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The Beginnings of the
Order
(Page 3 of 5)
Various dates can be given for the beginnings of the
Dominican Order, and they are all significant in different ways, as
showing what manner of man Dominic was and in what his God-given service
to the Church consisted.
The first suggested date is round about 1195, when Dominic
was still a student at the Cathedral School of Palencia, shortly
afterwards to become the first University in Spain. While Dominic was
studying theology there, there was a serious famine, and Dominic sold his
beloved books and his furniture and established an almonry to help the
poor. His example, we are told, inspired others to follow suit, and some
of them later attached themselves to him when he became a preacher.
Acute sympathy for the distress of others remained a
characteristic of Dominic throughout his life, and he was prepared to
adopt extreme measures to relieve their distress. Twice, having nothing
more to sell to raise money for the poor, he offered to sell himself into
serfdom.
But his sympathy did not simply spend itself in
extravagant gestures. He realized the importance of giving institutional
form to his generosity. Our information is quite precise, that he
‘established an almonry’ at Palencia. Even as a young man, Dominic has the
instincts of an organizer.
The immediate result of his spectacular generosity to the
poor was that he attracted the attention of Diego, the prior of the
cathedral Chapter of Osma, who was looking for recruits for their recently
reformed community. He persuaded Dominic to join them, so in about 1196
Dominic became a canon of Osma.
There he learned about life in a religious community, and
had an opportunity to pursue his theological studies and to devote himself
to public and private prayer. He made such an impression on his fellow
canons that in 1201 he was appointed subprior. But even then he was
yearning to sacrifice himself for the salvation of others. Although we
have no reason to suppose that he was unhappy as a canon, his true
vocation really lay elsewhere.
The first step towards the discovery of the distinctive
task to which God was calling him came in 1203. Diego, now the bishop of
Osma, was sent by the King of Castile on an embassy to Denmark, to
negotiate a marriage between a Scandinavian princess and the King’s son.
Diego took Dominic with him. We may surmise that the two men had become
friends and that Dominic was not just part of the bishop’s retinue.
On their way to Denmark, they spent a night at
Toulouse. And Dominic discovered that their landlord was a supporter of
the dualist anti-Church of the Albigensians. His reaction is revealing: he
sat up all night arguing with the man, until eventually he persuaded him
of the truth of the Catholic faith.
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