Some people appreciate Fr. Hyacinthe Marie Cormier, O.P. (1832-1916) and promote him as a worthy role model. Others downplay him by saying that he lived a long time ago and that Dominicans have newer and healthier role models today. Hence, I wonder whether Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans?
According to Fr. Cormier, the final cause of every Dominican friar is “to become a man of prayer” (page 24) who is “attentive to the holy presence of God” (137) with a “continual recollection” (42).
Thus, because Fr. Cormier teaches a Dominican how “to become a man of prayer” (24), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.Fr. Cormier daily life was the “life of administration” (89). He learned that “life is composed of a series of small duties” (21) involving a “continuity of short moments” (21). And like everyone else, his material cause was “an undefinable something” that made him interesting (254).
Fr. Cormier was humble and “believed himself incapable of ordering others and of completing effectively important tasks assigned to him” (101). He wrote that “God gladly hovers over humble souls” (125) humbly admitted that “there are many things that I ponder and so few that I accomplish” (127). Cormier defined a humble person as having “a flexibility that cedes, a humility which effaces itself and an acceptance of second-place positions” (181). Thus, because Fr. Cormier adapted to a “life of a series of small duties” (21) and “accepted a second-place position” (127), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
The principal agent is the Lord and Fr. Cormier worked “under the divine hand” (110). He felt “responsible for others before the just Judge” (143). I often wishes I worked with humble people like Fr. Cormier who felt responsible to the “just Judge” and “Supreme Judge” (209).
The Novitiate prepares every Dominican for the religious life. Fr. Cormier defines the Novitiate as “a time of silence” (39). He became “the head of novices” in 1859 and “rummaging through the treasures of Dominican legislation” (64). He studied “the Constitutions and the diverse General Chapters” (182) and helped the novices appreciate the unique government of the Dominicans. Thus, because Fr. Cormier appreciated “the Constitutions and the diverse General Chapters” (182), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
Seven assisting agents helped Fr. Cormier to become a genuine Dominican. Desqueyrous writes, Cormier received “the protection of the Holy Virgin all his life” (3). He was especially devoted to Notre Dame des Miracles and “Our Lady of Miracles” at St. Paul’s church in Orleans, France (9). Further, Desqueyrous writes, “Significant work was accomplished by Lacordaire and his disciples, and among them, Father Cormier” (55). Henri Lacordaire (1802-1861) “would be a powerful source of the resurrection of the Order” (54). Further, Desqueyrous writes, “Crusades of prayers were organized to which Jandel associated himself” (63). Alexander Jandel (1810-1872) encourage Fr. Cormier to follow the strict observance. Jandel writes, “Strict observance is the indispensable source of graces needed to make fruitful our human work” (61) Strict observance included two requirements: “a meatless refectory and the night office” (58). Further, Desqueyrous writes, “Cormier had managed to gain an interior presence of St. Dominic” (73). Fr. Cormier needed the assistance of St. Dominic as he worked to re-establish the Dominican Order in Toulouse. And Fr. Cormier regretted his weak devotion to St. Dominic and said, “It seems to me that I was not showing sufficient signs of devotion to St. Dominic” (31).
Further, Desqueyrous writes, “At Rome, Cormier was seen as a friend of Leo XIII” (194). Pope Leo XIII supported Fr. Cormier’s job of rebuilding the Order in Toulouse and there was talk of Fr. Cormier possibly becoming a Cardinal although that never happened. Further, Desqueyrous writes, Pope Pius X told Fr. Cormier, “I am the Protector of the Order” (202). Pius X was very please to learn that Fr. Cormier became the Master General in 1904. Pope Pius X also told Fr. Cormier, “The Pope serves God and does his duty without worrying about what could be said or what could happen” (204). Further, Desqueyrous writes, Brother Damien “enveloped his superior with truly maternal care. He watched over the V. R. Fr., who otherwise would easily neglect his health” (240). Fr. Cormier always had poor health and struggled with neuromuscular weakness. The Dominicans assigned Br. Damien to work as “the lay brother attached to the General” (240). Thus, because Fr. Cormier received the assistance of Notre Dame des Miracles, Henri Lacordaire, Alexander Jandel, St. Dominic, Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pius X, and Brother Damien, Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
Fr. Cormier because a counseling agent for the Dominics, since he had experience as a Novice Director, Prior, Provincial, Socius, and Master General. According to Fr. Cormier, “the establishment of strict observance” (144) should be the instrumental agent of every Dominican in order to be “attentive to the holy presence of God” (137). He writes that the strict observance gives a friar “the ability to live a completely Dominican life, and in the presence of God, to act as a counterbalance for the faults of a great number of souls by the favor and austerity of their lives” (61). Further, Dominicans need “a peaceful room, the fellowship of brothers and a respected ministry” (158). What is a respectable ministry? According to Fr. Cormier, the duty of every Dominican is “to relight among men the flame of the spirit of God” (163). Concerning the duty of relighting, Cormier says, “What a praiseworthy ministry!” (163). The main tool used by Fr. Cormier to bring about “the strict observance” (144) was goodness. He “intended to use goodness” (98). Four more tools were used by Fr. Cormier to encourage the strict observance. “Instructions, exhortations, autobiographical notes and addresses, now to superiors; he used everything to remind them of their obligations” (143). Thus, because Fr. Cormier encouraged friars to follow the “strict observance” (144) and wished “to relight the flame of the spirit of God” (163), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
Fr. Cormier served as an inferior to Fr. Jandel for sixteen years and learned how to become a humble leader and a genuine Dominican. Desqueyrous writes, “Remembering the counsels and the examples of Jandel, he gave great importance to his canonical visits, knowing by turns to listen and to question, making allowances for things, and applying himself to pacify or to encourage others” (134). Thus, because Fr. Cormier worked closely with Fr. Jandel and learned the value of “canonical visits” (134), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
The history of the Dominican Order reveals that Fr. Cormier was a much needed gift from the divine hand, since “the Order was only a a shadow of what it had been” (54) in 1838. Fr. Lacordaire received the Dominican habit from Fr. Vincent Palmagiani in 1839, Fr. Jandel in 1843 and Fr. Cormier in 1856. (38) Then Fr. Cormier resurrected “the Province of Toulouse which was the first one produced by St. Dominic” (122) in 1865. And then he returned “a colony of Second Order Nuns to the convent of Prouille that had been the cradle of the Order of St. Dominic” (154) in 1880. Thus, because Fr. Cormier brought back the Order with Fr. Palmagiani, Fr. Lacordaire, Fr. Jandel, and because Fr. Cormier “resurrected” (122) the Province of Toulouse and the nuns at the convent of Prouille, Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
Fr. Cormier used two analogies to describe the Order. “Religious life,” he said, is “the providential haven where one abides in the beneficial rest after the swaying of the voyage” (25). Further, according to Fr. Cormier, the Dominican Family “disciples who spread the holy seeds” in preparation for an “even more abundant harvest” (121). Thus, because Fr. Cormier viewed the Dominican life as a “haven” and shelter during the “voyage” (25) of life, and because Fr. Cormier saw Dominican friars and nuns as “disciples” (121) who spread seeds of prayer and humility, Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
Fr. Cormier received two signs during his life. When Bishop Dupanloud gave Cormier “permission to leave” the diocesan seminary in 1851, Cormier saw the permission as “a sign” that he should enter the Dominican Order (25). Further, when Pope Pius X gave “his blessing” to Fr. Cormier upon his election as Master General of the Dominican Order, Fr. Cormier saw the Pope’s blessing as a sign that his new position as the Master General was an “expression of the divine will” (206). Thus, because Fr. Cormier received a sign from Bishop Dupanloud when he got “permission” (25) to leave the diocesan seminary and to join the Dominicans, and because Fr. Cormier received a sign from Pope Pius X when when he got a “blessing” (206) to start his work as the Master General, Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
The motive for Fr. Cormier’s life and activities as a Dominican was “an inner attraction toward a higher life” (11). His mother knew he had a “disposition” (11) for the strict observance. Further, Fr. Cormier was motivated by gratitude. His prayer in 1859 said, “O very clement God, far from abandoning me, You filled me with renewed benefits by giving me a vocation in which I rejoice at this hour” (68). Further, Fr. Cormier was motivated to “be supernatural in everything” (142). Thus, because Fr. Cormier had an “attraction” to the strict observance, and because he was thankful for his “vocation” (68), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
Fr. Cormier felt a variety of feelings as a Dominican friar. He felt love, since “charity provided him with the strength” he needed for his work; desire, since he wished “to leave for Italy” while in high school (12); and joy, since “one is filled with joy” after serving the Lord “faithfully” (22). Other passions include disgust, since he was upset with himself for being “distracted and not sufficiently self-possessed” (22); sadness about his “inability to advance even one step” (106); despair when Fr. Lacordaire did not at first give him encouragement to enter the Order while studying for the diocese (72); and fortitude, since “he had to forge ahead” and “walk with courage” (123) while working in Toulouse, France. Thus, because the life of Fr. Cormier as “mixed with sorrows and delights” (69), Fr. Cormier is a good role model for Dominicans.
The deliberation above allows me to use my freedom and review the many good reasons. The review now allows me to make the following choice. I prefer the formal cause. The choice above allow me to make the following reasonable command. Fr. Cormier is a good role model, because Fr. Cormier was humble and “believed he was incapable of ordering others” (101). The hidden major is that everyone who is humble and feels incapable of ordering others is a good role model.
Final remarks. I am learning that Fr. Cormier is a powerful role model and a blessed in heaven who hears our prayers.
© By Theodore Faulders, November 30, 2015.