
(h) The Preachers and the Roman Church
The Order of Preachers is the work of theRoman Church. She found in St. Dominic an instrument of the first rank. But it was she who inspired the establishment of the order, who loaded it with privileges, directed its general activity, and protected it against its adversaries. FromHonorius III (1216) till the death ofHonorius IV (1287) thepapacy was most favourable to the Preachers.Innocent IV's change of attitude at the end of his pontificate (10 May, 1254), caused by the recriminations of theclergy and perhaps also by the adhesion of Arnold ofTrier toFrederick II's projects of anti-ecclesiastical reform, was speedily repaired byAlexander IV [22 Dec., 1254; ("Chart Univ. Paris", I, 263, 276;Winckelmann, "Fratris Arnoldi Ord. Præd. De correctione Ecclesiae Epistola", 1863; "Script. Ord. Praed.", II, 821 b)]. But as a general thing during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries thepopes remained much attached to the order, displaying great confidence in it, as is made manifest by the "Bullarium" of the Preachers. No otherreligious order, it would seem, ever received eulogies from thepapacy like those addressed to it byAlexander IV, 23 May, 1257 (Potthast, op cit., 16,847). The order co-operated with theChurch in every way, thepopes finding in its ranks assistants who were both competent and devoted. Beyonddoubt through its own activity, its preaching and in instruction, it was already a powerful agent of thepapacy; nevertheless thepopes requested of it a universal co-operation.Matthew Paris states in 1250: "The Friars Preachers, impelled by obedience, are the fiscal agents, thenuncios and even thelegates of thepope. They are the faithful collectors of the pontifical money by their preaching and theircrusades and when they have finished they begin again. They assist the infirm, the dying, and those who make their wills. Diligent negotiators, armed with powers of every kind, they turn all to the profit of thepope" (Matthew Paris, "Hist. Angl.", III, 317, in "Rer. Brit. Med. Æv. Script."). But the commissions of theChurch to the Preachers far exceeded those enumerated byMatthew Paris, and among the weightiest must be mentioned the visitation ofmonasteries anddioceses, the administration of a large number ofconvents ofnuns and the inquisitorial office. The order attempted to withdraw from its multifarious occupations, which distracted it from its chief end.Gregory IX partially yielded to their demands (25 Oct., 1239; cf. Potthast, op; cit., 10,804), but the order never succeeded in wholly winning its cause (Fontana, "Sacrum Theatrum Dominicanum" pt. II, De S. R. Ecclesiae Officialibus, Rome, 1666; "Bull. Ord. Præd.", I-II,passim; Potthast, "Regest. Pont. Rom.", Papal Register of the XIII cent. in "Bib. des Ecoles Françaises d'Athènes et deRome").
The Dominicans gave to theChurch many noted personages: among them during theMiddle Ages were twopopes,Innocent V (1276) andBenedict XI [1303-4; (Mothon, "Vie du B. Innocent V", Rome, 1896; Fietta, "Nicolò Boccasino di Trevigi e il suo tempo",Padua, 1875; Funk, "Papst Benedikt XI", Münster, 1891; Grandjean; "Benoît XI avant son pontificat" (1240-1303) in "Mélanges archiv.-Hist. de L'école françaisede Rome", VIII, 219; Idem, "Recherches sur l'administration financière du pape Benoît XI", loc. cit., III, 1883, 47; Idem, "La date de la mort de Benoît XI", loc. cit. XIV, 1894, 241; Idem, "Registre de Benoît XI", Paris, 1885)].
There were twenty-eight Dominicancardinals during the first three centuries of the order's existence. Some of them were noted for exceptional services to thepapacy. The earliest of them,Hugh of Saint Cher, had the delicate mission of persuadingGermany to accept William ofHolland after the deposition ofFrederick II (Sassen, "Hugh von St. Cher em Seine Tätigkeit als Kardinal, 1244-1263", Bonn, 1908). Cardinal Latino Malabranca is famous for his legations and his pacification of Florence (1280; Davidsohn, "Gesch. von Florenz", II,Berlin, 1908, p. 152; Idem, "Forsch. zur Gesch von Florenz", IV, 1908, p. 226). Nicholas Albertini ofPrato (1305-21) also undertook the pacification of Florence (1304; Bandini, "Vita del Cardinale Nicolo da Prato",Leghorn, 1757; Fineschi, "Supplemento alla vista del Cardinale Nicolò da Prato",Lucca, 1758; Perrens, "Hist. de Florence", Paris, III, 1877, 87). Cardinal Giovanni Dominici (1408-19) was the staunchest defender of the legitimatepope,Gregory XII, at the end of the Great Schism; and in the name of his master resigned is thepapacy at theCouncil of Constance (Rossler, "Cardinal Johannes Dominici, O.Pr., 1357-1419", Freiburg, 1893; Mandonnet, "Beiträge zur. Gesch. des Kardinals Giovanni Dominici" in "Hist. Jahrbuch.", 1900; Hollerbach, "Die Gregorianische le Partei, Sigismund und das Konstanzer Konzil" in. "Römische Quartalschrift", XXIII-XXIV, 1909-10). Cardinal John de Torquemada (Turrecremata, 1439-68), an eminenttheologian, was one of the strongest defenders of the pontificalrights at the time of the Council of Basle (Lederer, "Johann von Torquemada sein Leben und seine Schriften", Freiburg, 1879; Hefele, "Conciliengesch.", VIII)
Many important officials were furnished to theChurch: Masters of the Sacred Palace (Catalamus, "De magistro sacri palatii apostolici"Rome, 1751); pontifical penitentiaries (Fontana, "Sacr. Theatr Dominic", 470; 631, "Bull. O. P.", VIII, 766, Poenitentiarii; Goller, "Die päpstliche Ponitentiarii vor ihrem Ursprung bis zu ihrer Umgestaltung unter Pius VII", Rome, 1907-11); and especially pontifical inquisitors. The defense of the Faith and the repression ofheresy is essentially an apostolic and pontifical work. The Preachers also furnished many delegate judges holding their powers either from thebishops or from thepope, but the order as such had no mission properly so called, and the legislation for the repression ofheresy was in particular absolutely foreign to it. The extreme dangers run by theChurch at the beginning of the thirteenth century owing to the progress of theAlbigensians andCathari impelled thepapacy to labour for their repression. It first urged thebishops to act, and the establishment of synodal witnesses was destined to make their mission more effective, but the insufficiency of their arrangement inducedGregory IX to advise thebishops to make use of the Preachers and finally doubtless owing to the lack ofzeal displayed by manybishops, to create inquisitorial judges by pontifical delegation. The Preachers were not chosende jure butde facto and successively in the various provinces of the order. Thepope usually charged the Dominicanprovincials with thenomination of inquisitorial officers whosejurisdiction ordinarily coincided with the territory of the Dominican province. In their office the inquisitors were removed from the authority of their order and dependent only on theHoly See. The first pontifical inquisitors were invariably chosen from the Order of Preachers, the reason being the scarcity ofeducated andzealousclerics. The Preachers, being vowed to study and preaching, were alone prepared for a ministry, which required both learning andcourage. The order received this like many other pontifical commissions, only with regret. The master general,Humbert of Romans declared that thefriars should flee all odious offices and especially theInquisition (Opera, ed. Berthier, II, 36)
The same solicitude to remove the order from the odium of the inquisitorial office impelled the provincial chapter ofCahors (1244) to forbid that anything should accrue to thefriars from the administration of theInquisition, that the order might not beslandered. The provincial chapter ofBordeaux (1257) even forbade the religious to eat with the inquisitors in places where the order had aconvent (Douais, "Les Frères Prêcheurs en Gascogne", Paris-Auch, 1885, p. 64). In countries whereheresy was powerful, for instance in the south ofFrance and the north ofItaly, the order had much to endure, pillage, temporary expulsion, and assassination of the inquisitors. After the putting to death of the inquisitors at Avignonet (28 May, 1242) and the assassination ofSt. Peter of Verona (29 April, 1242) ("Vitae fratrum", ed. Reichart, 231; Perein, "Monumenta Conventus Tolosani",Toulouse, 1693, II, 198, Acta SS., 29 April) the order, whose administration had much to suffer from thiswar againstheresy, immediately requested to be relieved of the inquisitorial office.Innocent IV refused (10 April, 1243; Potthast, 11,083), and the following year thebishops of the south ofFrance petitioned thepope that he would retain the Preachers in theInquisition ("Hist. gén. du Languedoc", III, ed. in folio,proof CCLIX, Vol. CCCCXLVI). Nevertheless theHoly See understood the desire of the Preachers; several provinces ofChristendom ceased to be administered by them and were confided to theFriars Minor viz., thePontifical States, Apulia,Tuscany, the March of Trevisa and Slavonia, and finally Provence (Potthast, 11,993, 15,330, 15,409, 15,410, 18,895, 20,169; Tanon, "Hist. des tribunaux de l'Inquisition enFrance"Paris, 1893; Idem, "Documents pour servir a l'hist. de l'Inquisition dans le Languedoc", Paris, 1900; Vacandard, "L'Inquisition", Paris, 1907; Lea, "Hist. of theInquisition in theMiddle Ages" New York-London, 1888, French tr., Paris, 1900; Frédéricq, "Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis hæreticæ pravitatis Neerlandicæ",Ghent, 1900; Amabile, "Il santo officio della Inquizione in Napoli" Città di Castello, 1892; Canzons, "Hist. de l'Inquisition en France", Paris, 1909; Jordan, "La responsabilité de l'Église dans la répression de l'hérésie au moyen-âge" in "Annales de Philosophie chrét.", CLIV, 1907, p. 225). The suppression ofheresy which had been especially active in certain more affected parts ofChristendom, diminished notably in the second half of the thirteenth century. The particular conditions prevailing inSpain brought about the reestablishment of theInquisition with newduties for the inquisitor general. These were exercised from 1483 to 1498 by Thomas of Torquemada, who reorganized the whole scheme of suppression, and by Diego de Deza from 1498 to 1507. These were the first and last Dominican inquisitors general inSpain (Lea, "Hist. of the Inquisition of Spain", New York, 1906, Cotarelo y Valledor, "Fray Diego de Deza", Madrid, 1905).
(i) The Friars Preachers and the Secular Clergy
The Preachers, who had been constituted from the beginning as an order ofclerics vowed toecclesiasticalduties with a view to supplementing the insufficiency of thesecular clergy, were universally accepted by the episcopate, which was unable to provide for the pastoral care of the faithful and the instruction ofclerics. It was usually thebishops who summoned the Preachers to theirdioceses. The conflicts which broke out here and there during the thirteenth century were not generally due to thebishops but to theparochialclergy who considered themselves injured in their temporalrights because of the devotion and generosity of the faithful towards the order. As a general thing compromises were reached between theconvents and theparishes in which they were situated and peaceful results followed. The two great contests between the order and thesecular clergy broke out inFrance during the thirteenth century. The first took place at theUniversity of Paris, led by William of Saint-Amour (1252-59), and was complicated by a scholastic question. The episcopate had no share in this, and the church supported with all its strength therights and privileges of the order, which emerged victorious (Mandonnet, "Siger de Brabant", I, 70, 90; Perrod, "Etude sur la vie et les œuvres de Guillaume de Saint-Amour" in "Mémoires de la société d'émulation de Jura", Lons-le-Saunier, 1902, p. 61; Seppelt, "Der Kampf der Bettelorden an der UniversitätParis in der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts" in "Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen",Breslau, III, 1905; VII, 1909). The strife broke out anew in the north ofFrance after the privilege ofMartin IV, "Ad fructus uberes" (13 Dec., 1281), and lasted until the Council ofParis in 1290. It was to a large extent conducted by Guillaume de Flavacourt,Bishop ofAmiens, but in this instance also the two greatmendicant orders triumphed over their adversaries, thanks to the energetic assistance of twocardinallegates (Denifle-Chatelain, "Chart. Univ.Paris" I,passim; Finke, "Des Pariser National Konzil 1290" in "Römische Quartalschrift", 1895, p. 171; Paulus, "Welt und Ordensclerus beim Ausgange des XIII. Jahrhunderts in Kampfe um die Pfarr-Rechte", Essen-Ruhr, 1900).
The order gave many of its members to the episcopate, but endeavoured to prevent this. Sts. Dominic andFrancis seem to have disapproved of the accession of their religious toecclesiastical dignities ("Speculum perfectionis", ed. Sabatier, Paris, 1898, p. 75;Thomas of Celano, "Legenda secunda S. Francisci", III, lxxxvi). Jordanus of Saxony the immediate successor of St. Dominic, forbade all acceptance of election orpostulation to the episcopate, under pain ofexcommunication, without special permission of thepope, the general chapter, and the master general ("Acta Cap. Gen.", ed. Reichert, 4). During his administration he resisted with all his strength and declared that he would rather see a friar buried than raised to the episcopate ("Vitæ Fratrum", ed. Reichert, 141, 143, 209). Everyone knows the eloquent letter whichHumbert of Romans wrote toAlbertus Magnus to dissuade him from accepting thenomination to theSee of Ratisbon (1260; Peter ofPrussia, "Vita B. Alberti Magni",Antwerp, 1621; p. 253). But all this opposition could not prevent thenomination of a great many to highecclesiastical dignities. The worth of many religious made them so prominent that it was impossible that they should not be suggested for the episcopate. Princes and nobles who had sons or kinsmen in the order often laboured for this result with interested motives, but theHoly See especially saw in the accession of Dominicans to the episcopate the means of infusing it with new blood. From the accession ofGregory IX the appointment of Dominicans todioceses andarchdioceses became an ordinary thing. Hence until the end of the fifteenth century about fifteen hundred Preachers were either appointed or translated todioceses orarchdioceses, among them men remarkable for their learning, their competent administration, theirzeal forsouls, and theholiness of their lives. (Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica", I-II; "Bull Ord. Præd.", I-IV; "Script. Ord. Præd.", I, p. xxi; Cavalieri, "Galleria de' sommi Pontefici, Patriarchi, Areivescovi, e Vescovi dell' ordine de' Predicatori",Benevento, 1696; Vigna, "I vescovi domenicani Liguri ovvero in Liguria",Genoa, 1887.)
(j) The Preachers and Civil Society
During theMiddle Ages the Preachers influenced princes and communities. Princes found them to be prudent advisers, expert ambassadors, and enlightened confessors. The French monarchy was much attached to them. As early as 1226 Jordanus of Saxony was able to write, in speaking of Blanche of Castile "The queen tenderly loves thefriars and she has spoken with me personally and familiarly about her affairs" (Bayonne, "Lettres du B. Jourdain de Saxe" Paris-Lyons 1865, p. 66). No prince was more devoted to the order than St. Louis, nor did any grant it more favours. The French monarchy sought most of its confessors during theMiddle Ages from the Order of Preachers (Chapotin, "A travers l'histoire dominicaine: "Les princes français du Moyen Age et l'ordre de Saint Dominique", Paris, 1903, p. 207; Idem, "Etudes historiques sur la province dominicainede France", Paris, 1890, p. 128). It was the entrance of Humbert II, Dauphin ofVienna, into the order, which gained Dauphiny forFrance (Guiffrey, "Hist. de la réunion du Dauphiné à laFrance"Paris, 1878). The Dukes ofBurgundy also sought their confessors from the order (Chapotin, op. cit. 190). The kings ofEngland did likewise and frequently employed its members in their service. (Palmer, "The Kings's Confessors" in "The Antiquary", London, 1890, p. 114; Tarett, "Friars Confessors of the English Kings" in "The Home Counties Magazine", XII, 1910, p. 100). Several German emperors were much attached to the order nevertheless the Preachers did not hesitate to enter into conflict withFrederick II and Louis ofBavaria when these princes broke with theChurch (Opladen, "Die Stellung der deutschen Könige zu den Orden im dreizethnten Jahrhundert" Bonn, 1908; Paulus, "Thomas von Strassburg und Rudolph von Sachsen. Ihre Stellung zum Interdikt" in "Hist. Jahrbuch.", XIII, 1892, 1; "Neues Archiv. der Geschellschaft für altere deutsche Geschictskunde", XXX, 1905, 447). The kings ofCastile andSpain invariably chose their confessors from among the Preachers ("Catalogo de los religiosos Dominicos qui hen servido e a los Señores de Castilla, de Aragon, y de Andalucia, en el empleo de sus Confessores de Estado", Madrid, 1700). The kings ofPortugal likewise sought their directors from the same source (de Sousa, "Historia de S. Domingos particulor de Reino, e conquistas dePortugal"Lisbon, 1767; Grégoire, "Hist. des confesseurs les empereurs, des rois et d'autres princes", Paris, 1824).
The first to be established in the centres of cities, the Dominicans exercised a profound influence on municipal life, especially inItaly. A witness at thecanonization of St. Dominic in 1233 expresses the matter when he says that nearly all the cities ofLombardy and the Marches placed their affairs and theirstatutes in the hands of the Preachers, that they might arrange and alter them to their taste and as seemed to them fitting. The same wastrue of the extirpation ofwars, the restoration of peace, restitution forusury, hearing of confessions and a multitude of benefits which would be too long to enumerate ("Annales Ord. Præd.", Rome, 1756, append., col. 128). About this time the celebrated John ofVicenza exercised powerful influence in the north ofItaly and was himself podestà ofVerona (Sutter, "Johann von Vicenza und die italienisehe Friedensbewegung im Jahre 1233", Freiburg, 1891; Ital. tr.,Vicenza, 1900; Vitali, "I Domenicani nella vita italiana del secolo XIII",Milan, 1902; Hefele, "Die Bettelorden und das religiöse Volksleben Ober-und Mittelitaliensim XIII. Jahrhundert", Leipzig-Berlin, 1910). Anidea of the penetration of the order into all social classes may be formed from the declaration of Pierre Dubois in 1300 that the Preachers and the Minorsknew better than anyone else the condition of the world and of all social classes ("De recuperatione Terre Sancte", ed. Langlois, Paris, 1891, pp. 51, 74, 84). The part played byCatherine of Siena in the pacification of the towns of CentralItaly and the return of thepapacy fromAvignon toRome is well known. "She was the greatest figure of the second half of the fourteenth century, an Italian, not only asaint, a mystic, amiracle-worker, but a statesman, and a great statesman, who solved for the welfare ofItaly and allChristendom the most difficult and tragic question of her time" (Gebhart "Une sainte homme d'état, Ste Catherine de Sienne"; in "Revue Hebdomadaire", 16 March, 1907, 257). It was the DominicanBishop ofGeneva Adémar de la Roche, who granted that town its liberties and franchise in 1387 (Mallet, "Libertés, franchises, immunités, et coutumes de la ville de Genève promulgés par évêque Adémar Fabri le 23 Mai, 1387" in "Mémoires et documents de la société d'histoire et d'archéologie de Genève",Geneva, II, 1843, p. 270). Finally reference must be made to the profound influence exercised byGirolamo Savonarola (1498) on the political life of Florence during the last years of the fifteenth century (Vilari, "La Storia di Girolamo Savonarola e dé suoi tempi",Florence, 1887; Luotto, "Il vero Savonarola", Florence, 1897).
(k) The Preachers and the Faithful
During the thirteenth century thefaithful were almost without pastoral care and preaching. The coming of the Preachers was an innovation which won over the people eager for religious instruction. What a chronicler relates ofThuringia was the case almost everywhere: "Before the arrival of the Friars Preachers the word ofGod was rare and precious and very rarely preached to the people. The Friars Preachers preached alone in every section ofThuringia and in the town of Erfurt and no one hindered them" (Koch, "Graf Elger von Holmstein", Gotha, 1865, pp. 70, 72). About 1267 theBishop ofAmiens, Guillaume de Flavacourt, in thewar againstheresy already mentioned, declared that the people refused to hear the word ofGod from any save the Preachers and Minors (Bibl. de Grenoble,manuscript 639, fol. 119). The Preachers exercised a special influence over the piously inclined of both sexes among the masses, so numerous in theMiddle Ages, and they induced to penance and continence a great many people living in the world, who were commonly calledBeguins, and who lived either alone or in more or less populous communities. Despite the order's attraction for this devout, half-lay, half-religious world, the Preachers refused to take it under theirjurisdiction in order not to hamper their chief activity nor distort theirecclesiastical ideal by too close contact with laypiety. The General Chapters of 1228 and 1229 forbade the religious to give the habit to anywoman or to receive her profession, or to givespiritual direction to any community ofwomen not strictly subject to some authority other than that of the order ("Archiv. f. Litt. a Kirchengesch.", I, 27;Bayonne, "Lettres du B. Jourdain de Saxe", 110). But the force of circumstances prevailed, and, despite everything, these clients furnished the chief elements of the Penitential Order of St. Dominic, who received their own rule in 1285, and of whom more has been said above (Mosheim, "De Beghardis et Beguiniabus", Leipzig, 1720; Le Grand Les Béguinesde Paris", 1893; Nimal, "Les Beguinages", Nivelles, 1908). The Order especially encouraged congregations of the Blessed Virgin and thesaints, which developed greatly, especially inItaly. Many of them had their headquarters inconvents of the Preachers, who administered them spiritually. After the Penitential movement of 1260 confraternities were formed commonly calledDisciplinati, Battuti, etc. Many of them originated in Dominican churches (there is no general historical work on this subject). In 1274, during the Council of Lyons,Gregory X confided to the Dominicans the preaching of the Holy Name of Jesus, whence arose confraternities of that name (Bull. Ord. Præd., VIII, 524). Finally the second half of the fifteenth century saw the rapid development ofconfraternities of the Holy Rosary under the influence of the Preachers ("Acta Sanctae Sedis nec non magistrorum et capitulorum generalium sacri ordinis Prædicatorum pro Societate SS. Rosarii", Lyons, 1890). With the object of developing thepiety of the faithful the Preachers allowed them to be buried in the habit of the order (Cantimpratanus, "De bono universali apum", lib. II, viii, n. 8). From the time of Jordanus of Saxony they issued letters of participation in the spiritual goods of the order. The same general established atParis the custom of the evening sermon(collatio) for the students of the University, in order to turn them aside from dissipation, which custom passed to all the otheruniversities ("Vita fratrum", ed. Reichert, 327).
(l) The Preachers and the Foreign Missions
During theMiddle Ages the Order of Preachers exercised considerable activity within the boundaries ofChristendom and far beyond. The evangelization ofheathen countries was confided to the nearest Dominican provinces. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the missions ofAsia became a special group, the congregation of Friars Pilgrims for Christ. Some of the remote provinces, especially those ofGreece and the Holy Land, were recruited from volunteers throughout the order. Besides the work of evangelization the religious frequently assumed the mission of ambassador or agent toschismatic orpagan princes, and Friars Preachers frequently occupiedseesin partibus infidelium. A number of them, faithful to the order'sdoctrinal vocation, composed works of all kinds to assist their apostolate to defend theChristian Faith, to inform theRoman Church or Latin princes concerning the condition of the East, and to indicate measures to be taken against the dangers threateningChristianity. Finally they frequently shed their blood in these inhospitable and unfruitful countries. The province ofSpain laboured for the conversion of theArabs of the Peninsula, and in 1256Humbert of Romans described the satisfactory results (H. de Romanis, "Opera", ed. Berthier, II, 502). In 1225 the firstSpanish Dominicans evangelizedMorocco and the head of the mission, Brother Dominic, wasconsecrated in that year firstBishop ofMorocco (Analecta Ord. Præd., III, 374 sqq.). Some years later they were already established atTunis ["Mon. Ord. Præd.: Hist.", IV (Barmusidiana) fasc. II, 29]. In 1256 and the ensuing yearsAlexander IV, at the instance of St. Raymond of Pennafort, gave a vigorous impulse to this mission (Potthast, 16,438; 17,187; 17,929).
In the north ofEurope the province ofEngland or that of Dacia carried its establishments as far as Greenland (Telié, "L'évangelization de l'Amérique avant Christophe Colomb" in "Compte rendu du congrès scient. intern. des Catholiques", 1891, sect. hist., 1721). As early as 1233 the province ofGermany promoted thecrusade against thePrussians and thehereticalStedingers, and brought them to the Faith (Schomberg, "Die Dominikaner im Erzbistum Bremen",Brunswick, 1910, 14; "Bull. Ord. Præd.", I, 61; H. de Romanis, "Opera", II, 502). The province ofPoland, founded bySt. Hyacinth (1221), extended its apostolate by means of this saint as far as Kieff and Dantizig. In 1246 Brother Alexis resided at the Court of the Duke ofRussia, and in 1258 the Preachers evangelized theRuthenians (Abraham, "Powstanie organizacyi Kosicio lacinskiego na Rusi",Lemberg, 1904; Rainaldi, "Annal. eccl.", ad ann. 1246, n. 30; Potthast, 17,186; Baracz, "Rys dziejó Zakonn Kaznodzie jskiego w Polsce" Lemberg, 1861; Comtesse de Flavigny, "Saint Hyacinthe et ses compagnons", Paris, 1899). The province ofHungary, founded in 1221 by Bl. Paul ofHungary, evangelized the Cumans and the people of the Balkans. As early as 1235-37 Brother Richard and his companions set out in quest of GreaterHungary — the Hungarianpagans still dwelling on the Volga ("Vitæ Fratrum", ed. Reichert, 305; "De inventa Hungaria Magna tempore Gregorii IX", ed. Endlicher, in "Rerum Hungaricarum Monumenta", 248; Ferrarius, "De rebus Hungaricæ Provinciæ S. Ord. Præd.", Vienna, 1637).
The province of Greece, founded in 1228, occupied those territories of the empire of the East which had been conquered by the Latins, its chief centre of activity being Constantinople. Here also the Preachers laboured for the return of the schismatics toecclesiastical unity ("Script. Ord. Præd.", I, pp. i, xii, 102, 136, 156, 911; Potthast, 3198; "Vitæ fratrum", 1218). The province of the Holy Land established in 1228, occupied all the Latin conquest of the Holy Land besides Nicosia and Tripoli. Its houses on the Continent were destroyed one after the other with the defeat of theChristians, and at the beginning of the fourteenth century the province was reduced to the threeconvents on theIsland of Cyprus ("Script. Ord. Præd.", I, pp. i, xii; Balme, "La Province dominicaine de Terre-Sainte de 1277 à 1280" in "Archives de l'Orient Latin"; Idem, "Les franciscains et les dominicains à Jérusalem au treizième et au quatorzième siècle", 1890, p. 324). The province of the Holy Land was the starting point for the evangelization ofAsia during the thirteenth century. As early as 1237 theprovincial, Philip, reported toGregory IX extraordinary results obtained by the religious; the evangelization reachedJacobites andNestorians,Maronites andSaracens (Script. Ord. Præd., I, 104). About the same time the Friars established themselves inArmenia and in Georgia ("Bull. Ord. Præd.", I, 108, "Script. O P.", I, 122; H. de Romanis, "Opera" II, 502 Vinc. Bellovacensis, "Speculum historiale", l. b XXI, 42; Tamarati, "L'Église Géorgienne des origines jusqu'à nos jours", Rome, 1910, 430).
The missions ofAsia continued to develop through out the thirteenth century and part of the fourteenth and missionaries went as far as Bagdad andIndia [Mandonnet, "Fra Ricoldo de Monte Croce" in "Revue bib.", I, 1893; Balme, "Jourdain Cathala de Sévérae, Evêque de Coulain" (Quilon), Lyons, 1886]. In 1312 the master general, Béranger de Landore, organized the missions ofAsia into a special congregation of "Friars Pilgrims", with Franco ofPerugia asvicar general. As a base of evangelization they had theconvent of Pera (Constantinople), Capha,Trebizond, and Negropont. Thence they branched out intoArmenia andPersia. In 1318John XXII appointed Franco ofPerugiaArchbishop of Sultanieh, with six other Dominicans as suffragans. During the first half of the fourteenth century the Preachers occupied many sees in the East. When the missions ofPersia were destroyed in 1349, the Preachers possessed fifteenmonasteries there, and the United Brethren (see below) elevenmonasteries. In 1358 the Congregation of Pilgrims still had twoconvents and eight residences. This movement brought about the foundation, in 1330, of the United Brethren ofSt. Gregory the Illuminator. It was the work of Bl. Bartolommeo Petit of Bologna,Bishop of Maragha, assisted by John of Kerni. It was formed byArmenian religious who adopted the Constitution of the Dominicans and were incorporated with the order after 1356. Thirty years after their foundation the United Brethren had inArmenia alone 50monasteries with 700 religious. This province still existed in the eighteenth century [Eubel, "Die während des 14. Jahrhunderts im Missionsgebiet der Dominikanel und Franziskaner errichteten Bistümer" in "Festchrift des deutschen Campo Santo in Rom", Freiburg i. Br., 1897, 170; Heyd, "Die Kolonien der römischen Kirche, welche die Dominikaner und Franziskaner im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert in dem von der Tataren beherrschten Ländern Asiens und Europas gregründet haben" in "Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie", 1858; Tournebize, "Hist. politique et religieuse de l'Arménie", Paris, s. d (1910) 320; André-Marie, "Missions dominicaines dans l'Extrême Orient",Lyons andParis, 1865 Mortier, "Hist. des maîtres généraux de l'ordre des Frères Prêcheurs", I, IV].
(m) The Preachers and Sanctity
It is characteristic of Dominicansanctity that itssaints attainedholiness in the apostolate, in the pursuit or promotion of learning, administration, foreign missions, thepapacy, thecardinalate, and the episcopate. Until the end of the fifteenth century the order in its three branches gave to theChurch ninecanonizedsaints and at least seventy-three blessed. Of the first order (the Preachers) are St. Dominic,St. Peter of Verona,martyr,St. Thomas Aquinas,St. Raymond of Pennafort, St. Vincent Ferrer,St. Antoninus of Florence. Among the Dominicansaints in general there is a predominance of theintellectual over the emotional qualities; their mystical life is more subjective than objective; and asceticism plays a strong part in theirholiness. Meditation on thesufferings of Christ and Hislove was common among them. Mystic states, with the phenomena which accompany them, were ordinary, especially inconvents ofwomen in German countries. Many received thestigmata in various forms.St. Thomas Aquinas andMeister Eckhart were, from different standpoints, the greatestmedieval theorists concerning the mystical state (Giffre de Rechac, "Les vies et actions mémorables des saints canonisés de l'ordre des Frères Prêcheurs et de plusieurs bienheureux et illustres personnages du même ordre", Paris, 1647; Marchese, "Sagro diario domenicano", Naples, 1668, 6 vols. in fol.; Manoel deLima, "Agiologio dominico",Lisbon, 1709-54, 4 vols. in fol.; "Année dominicaine", Lyons, 1883-1909, 12 vols. in 4; Imbert-Gourbeyre, "La Stigmatisation",Clermont-Ferrand, 1894; Thomas de Vallgormera, "Mystica theologia D. Thomae",Barcelona, 1662; Turin, 1911, re-ed. Berthier).
The modern period consists of the three centuries between thereligious revolution at the beginning of the sixteenth century (Protestantism) and theFrench Revolution with its consequences. The Order of Preachers, like theChurch itself, felt the shock of these destructive revolutions but its vitality enabled it to withstand them successfully. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the order was on the way to a genuine renaissance when theRevolutionary upheavals occurred. The progress ofheresy cost it six or seven provinces and several hundreds ofconvents, but the discovery of theNew World opened up a fresh field of activity. Its gains in America and those which arose as a consequence of thePortuguese conquests inAfrica and the Indies far exceeded the losses of the order inEurope, and the seventeenth century saw its highest numerical development. The sixteenth century was a greatdoctrinal century, and the movement lasted beyond the middle of the eighteenth. In modern times the order lost much of its influence on the political powers, which had universally fallen into absolutism and had little sympathy for the democratic constitution of the Preachers. The Bourbon Courts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were particularly unfavourable to them until thesuppression of the Society of Jesus. In the eighteenth century there were numerous attempts at reform which created, especially inFrance, geographical confusion in the administration. During the eighteenth century the tyrannical spirit of theEuropean Powers and, still more, the spirit of the age lessened the number of recruits and the fervour ofreligious life. TheFrench Revolution ruined the order inFrance, and the crises which more or less rapidly followed considerably lessened or wholly destroyed numerous provinces.
(a) Geographical Distribution and Statistics
The modern period saw a great change in the geographical distribution of provinces and the number of religious in the order. The establishment ofProtestantism in Anglo-Saxon countries brought about during the sixteenth century, the total or partial disappearance of certain provinces. The provinces ofSaxony, Dacia,England, andScotland completely disappeared, that of Teutonia was mutilated; that ofIreland sought refuge in various houses on the Continent. The discovery and evangelization of America opened up vast territories, where the first Dominican missionaries established themselves as early as 1510. The first province, with San Domingo and the neighbouring islands for its territory, was erected, under the name of the Holy Cross, in 1530. Others followed quickly — among them St. James of Mexico (1532), St. John Baptist ofPeru (1539), St. Vincent of Chiapa (1551),St. Antoninus ofNew Granada (1551), St. Catherine ofQuito (1580), St. Lawrence of Chile (1592). InEurope the order developed constantly from the middle of the sixteenth century till the middle of the eighteenth. New provinces or congregations were formed. Under the government of Serafino Cavalli (1571-78) the order had thirty-one provinces and five congregations. In 1720 it had forty-nine provinces and four congregations. At the former date there were about 900convents; at the latter, 1200. During Cavalli's time the order had 14,000 religious, and in 1720 more than 20,000. It seems to have reached its greatest numerical development during the seventeenth century. Mention is made of 30,000 and 40,000 Dominicans; perhaps these figures includenuns; it does not seem probable that the number of Preachers alone ever exceeded 25,000. The secularization inAustria-Hungary underJoseph II began the work of partial suppression ofconvents, which was continued inFrance by the Committee of Regulars (1770) until the Convention (1793) finally destroyed allreligious life in that country. TheNapoleonic conquest overthrew many provinces and houses inEurope. Most of them were eventually restored; but the Revolution destroyed partially or wholly the provinces ofPortugal (1834),Spain (1834), andItaly (1870). The political troubles brought about by the revolt of Latin America from the mother country at the beginning of the nineteenth century partially or wholly destroyed several provinces of theNew World ("Script. Ord. Præd.", II, p. I, "Analecta Ord. Præd.", I sqq.; "Dominicanus orbis descriptus"; Mortier, "Hist. des maîtres généraux", V sqq.; Chapotin, "Le dernier prieur du dernier couvent", Paris, 1893; Rais, "Historia de la provincia de Aragón, orden de Predicadores desde le año 1803 haste el de 1818",Saragossa, 1819; 1824).
(b) Administration of the Order
During the modern period the Preachers remained faithful to the spirit of their organization. Some modifications were necessitated by the general condition of theChurch and civilsociety. Especially noteworthy was the attempt, in 1569, ofSt. Pius V, the Dominicanpope, to restrict the choice of superiors by inferiors and to constitute a sort of administrative aristocracy (Acta Cap. Gener., V, 94). The frequent intervention ofpopes in the government of the order and the pretensions ofcivil powers, as well as its great development, diminished the frequency of general chapters; the rapid succession of masters general caused many chapters to be convened during the seventeenth century; in the eighteenth century chapters again became rare. The effective administration passed into the hands of the general assisted by pontifical decrees. During these three centuries the order had many heads who were remarkable for their energy and administrative ability, among them Thomas de Vio (1508-18), Garcia de Loaysa (1518-24), Vincent Giustiniani (1558-70), Nicolo Ridolfi (1629-44), Giovanni Battista de' Marini (1650-69), Antonin Cloche (1686-1720), Antonin Brémond (1748-55), John Thomas de Boxadors (Mortier, "Hist. des maîtres généraux", V sq.; "Acta cap. gen.", IV sq.; "Chronicon magistrorum generalium"; "Regula S. Augustini et Constitutiones Ord. Præd.", Rome, 1695; Paichelli, "Vita del Rmo P. F. Giov. Battista de' Marini", Rome, 1670; Messin, "Vita del Rmo P F. Antonino Cloche",Benevento, 1721; "Vita Antonini Bremondii" in "Annales Ord. Præd.", Rome, 1756, I, p. LIX).
(c) Scholastic Organization
The scholastic organization of the Dominicans during this modern period tended to concentration of studies. The conventualschool required by the Constitutions disappeared, at least in its essentials, and in each province or congregation the studies were grouped in particularconvents. Thestudia generalia multiplied, as well asconvents incorporated withuniversities. The General Chapter of 1551 designates 27convents inuniversity towns where, and where only, the religious might take the degree of Master in Theology. Through the generosity of Dominicans in highecclesiastical offices large colleges for highereducation were also established for the benefit of certain provinces. Among the most famous of these were the College of St. Gregory atValladolid, founded in 1488 by Alonzo ofBurgos, adviser and confessor of the kings ofCastile (Bull. O. P., IV, 38); that of St. Thomas atSeville, established in 1515 by Archbishop Diego de Deza ("Historia del colegio major de Ste Tomásde Sevilla", Seville, 1890). The Preachers also establisheduniversities in their chief provinces in America — San Domingo (1538), Santa Fé de Bogotá (1612),Quito (1681), Havana (1721) — and even in thePhilippines, where theUniversity ofManila (1645) is still flourishing and in their hands. During the sixteenth and following centuries the schedule of studies was more than once revised, and the matter extended to meet the needs of the times. Oriental studies especially received a vigorous impulse under the generalship of Antonin Brémond (Fabricy, "Des titres primitifs de la Révélation", Rome, 1772, II, 132; "Acta. Cap. Gen.", IV-VII; "Bull. O. P.",passim; V. de la Fuente, "La enseñanza Tomistica en España",Madrid, 1874; Contarini "Notizie storiche circa gli publici professori nello studio di Padova scelti dall' ordine di San Domenieo", Venice, 1769).
(d) Doctrinal Activity
Thedoctrinal activity of the Preachers continued during the modern period. The order, closely connected with the events of theReformation in German countries, faced the revolutionary movement as best it could, and by preaching and writing deserved what Dr. Paulus has said of it: "It may well be said that in the difficult conflict through which theCatholicChurch had to pass inGermany in the sixteenth century no otherreligious order furnished in the literary sphere so many champions, or so well equipped, as the Order of St. Dominic" ("Die deutschen Dominikaner in Kampfe gegen Luther, 1518-1563", Freiburg i. Br., 1903). The order was conspicuous by the number and influence of the Dominicanbishops andtheologians who took part in theCouncil of Trent. To a certain extentThomisticdoctrine predominated in the discussions and decisions of the council, so thatClement VII, in 1593, could say, when he desired theJesuits to followSt. Thomas, that the council approved and accepted his works (Astrain, "Historia de la Compañia de Jésus en la asistencia de España", III,Madrid, 1909, 580). The "Catechismus ad Parochos", the composition of which had been ordered by the council, and which was published at the command ofPius V (1566), is the work of Dominicantheologians (Reginaldus, "De catechismi romani auctoritate dissertatio", Naples, 1765). TheSpanish Dominican School of the sixteenth century, inaugurated by Francisco de Vitoria (d. 1540), produced a series of eminenttheologians: Melchior Cano (1560), the celebrated author of "De locis theologicis";Domingo Soto (1500); Bartolomé de Medina (1580);Domingo Bañez. This line oftheologians was continued by Tomás de Lemos (1629); Diego Alvarez (1635); Juan de S. Tomás (1644), ["Script. O.P.", II, s. vv.; P. Getino, "Historia de un convento" (St. Stephen of Salamanca), Vergara, 1904 Ehrle, "Die Vatikanischen Handschriften der Salamanticenser Theologen des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts" in "Der Katholik", 64-65, 1884-85; L. G. Getino, "El maestro Fr. Francisco de Vitoria" in "La Ciencia tomista",Madrid, I, 1910, 1;Caballero, "Vida del Illmo. dr. D. Fray Melchor Cano",Madrid, 1871; Alvarez, "Santa Teresa y el P. Bañez",Madrid, 1882].
Italy furnished a contingent of Dominicantheologians of note, of whomThomas de Vio Cajetan (d. 1534) was incontestably the most famous (Cossio, "II cardinale Gaetano e la riforma", Cividale, 1902). Franceseo Silvestro diFerrara (d. 1528) left a valuable commentary on the "Summa contra Gentiles" (Script. O. P., II, 59). Chrysostom Javelli, a dissenter from theThomistic School, left very remarkable writings on the moral and politicalsciences (op. cit., 104). Catharinus (1553) is a famous polemicist, but an unreliabletheologian (Schweizer, "Ambrosius Catharinus Politus, 1484-1553, ein Theologe des Reformations-zeitalters", Münster, 1910).France likewise produced excellenttheologians — Jean Nicolai (d. 1673);Vincent de Contenson (d. 1674); Antoine* Reginald (d. 1676);Jean-Baptiste Gonet (d. 1681); Antoine* Gondin (d. 1695); Antonin Manoulié (d. 1706);Noël Alexandre (Natalis Alexander) (d. 1724); Hyacinthe de Graveson (d. 1733); Hyacinthe Serry (d. 1738) ("Seript. O. P.", II;Hurter "Nomenelator", IV; H. Serry, "Opera omnia", I, Lyons, 1770, p. 5). From the sixteenth century to the eighteenth theThomistic School upheld by the authority of Dominican general chapters andtheologians, the official adhesion of newreligious orders and varioustheological faculties, but above all by theHoly See, enjoyed an increasing and undisputed authority.
The disputes concerningmoral theology which disturbed theChurch during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, originated in the theory of probability advanced by theSpanish Dominican Bartolomé de Medina in 1577. Severaltheologians of the order adopted, at the beginning of the seventeenth century the theory of moral probability; but in consideration of the abuses which resulted from these doctrines the General Chapter of 1656 condemned them, and after that time there were no more Probabilists among the Dominicans. The condemnations ofAlexander VII (1665, 1667), the famousDecree ofInnocent XI, and various acts of theRoman Church combined to make the Preachers resolute opponents ofProbabilism. The publication ofConcina's "Storia del probabilismo" in 1743 renewed the controversy. He displayed enormous activity, and his friend and disciple, Giovanni Vicenzo Patuzzi (d. 1769) defended him in a series of vigorous writings.St. Alphonsus Liguori felt the consequences of these disputes, and, in consideration of the position taken by theHoly See, greatly modified his theoretical system of probability and expressed his desire to adhere to thedoctrine ofSt. Thomas Aquinas (Mandonnet, "Le décret d'Innocent XI contre le probabilisme", in "Revue Thomiste" 1901-03; Ter Haar, "Des Decret des Papstes Innocenz XI über den Probabilismus",Paderborn, 1904;Concina, "Della storia del Probabilismo e del Rigorismo",Lucca, 1743; Mondius, "Studio storico-critico sul sistema morale di S. Alfonso M.de Liguori", Monza, 1911; Dölinger-Reuseh, "Gesch. der Moralstreitigkelten", Nordlingen, 1889).
(e) Scientific productions
The literary activity of the Preachers of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was not confined to thetheological movement noticed above, but shared in the general movement of erudition in thesacred sciences. Among the most noteworthy productions were the works of Pagnini (d. 1541) on the Hebrew text of Scripture; his lexicons and grammars were famous in their day and exercised a lasting influence (Script. O. P., II 114); Sixtus ofSiena (d. 1569), a convertedJew created thescience of introduction to the sacred Books with his "Bibliotheca Sancta" (Venice, 1566; op. cit., 206);Jacques Goar, liturgist andOrientalist published the "Euchologium sive rituale Græeorum" (Paris, 1647), a work which, according toRenaudot, was unsurpassed by anything in its time (Hurter, "Nomenclat. litt.", III, 1211). François Combefis (d. 1679) issued editions of theGreekFathers and writers (op. cit., IV, 161).Michel le Quien,Orientalist, produced a monumental work in his "Oriens Christianus". Vansleb (d. 1679) was twice sent byColbert to the Orient, whence he brought a large number ofmanuscripts for the Bibliothèque du Roi (Pougeois "Vansleb", Paris, 1869). Thomas Mammachi (d. 1792) left a large unfinished work, "Origines et Antiquitates Christianæ" (Rome, 1753-57).
In the historical field mention must be made ofBartholomew de Las Casas (d. 1566) who left a valuable "Historia de las Indias" (Madrid, 1875),Noël Alexandre (d. 1724) left anecclesiastical history which was long held in esteem [Paris, 1676-89; (Dict. de Théol. Cath., I, 769)].Joseph Augustin Orsi (d. 1761) wrote an "Historia eelesiastica" which was continued by his confrère Filippo Angelo Becchetti (d. 1814). The last edition (Rome, 1838) ; numbers 50 volumes (Kirchenlex., IX, 1087).Nicolas Coeffeteau was, according to Vaugelas, one of the two greatest masters of theFrench language at the beginning of the eighteenth century (Urbain, "Nicolas Coeffeteau, dominicain, évêque de Marseille, un des fondateurs de la prose française, 1574-1623", Paris, 1840).Thomas Campanella (d. 1639) won renown by his numerous writings onphilosophy and sociology as well as by the boldness of hisideas and his eventful life (Dict. de théol. Bath., II, 1443). Jacques Barelier (d. 1673) left one of the foremost botanical works of his time, which was edited byA. de Jussieu, "Icones plantarum per Galliam, Hispaniam et Italiam observatarum ad vivum exhibitarum" [Paris, 1714; (Script. O. P., II, 645)].
(f) The Preachers and Christian Society
During the modern period the order performed countless services for theChurch. Their importance may be gathered from the fact that during this period it gave to theChurch twopopes,St. Pius V (1566-72) andBenedict XIII (1724-30), fortycardinals, and more than a thousandbishops andarchbishops. From the foundation of theRoman Congregations in the sixteenth century a special place was reserved for the Preachers; thus the titulars of the Commissariat of the Holy Office and the secretary of the Index were always chosen from this order. The title of Consultor of the Holy Office also belonged by right to the master general and theMaster of the Sacred Palace (Gams,("Series episcoporum ecclesiae catholicae", Ratisbon, 1873; Falloux, "Histoire de Saint Pie V", Paris, 1858; Borgia, "Benedicti XIII vita", Rome, 1741; Catalano, "De secretario Indicis",Rome 1751). The influence of the Preachers on the political powers ofEurope was unequally exercised during this period: they remained confessors of the kings ofSpain until 1700; inFrance their credit decreased especially underLouis XIV, from whom they had much to suffer ("Catalogo de los religiosos dominicanos confessores de Estado, 1700"; Chapotin, "La guerre de succession de Poissy, 1660-1707", Paris, 1892).
(g) The Preachers and the Missions
The missions of the Preachers reached their greatest development during the modern period. They were fostered, on the one hand, by thePortuguese conquests inAfrica and the East Indies and, on the other, by the Spanish conquests in America and WesternAsia. As early as the end of the fifteenth century Portuguese Dominicans reached the West Coast of Africa and, accompanying the explorers, rounded the Cape of Good Hope to settle on the coast of East Africa. They founded temporary or permanent missions in the Portuguese African settlements and went in succession to the Indies,Ceylon,Siam, andMalacca. They madeGoa the centre of these missions which in 1548 were erected into a special mission of the Holy Cross, which had to suffer from the British conquest, but continued to flourish till the beginning of the nineteenth century. The order gave a great manybishops to these regions [João dos Santos, "Ethiopia oriental",Evora, 1609; re-editedLisbon, 1891; Cacegas-de Sousa, "Historia de S. Domingo partidor do reino e conquistas de Portugal",Lisbon, 1767 (Vol. IV by Lucas de Santa Catharina); André Marie, "Missions dominicaines dans l'extrême Orient", Lyons-Paris, 1865]. The discovery of America soon brought Dominican evangelization in the footsteps of theconquistadores, one of them Diego de Deza, was the constant defender ofChristopher Columbus, who declared (letter of 21 Dec. 1504) that it was to him the Sovereigns ofSpain owed the possession of the Indies (Mandonnet, "Les dominicains et la découverte de l'Amérique",Paris 1893). The first missionaries reached theNew World in 1510, and preaching was quickly extended throughout the conquered countries, where they organized the various provinces already mentioned and found inBartolomé de las Casas who took the habit of the order, their most powerful assistant in the defence of the Indians.
St. Louis Bertrand (d. 1581) was the great apostle ofNew Granada, andSt. Rose of Lima (d. 1617) the first flower ofsanctity in theNew World (Remesal "Historia de la provincia de S. Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala",Madrid, 1619;Dávila Padilla "Historia de la fundacion y discorso de la provincia de Santiago de Mexico",Madrid, 1592;Brussels 1625; Franco, "Segunda parte de la historia de provincia de Santiago de Mexico", 1645, Mexico re-ed. Mexico, 1900; Melendez, "Tesores verdadero de la Indias en la historia de la gran provincia de S Juan Bautista del Peru", Rome, 1681; Alonso d' Zamora, "Historia de la provincia de San Antonio del nuevo reyno de Granada",Barcelona, 1701; Helps, "Life of las Casas, the Apostle of the Indies" London, 1883; Gutierrez, "Fray Bartolomé de las Casas sus tiempos y su apostolado",Madrid, 1878; Fabie, "Vida y escritos de Fray Bartolomé de las Casas",Madrid, 1879; Wilberforce, "Life of Louis Bertrand", Fr. tr. Folghera, Paris, 1904; Masson, "Sainte Rose, tertiaire dominicaine, patronne du Nouveau Monde", Lyons, 1898). Dominican evangelization went from America to thePhilippines (1586) and thence toChina (1590), where Gaspar of the Holy Cross, of the Portuguese Congregation of the Indies, had already begun to work in 1559. The Preachers established themselves inJapan (1601), in Tonking (1676), and in the Island of Formosa. This flourishing mission passed through persecutions, and theChurch has raised its numerousmartyrs to her altars [Ferrando-Fonseca, "Historia de los PP. Dominicos a las isles Filipinas, y en sus misiones de Japón, China, Tungkin y Formosa",Madrid, 1870;Navarrete, "Tratados historicos, politicos, ethicos y religiosos de la monarquiade China",Madrid, 1676-1679, tr., London, 1704; Gentili, "Memorie di un missionario domenicano nella Cina", 1887; Orfanel, "Historia eelesiastica de los succesos de la christiandad de Japón desde 1602 que entró en el la orden de Predicadores, haste el año de 1620",Madrid, 1633; Guglielmotti, "Memorie delle missioni cattoliche nel regno del Tunchino", Rome, 1844; Arias, "El beato Sanz y companeros martires",Manila, 1893; "I martiri annamiti e chinesi (1798-1856)", Rome, 1900; Clementi, "Gli otto martiri tonchinesi dell' ordine di S. Domenico", Rome, 1906]. In 1635 theFrench Dominicans began the evangelization of the French Antilles, Guadaloupe, Martinique etc., which lasted until the end of the eighteenth century (Du Tertre, "Hist. générale des Antilles", Paris, 1667-71; Labat "Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique",Paris 1742). In 1750 the Mission of Mesopotamia and Kurdistan was founded by theItalian religious; it passed to the Province ofFrance (Paris) in 1856 (Goormachtigh, "Hist. de la mission Dominicaine en Mésopotamie et Kurdistan", in "Analecta O. P." III, 271).
(h) Dominican Saints and Blessed
From the beginning of the sixteenth century members of the Order of St. Dominic eminent forsanctity were the subjects of twenty-one canonizations or beatifications. Some of the beatifications included a more or less large number at one time: such were the Annamitemartyrs, who formed a group of twenty-sixbeaticanonized 21 May, 1900, byLeo XIII, and themartyrs of Tonking, who numbered eight, the last of whom died in 1861, and who werecanonized byPius X, 28 Nov., 1905. Fivesaints werecanonized during this period;St. John of Gorkum (d. 1572),martyr;St. Pius V (d. 1572), the lastpopecanonized; St. Louis Bertrand (d. 1581), missionary in theNew World;St. Catherine de' Ricci (d. 1589), of the second order, andSt. Rose of Lima (d. 1617), tertiary, the first American saint. (See general bibliography ofsaints in sectionMiddle Ages above.)
The contemporaneous period of the history of the Preachers begins with the different restorations of provinces under taken after the revolutions which had destroyed the order in several countries of the Old World and the New. This period begins more or less early in the nineteenth century, and it cannot be traced down to the present day without naming religious who are still living and whose activity embodies the present life of the order. The revolutions not having totally destroyed certain of the provinces, nor decimated them, simultaneously, the Preachers were able to take up the laborious work of restoration in countries where the civil legislation did not present insurmountable obstacles. During this critical period the number of Preachers seems never to have sunk below 3500. The statistics for 1876 give 3748 religious, but 500 of these had been expelled from theirconvents and were engaged inparochial work. The statistics for 1910 give a total of very nearly 4472 religious both nominally and actually engaged in the proper activities of the order. They are distributed in 28 provinces and 5 congregations, and possess nearly 400convents or secondary establishments.
In the revival movementFrance held a foremost place, owing to the reputation and convincing power of the immortal orator,Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (1802-61). He took the habit of a Friar Preacher atRome (1839), and the province ofFrance was canonically erected in 1850. From this province were detached the province ofLyons, called Occitania (1862), that ofToulouse (1869), and that ofCanada (1909). The French restoration likewise furnished many labourers to other provinces, to assist in their organization and progress. From it came the master general who remained longest at the head of the administration during the nineteenth century,Père Vincent Jandel (1850-72). Here should be mentioned the province of St. Joseph in theUnited States. Founded in 1805 by Father Dominic Fenwick, afterwards firstBishop ofCincinnati,Ohio (1821-32), this province has developed slowly, but now ranks among the most flourishing and active provinces of the order. In 1910 it numbered 17convents or secondary houses. In 1905 it established a large house of studies at Washington.
The province ofFrance (Paris) has produced a large number of preachers, several of whom became renowned. The conferences of Notre-Dame-de-Paris were inaugurated byPère Lacordaire. The Dominicans of the province ofFrance furnished most of the orators:Lacordaire (1835-36, 1843-51),Jacques Monsabré (1869-70, 1872-90), Joseph Ollivier (1871, 1897), Thomas Etourneau (1898-1902). Since 1903 thepulpit of Notre Dame has again been occupied by a Dominican.Père Henri Didon (d. 1900) was one of the most esteemed orators of his time. The province ofFrance displays greaterintellectual and scientific activity than ever, the chief centre being the house of studies at present situated at Kain, nearTournai,Belgium, where are published "L'Année Dominicaine" (founded 1859), "La Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Theologiques" (1907), and "La Revue de la Jeunesse" (1909).
The province of thePhilippines, the most populous in the order, is recruited fromSpain, where it has several preparatory houses. In thePhilippines it has charge of theUniversity ofManila, recognized by the Government of theUnited States, two colleges, and six establishments; inChina it administers the missions of North and South Fo-Kien, in theJapanese Empire, those of Formosa and Shikoku, besides establishments atNew Orleans, atCaracas (Venezuela) and atRome. The province ofSpain has seventeen establishments in the Peninsula and the Canaries, as well as the missions of Urubamba (Peru). Since 1910 it has published atMadrid an important review, "La Ciencia Tomista". The province ofHolland has a score of establishments, and the missions ofCuraçao and Puerto Rico. Other provinces also have their missions. That ofPiedmont has establishments at Constantinople and Smyrna; that ofToulouse, inBrazil; that ofLyons, inCuba, that ofIreland, inAustralia and Trinidad; that ofBelgium, in theBelgian Congo, and so on.
Doctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration of the Preachers. Several institutions besides those already mentioned have played important parts. Such is the Biblicalschool atJerusalem, open to the religious of the order and tosecular clerics, and which publishes the "Revue Biblique", so highly esteemed in the learned world. The faculty oftheology of theUniversity ofFreiburg, confided to the care of the Dominicans in 1890, is flourishing and has about 250 students. The Collegium Angelicum, established atRome (1911) by Hyacinth Cormier (master general since 1902), is open to regulars and seculars for the study of thesacred sciences. To the reviews mentioned above must be added the "Revue Thomiste", founded by Père Thomas Coconnier (d. 1908), and the "Analecta Ordinis Prædicatorum" (1893). Among the numerous writers of the order in this period are: Cardinals Thomas Zigliara (d. 1893) and Zephirin González* (d. 1894), two esteemedphilosophers; Father Alberto Guillelmotti (d. 1893), historian of the Pontifical Navy, andFather Heinrich Denifle, one of the most famous writers onmedieval history (d. 1905).
In 1910 the order had twentyarchbishops orbishops, one of whom, Andreas Frühwirth, formerly master general (1892-1902), isApostolic nuncio atMunich (Sanvito, "Catalogus omnium provinciarum sacri ordinis praedicatorum", Rome, 1910; "Analecta O. P.", Rome, 1893--; "L'Année Dominicaine", Paris, 1859--). In the last two publications will be found historical and bibliographical information concerning the history of the Preachers during the contemporaneous period.
The circumstances under which St. Dominic established the firstconvent ofnuns at Prouille (1206) and the legislation given the second order have been related above. As early as 1228 the question arose as to whether the Order of Preachers would accept the government ofconvents forwomen. The order itself was strongly in favour of avoiding this ministry and struggled long to maintain its freedom. But the sisters found, even among the Preachers, such advocates as the master general, Jordanus of Saxony (d. 1236), and especially the Dominicancardinal, Hugh of St. Cher (d. 1263), who promised them that they would eventually be victorious (1267). The incorporation ofmonasteries with the order continued through the latter part of the thirteenth and during the next century. In 1288 thepapal legate, Giovanni Boccanazzi, simultaneously placed all the Penitent Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen inGermany under the government of theprovincial of the Preachers, but this step was not final. Theconvents of sisters incorporated with the order were especially numerous in the province ofGermany The statistics for 1277 show 58monasteries already incorporated, 40 of which were in the single province of Teutonia. The statistics for 1303 give 149convents of Dominicannuns, and these figures increased during the succeeding centuries. Nevertheless, a certain number ofmonasteries passed under thejurisdiction ofbishops. In the list ofconvents drawn up during the generalship of Serafino Cavalli (1571-78) there are only 168monasteries. But theconvents ofnuns are not indicated for most provinces, and the number should really be much higher. TheCouncil of Trent placed all theconvents ofnuns under thejurisdiction ofbishops, but the Preachers frequently provided these houses withchaplains or almoners. The statistics for 1770 give 180monasteries, but they are incomplete. The revolutions, which affected theecclesiastical situation in mostCatholic countries from the end of the eighteenth century, brought about the suppression of a great manymonasteries; several, however, survived these disturbances, and others were re-established. In the list for 1895 there are more than 150monasteries including some of theThird Order, which arecloistered like the Second Order. Thesemonasteries are most numerous inSpain. InGermany theconvents ofnuns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries witnessed the development of an intense mystical life, and several of these houses have preserved accounts of the life of the sisters, usually in the vernacular. The Dominican sisters, instructed and directed by an order of preachers and teachers, were remarkable not only for spiritual but also forintellectual culture. In the course of seven centuries variousnuns have left literary and artistic works which bear witness to the culture of some of thesemonasteries ("Script. O. P.", I, pp. i-xv; II, pp. i-xix, 830; "Bull. O. P.",passim; Mortier, "Hist. des maitres généraux",passim; Danzas, "Etudes sur les temps primitifs de l'ordre de St. Dominique", IV, Poitiers-Paris (1877); "Analecta O. P.",passim;Greith, "Die deutsche Mystik im Prediger Orden", Freiburg i. Br., 1861; de Villermont, "Un groupe mystique allemand", Brussels, 1907).
Neither St. Dominic nor the early Preachers wished to have under theirjurisdiction — and consequently under their responsibility — either religious or lay associations. We have seen their efforts to be relieved of the government ofnuns who, nevertheless, were following the rule of the order. But numerouslaymen, and especially laywomen, who were leading in the world a life of penance or observing continence, felt thedoctrinal influence of the order and grouped themselves about itsconvents. In 1285 the need of more firmly uniting these lay elements and theidea of bringing under the direction of the Preachers a portion of the Order of Penance led the seventh master general, Muñon de Zamora, at the instance ofHonorius IV to draw up the rule known as that of the Penance of St. Dominic. Inspired by that of the Brothers of Penance, this rule had a moreecclesiastical character and firmly subordinated the conduct of the brothers to the authority of the Preachers.Honorius IV confirmed the foundation by the collation of a privilege (28 Jan., 1286). The former master general of theFriars Minor, Jerome d'Ascoli, having becomepope in 1288 under the name ofNicholas IV, regarded the action of his predecessor and of the master general of the Friars-Preachers as a kind of defiance of theFriars Minor who considered themselves the natural protectors of the Brothers of Penance, and by his letters of 17 August, 1289, he sought to prevent the desertion of the Brothers of Penance. Muñon de Zamora discharged his office of master general as it had been confided to him byMartin IV. The Order of Preachers protested with all its might against what it regarded as aninjustice. These events retarded the development of the DominicanThird Order, a portion of the Preachers remaining un favourable to the institution. Nevertheless, theThird Order continued to exist; one of its fraternities, that ofSiena, was especially flourishing, a list of its members from 1311 being extant The sisters numbered 100 in 1352, among them she who was to becomeSt. Catherine of Siena. They numbered 92 in 1378. The reforming movement of Raymund ofCapua, confessor and historian of St. Catherine, aimed at the spread of theThird Order; in this Thomas Caffarini ofSiena was especially active. The DominicanThird Order received newapprobation fromBoniface IX, 18 January, 1401, and on 27 April of the following year thepope published its rule in aBull, whereupon its development received a fresh impetus. It never became very widespread, the Preachers having sought quality rather than number of tertiaries.St. Catherine of Siena,canonized in 1461, is the patroness of theThird Order, and, following the example of her who has been called theJoan of Arc of thepapacy, the Dominican tertiaries have always manifested special devotion to theRoman Church. Also in imitation of their patroness, who wrote splendid mystical works, they endeavoured to acquire a specialknowledge of their religion, as befitsChristians incorporated with a greatdoctrinal order. TheThird Order has given several blessed to theChurch, besidesSt. Catherine of Siena andSt. Rose of Lima. For several centuries there have been regularconvents and congregations belonging to theThird Order. The nineteenth century witnessed the establishment of a large number of regular congregations of tertiaries devoted toworks of charity oreducation. In 1895 there were about 55 congregations with about 800 establishments and 20,000 members. In theUnited States there are flourishingconvents at Sinsinawa (Wisconsin), Jersey City, Traverse (Michigan),Columbus (Ohio), Albany (New York), and San Francisco (California).
In 1852Père Lacordaire founded inFrance a congregation of Priests for theeducation of youth called the Third Teaching Order of St. Dominic. It is now regarded as a special province of the Order of Preachers, and had flourishing and select colleges inFrance at Oullins (1853), Sorèze (1854), Arceuil (1863), Arcachon (1875),Paris (Ecole Lacordaire 1890). These houses have ceased to be directed by Dominicans since thepersecution of 1903. The teaching Dominicans now have the Collège Lacordaire atBuenos Aires, Champittet atLausanne (Switzerland), and San Sebastian (Spain). During the Paris Commune fourmartyrs of the teaching order died in company with apriest of the First Order, 25 May, 1871. One of them, Père Louis Raphael Captier was an eminent educator (Mandonnet, "Les règles et le gouvernement de l'ordo de Poenitentia au XIIIe siècle" in "Opuscules de critique historique", IV, Paris, 1902; Federici, "Istoria de' Cavalieri Gaudenti", Venice, 1787).
APA citation.Mandonnet, P.(1911).Order of Preachers. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12354c.htm
MLA citation.Mandonnet, Pierre."Order of Preachers."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 12.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1911.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12354c.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Fr. Albert Judy O.P.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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