The one material cause of St. Dominic is authority. According to Vicaire, “He reserved to himself the fullness of authority…” (p. 393) “Authority” is defined as the “power to require and receive submission; the right to expect obedience” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966: 146). St. Dominic received his authority and power from the Pope. Further, Vicaire writes, the “Pope had full confidence in Dominic and regularly protected his initiatives by significant bulls” (p. 302). St. Dominic received support from Pope Honorius III (1150-1227) and used his full power “to organize, order and correct the order of Friars Preachers in its entirety” (p. 302). Further, Vicaire writes, “The profession of obedience remained the basis of the Master’s power and secured his authority” (p. 305). Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because if a brother, sister or nun professes obedience and promises to execute the orders of St. Dominic, then the power of St. Dominic increases.
The three formal causes of St. Dominic made him pure, rigid and orthodox. St. Dominic was pure. “Pure” is defined as “unmixed with any other thing; from from admixture” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966: 1845). According to Vicaire, “The great purity of his morals was the basis of this simplicity” (p. 391). His nutritive, sensitive and intellectual powers were virtuous and not mixed with vices. Further, St. Dominic was rigid. “Rigid” is defined as “precise and accurate in procedure, exact in method” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966: 1957). According to Vicaire, “The rigidity of the methods of interpreting the Bible which theology brought into focus at this time, seemed to him indispensable” (p. 391). St. Dominic was precise in his prayers, accurate in his preaching, and exact in his theological conclusions from premises in the Bible. Further, St. Dominic was orthodox. “Orthodox” is an adjective that describes something “marked by conformity to doctrines or practices, especially in religion that are held as right or true by some authority, standard or tradition” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966: 1595). According to Vicaire, “Orthodoxy was more important than all else, since an error in the way of salvation might prove permanently irreparable” (p. 62). Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic chose to guide his thoughts with the orthodox doctrines published by the Church’s Magisterium and direct his activities with the rigid standards of canon law.
The one principal agent of St. Dominic is the Lord. According to Vicaire, “God was preparing him…” (p. 45). Further, Vicaire writes, “Providence undertook to send him preachers of his own choosing” (p. 79). As a result, St. Dominic became pure, rigid and orthodox in order to work for the Lord. Further, according to Vicaire, he obeyed “the divine influence” (p. 392) and brought about an order “which was that of the Preaching of Jesus Christ” (p. 112). Further, Vicaire writes, “The order, in the eyes of the Pope, was ‘raised up by the Lord’s a solution to the overflow of iniquity and to the coldness of the charity of the multitude’” (p. 280). The Lord is primarily responsibly for St. Dominic and his friars, sisters and nuns in order to downplay vices and highlight the virtues in His Church.
The two preparing agent causes of St. Dominic were Spain in general and Bishop Diego specifically. According to Vicaire, “That Spain should be open to Europe and Europe to Spain was essential if the saint who was preparing himself in Castile was one day to find the stimulus and scope necessary for the world-wide institution of the Preachers” (p. 34). St. Dominic prepared in Spain to do his general duty which was “obliging the baptized to remain faithful to the promises of their baptism” (p. 62). Specifically, St. Dominic “was ready” (p. 90) to work with Diego de Acebo, the Superior of the Canons at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in El Burgo de Osma in Spain which is forty-five miles southeast of St. Dominic’s home town of Caleruega, Spain. Together St. Dominic and Diego de Acebo prepared for “direct action against the heretics” (p. 86). Futher, Vicaire writes, “In the course of ten years of close companionship, at Osma as in Toulouse, In Denmark as in Rome, [St. Dominic] had shared the bishop’s daily life, his prayer, his labors and his apostolic projects” (p. 90). Bishop Diego prepared St. Dominic for ten years to become an excellent role model of power.
The two assisting agent causes of St. Dominic that gave him power are the Pope and his Friars. According to Vicaire, St. Dominic “asked for powers from the Pope” and authority “came to him from the profession of his brethren” (p. 295). In relation to the Pope, in 1220 Conrad de Scharfeneck, Bishop of Metz, described the order of St. Dominic “which the Pope has constituted and confirmed… under the directives of the Holy Spirit” (p. 338). Further, Vicaire writes, “Between 11th February, 1218 and 28th May, 1221,… St. Dominic obtained from Pope Honorius III a great number of bulls of recommendation for the brethren of his order” (p. 418). In relation to the brethren, St. Dominic saw his brethren as “soldiers and apostles” (p. 57), and he viewed his position just as “a general commands his troops” (p. 294). According to the Third Council of the Lateran in 1179, “No soldier of God gets entangled in secular affairs, and acts as a man of this world. [L]et him be deprived of ecclesiastical ministry, on the grounds that neglecting his duty as a cleric he plunges into the waves of this world to please its princes” (no. 12). Every member of the Brethren of St. Dominic must serve the Lord, respect the power of the Papacy, and obey the authority of St. Dominic. Consequently, the Friars assisted St. Dominic to become an excellent role model of power.
The two instrumental agents of St. Dominic were “prayers and merits” (p. 379). Prayers were guided by “the constitution of his order” and the “support on the part of the Papacy” (p. 299). His constitution was built on “the rule of St. Augustine” from Bishop Diego which “followed the order of St. Rufus, one of the most widespread forms of the life of the Canons Regular in Southern Europe” (p. 36). Merits, according to Vicaire, have the power to do more than “the temporal sword,” because “hearts and convictions still had to be won over” by merits (p. 78).
Three counseling agents affirm that St. Dominic is a role model, such as Pope Gregory IX, the Desert Fathers, and Simon de Monfort. Pope Gregory IX (1170-1241) supported St. Dominic and said, “In him I met a man who carried out in its fullness the rule of life of the apostles. I do not doubt that he is associated with their glory in heaven” (p. 382). St. Dominic made many sacrifices and executed a job that everyone needs to do: to become a saint. Further, Vicaire writes about a counseling agent that St. Dominic relied on for many years. According to Vicaire, a “book [was] always at his bedside when Dominic derived his initiation into the virtues…, the ‘Conferences of the Fathers of the Desert’ by John Cassian” (p. 43). The Desert Fathers have numerous instructions for the followers of St. Dominic today. For example, Antony said to Poemen, “I saw the devil’s snares set all over the earth, and I groaned and said, ‘What can pass through them?’ I heard a voice saying, ‘Humility’” (The Desert Fathers, trans. Benedicta Ward, London, Penguin Books, 2003 page 1348). Further, Simon de Montfort (1175-1218) assisted St. Dominic “through arms and loyalty to the Church” (p. 140) St. Dominic baptized Simon’s daughter “in February 1211” and “blessed the wedding” of Simon’s son in 1214 (p. 145). Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because Simon protected St. Dominic’s first house and “established peace in the neighborhood of Prouille” (p. 144), and because St. Dominic is a counseling agent with expert advice for exorcists. Vicaire writes, “Dominic knew that the cross was the weapon” in “diabolical matter[s]” (p. 156).
Four observations lead the inductive conclusion that St. Dominic was a good role model of power. St. Dominic’s power was observed and seen when watching a hundred thousand people become loyal to the Catholic Church. Vicaire writes, “The effects could be seen… [M]ore than a hundred thousand men… were sincerely converted to the Catholic Faith of the Church of Rome, thanks to the sermons of the Friars Preachers” (p. 378). Further, St. Dominic’s power can be observed and heard when listening to the homilies of Friars Preachers triggering numerous conversions. Further, St. Dominic’s power was observed and smelled when his coffin was inspected in 1233. Vicaire writes, “There was as small hole in the lid from which an intense and marvelous fragrance emerged. It overflowed powerfully from the grave” (p. 384). Further, St. Dominic’s power can be observed and touched, such as when “a cleric of Fanjeaux, a canon of Pamiers, was cured of a fever by the imposition of Dominic’s hands” (p. 160). Further, a woman observed St. Dominic’s power when he ate his food. She said, I “gave him a meal more than two hundred times” and “never heard an idle word from his lips” (p. 158). Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic’s power can be seen when watching people convert to Catholicism, heard when listening to the Friars Preachers, smelled when opening his coffin, touched when receiving a cure from his hands, and observed while he was tasting his meals.
History show how St. Dominic received power from the Pope and used the power to defeat the leader of a heresy. Vicaire writes, “On 3rd August, 1218, Honorius III set down in a letter the first of a series of acts which were to secure the convent of St. Sixtus for the Preachers” (p. 249). Further, Pope Honorius III gave St. Dominic permission to name the followers of St. Dominic as ‘The Pope’s Preachers.’ Vicaire writes, “[W]hen… the brethren of St. Romain were to set off to propagate the order and to preach throughout the diocese, they would bear this glorious title of preachers by the will of the Pope” (p. 223). Further, St. Dominic had the power to reduce the authority of leaders of heresies. Vicaire writes, “Put to confusion, …their heresiarch… lost his authority” (p. 103). Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic received strong authority from Pope Honorius III to preach in 1218, and because St. Dominic took away the weak authority of a heresiarch in 1205.
One analogy from the military shows that St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power. Vicaire writes, the “Master of the Preachers” possessed executive power from his friars, sisters and nuns which “conferred on the order an unparalleled dynamism, that of an army fighting for the Church” (p. 306). “Army” is defined as “a large organized body of men armed and trained for war and destined chiefly for land service” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966: 119). Dominican friars, sisters and nun are organized, armed and trained for land service. Further, Vicaire writes, “In 1220 the Pope collected together “an army of preachers and placed it under the authority” of St. Dominic (p. 320). Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) assigned Cistercians and Benedictines to the army of St. Dominic. As a result, St. Dominic had “the religious of other orders… attached to his troops” (p. 320). Further, Vicaire writes, St. Dominic “experienced… the joy of the combatant in the full fire of battle who has not time to think of himself and remains convinced that, when God wills, the tide will turn” (p. 161). Starting in 1207, St. Dominic served as a soldier in an army and combated with heretics in Fanjeaux. Further, Vicaire writes, St. Dominic was acting in “placing at the service of the Church, under the direct impulse of the Sovereign Pontiff, a spiritual army… better adapted to its task” (p. 222). Every army is organized and trained and St. Dominic lead a spiritual army organized around him and trained for war with heretics. Further, Vicaire writes, “Like lightly-armed soldiers, ‘expedite,’ …they fight for the Lord against vice and the devil, armed only with their virtues and the sword of the Holy Spirit” (p. 39). Dominicans are trained in the intellectual virtues, such as foresight, circumspection and caution and skilled in the moral virtues, such as prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. Plus, the Dominicans receive training in the fruits, gifts and dowries of the Holy Spirit. The soldiers in the army of St. Dominic are trained in logic, ethics and the Scriptures in order to have persuasive tools by which they have influence with people. Hence, the tool of every Dominican is “a masked sword, as it were” (Cora Evans, 2014: 122). Consequently, the Pope’s are privileged to have an army of friars, sisters and nuns under the obedience of St. Dominic.
Eight signs with the messages that St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power showed up whenever St. Dominic preached. Vicaire writes how people who heard St. Dominic and his Friars began “to become Christian, that is, practice the overlooking of injuries and to forego revenge, to remit debts, to set prisoners free, to preserve conjugal chastity, to respect their neighbors and to be reconciled with their enemies, to profess the universal faith” (p. 377). St. Dominic had power and encouraged people to become understanding, forgiving, just, honest, chaste, respectful, harmonious and solid Catholics loyal to the teachings of the Apostles and the Popes. Further, a sign was given to St. Dominic with the messagings that he should begin his work in Pouille. Vicaire writes, “Three evenings running… a globe of fire came to a standstill over Poruille” (p. 116). A sign gave him the message about where to start his dynamic, influential and powerful work. Further, a sign gave the message to others that St. Dominic was pure, rigid, orthodox and austere. Vicaire writes, “Austerity… [and] the saint’s charity surrounded him with a veritable supernatural halo” (p. 160). His halo shows that he had power from the Lord. Further, a sign that St. Dominic was powerful was his influence at the Vatican in Rome. Vicaire writes, “Dominic enjoyed an incomparable prestige and influence at the Curia” (p. 345). Consequently, numerous signs showed the St. Dominic has power with his Friars, his audience and with his superiors in Rome.
One motive inspired St. Dominic to become an excellent role model of power. Vicaire writes, “The deepest source of his inspiration was not his love of the Church, or even his evangelism, but as was the case for the apostles, his love of Christ Jesus” (p. 390). St. Dominic’s love of the Lord motivated him to become an excellent role model. Further, Vicaire writes, “A firm Catholic conviction would clearly have enabled them [Cathars and Albigensians] to resist temptation” (p. 69). St. Dominic was motivated to contact both heretics who twist the Catholic dogmas and apostates who reject the Catholic dogmas, because St. Dominic understood how “a firm Catholic conviction” gives people the confidence “to resist temptation,” to reject deceptive reasoning and to move away from vices. Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic was motivated to reawaken and maintain a firm Catholic conviction among “the clergy in the south of France” (p. 69).
Ten passions and feelings show that St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power. He loved three things: the Lord, his material for preaching and his audience. According to Vicaire, St. Dominic “discovered the permanent value” of the “love for the Savior” (p. 390). He loved the Lord and still does today. Plus, Vicaire writes, “[H]e loved the men to whom he was preaching” (p. 390). St. Dominic loved his audience. Further, Vicaire writes, “He was able to declare emphatically in the presence of the Pope that the program of imitation of the life of the apostles was directly responsible for the attraction felt for his order both by young clerics and elderly professors” (p. 279). St. Dominic saw how clerics and professors desired and wanted to follow his way of life. Further, Vicaire writes, “Dominic…discovered the joy of communication of spiritual things” (p. 132). St. Dominic felt joy when discussing his feelings for the Savior, his material for preaching and his questions from clerics and professors. Plus, Vicaire writes about how Friar Reginald, told Friar Matthew of France a few weeks before his death, “I do not think I have any merit in living in this order, for I have always found too much joy there” (p. 269). Reginald, “the dean of St. Aignan in Orleans” who “taught canon law in Paris for five years” was a professor who felt joy while serving in the army of friars under the obedience of St. Dominic (Simon Tugwell, OP, Early Dominicans (1982: 56).
Further, Vicaire writes, “The activity of the order would be presented in such as sort that it appeared in the perspective of a struggle against evil and error” (p. 287). St. Dominic and his friars, sisters and nuns loved the Lord, understood the Scriptures and appreciated philosophy enough to hate error and to be disgusted by vice. For example, it is natural for a logical person to feel aversion to the conclusion that a part is greater than its whole, since the conclusion is not true and an error. And it is natural for an ethical person to feel revulsion when watching a person struggle with simple calculations, such as struggling with the result of eight multiplied by six, since ethics included prudence and the ability to calculate well in order to reach a goal. Further, St. Dominic felt sadness when realizing that two years of his work was useless and empty. Vicaire writes, “In the multitude of affairs in which for the past two years they had been obliged to engage, success was rare” (p. 80). Sadly, St. Dominic and the Papal legates very rarely achieved their goals. Similarly, Vicaire writes, “At the end of their two and a half years’ work, they had obtained nothing or almost nothing by their preaching among the heretics” (p. 88). The dismal and gloomy results after preaching for two years gave sadness to St. Dominic.
Further, St. Dominic hoped that Pope Innocent III would deliver integral parts of his new Order and the Pope trusted him. Vicaire writes, the Pope “had no liking for the anarchy of the spirituals and the conventicles…and the Poor Catholics. He trusted Dominic…” (p. 201). Because the Pope trusted in the power of St. Dominic, “Innocent III promised [Dominic] to confirm all he was asking for: possessions, the preaching and the name of ‘Preacher’” (p. 201). Further, St. Dominic felt despair when he learned that successfully reforming the heretical members in the Church was easy but reforming the heresiarch was difficult. Vicaire write, “What hope could there be of reforming the heretical members of the Church… if the head remained corrupt?” (p. 81). Further, St. Dominic felt an intense courage that influenced the activities of the Friars, sisters and nuns. Vicaire writes, “Only the founder’s supernatural firmness gave them strength” (p. 237). Dominic encouraged his followers to contact heresiarchs, heretical members, and everyone lacking “a firm Catholic conviction” (p. 69). Thus, St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic felt love for the Savior; desire to have the assistance of clerics and professors; joy while serving in the army of friars, sisters; sad when having two years of zero results; hope when trusted by Pope Honorius III; despair when talking with heretics; and courage when working with his Friars, sisters and nuns.
I shall now use my freedom to review the above investigation and analysis. All the reasons above seem good to me. I shall now use my freedom to choose my two favorite reasons. I have decided that I prefer the formal cause and the analogy. I shall now use my freedom to make a command. St. Dominic is an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic was precise in his prayers, accurate in his preaching, and exact in his theological conclusions inferred from premises in the Bible. Vicaire writes, “The rigidity of the methods of interpreting the Bible which theology brought into focus at this time, seemed to him indispensable” (p. 391). Further, Dominicans are trained in the intellectual virtues, such as foresight, circumspection and caution, skilled in the moral virtues, such as prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice, and receive training in the fruits, gifts and dowries of the Holy Spirit. Vicaire writes, “Like lightly-armed soldiers, ‘expedite,’ …they fight for the Lord against vice and the devil, armed only with their virtues and the sword of the Holy Spirit” (p. 39).
Ethical Analysis
The personality of St. Dominic showed that he was an excellent role model of virtue and power. Vicaire writes, “Dominic was a man of a small number of plans which ripened for a long time in silence and were then carried out with tenacity” (p. 115). He was virtuous and tenaciously followed plans and routines. Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he had a clean conscience while deliberating about his plans. Vicaire writes, “The great purity of his morals was the basis of [his] simplicity” (p. 391). Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he was continent and confidently executed his plans. Vicaire writes, “There was no question of binding the brethren to the parochial ministry” (p. 202). St. Dominic planned for his brethren to work as “soldiers and apostles” (p. 57) while “attached to a church” (p. 202), since a church “would give them a permanent pulpit in the cities” (p. 202). His plan worked for him and for many other Friars, sisters and nuns.
Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he felt is was necessary to become pure, rigid and orthodox. Vicaire writes, “The rigidity of methods of interpreting the Bible which theology brought into focus at this time, seemed to him indispensable” (p. 391). He wanted his friars, sisters and nuns to be accurate in their preaching, and exact in their theological conclusions that were inferred from premises in the Bible. Further, St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, because he saw the good possibilities in others. Vicaire writes, “Whether he was dealing with individuals or institutions, he drove them to the limits of their possibilities” (p. 392). St. Dominic found it possible to maximize the potential in others.
Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he was educated and learned how to trust the Lord. Vicaire writes, “Dominic… discovered the permanent value of… the abandonment to Providence” (p. 390). Further, my conjecture is that St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, because St. Dominic had poverty. “Poverty” is defined as “a lack or relative lack of money or material possessions; a privation” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966: 1778). Vicaire writes, “The state of poverty increases merit, inspires better counsels and gives rise to less anxious cares” (p. 285). His poverty gave him compassion for others and insights from his studies. Further, St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, because he was reasonable and understood the virtues. Vicaire writes, “Like lightly-armed soldiers, ‘expedite,’ …they fight for the Lord against vice and the devil, armed only with their virtues and the sword of the Holy Spirit” (p. 39). Dominicans are trained in the intellectual virtues, such as foresight, circumspection and caution, and armed with the moral virtues, such as prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice.
Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he used foresight to plan for the future. His power improved Catholic preaching, Catholic theology and Catholic social doctrine for many years after him. Vicaire writes, St. Dominic’s “institutions would renew not merely preaching in the Church, but the teaching of theology and its diffusion at all the stages of Christian society” (p. 391).
Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he used circumspection to remove the risks of error and vice. Vicaire writes, “The ideal of detachment, of mutual love and peace, which the new apostles [Dominicans] proposed , while first practicing it in their communities, did not consist only of negative precepts, such as to despise money and luxury, to renounce the conventicles of the sects, or lay aside the violence of wars. It was rather a positive gift to the Savior, an entering upon the interior life and into mystical union with the poor and crucified Christ” (p. 377).
Further, because St. Dominic was an excellent role model of power, he had caution and carefully avoided dangers. According to Vicaire, “he could not forget that the principal peril of men on earth is that of their destiny, on the brink of eternity” (p. 392). St. Dominic used his power to move people toward the Lord in order to have peace in their communities and happiness for eternity. Support for this conclusion is given by St. Dominic’s observation that “there was no fault more dangerous than apostasy” (p. 159). The lack of caution in his personal homilies may lead listeners to a separation from the Lord and to a defection from His Church.
Final remarks. St. Dominic said, “Leave me alone; I know what I am doing” (p. 234, 302). Why did he say that? Because he was an excellent role model of power.
© By Theodore Faulders, December 31, 2021.