Although there are no major secular holidays in August, the month is full of numerous important holy days for Catholics. August 8 on the General Roman Calendar is the feast of St. Dominic, the late twelfth/early thirteenth century founder of the Order of Preachers, or, as his spiritual family is perhaps better known, the Dominicans.
I have long held that—especially in the case of the saints—the spiritual life might be compared to the workings of a Master Jeweler, who by the joys and sorrows of this present life shapes each person into a gem to display for His greater glory. When the pure white light of Christ’s grace shines on such a soul, it refracts and reflects that light in a manner unique to that individual. But it is still the light of Jesus Christ shining through.
This brings us to the recent book on St. Dominic by Dominican friars Briscoe and Janczyk. Released to coincide with the 800th anniversary of St. Dominic’s death, this slight but weighty work is not a biography of the saint in a strict sense. For that, one might turn to the work of Fr. Bede Jarrett or perhaps of Fr. Guy Bedouelle. Instead of a straightforward account of the founder of their religious community, these two sons of St. Dominic have given us a deep meditation on several of the virtues that made the saint the person he was. To continue the imagery of a jewel, Fathers Briscoe and Jaczyk have given us a sacred spectrography of the saint.
It might seem that any such project might be hindered by the fact that, unlike his spiritual sons such as, say, St. Albert the Great or St. Thomas Aquinas, we have next to nothing left to us from the pen of St. Dominic. No philosophical or theological treatises, not even a collection of sermons from this famous preacher.
What he did leave behind is a warm, living memory in the hearts of his spiritual sons and daughters. Deriving their work primarily from the written remembrances of St. Dominic’s earliest companions, Fathers Briscoe and Jaczyk focus on eight groups of virtues in which the saint excelled. They present these virtues in their historical context, suggesting how Our Lord elevated St. Dominic’s humanity to help meet the needs of the people of the thirteenth century he ministered to, they also invite us to reflect on how we in the present day might better live these virtues in the twenty-first century drawing from St. Dominic.
The first virtue they focus on is St. Dominic’s love for Sacred Scripture. He made Divine Revelation the heart of all his teaching and actions. He so loved the Word of God that he always carried St. Matthew’s Gospel and the letters of St. Paul on his person. But even more important to him than the text of Scripture was the Word of God Incarnate whom the Scriptures reveal.
This leads to the second virtue highlighted in the study, St. Dominic’s love of Truth. The order Dominic founded was established to preach and defend truth, especially against the heresy of Albigensianism. This dualistic heresy rejected the Incarnation as it rejected everything fleshly and material as evil. Yet the Truth that Dominic knew and defended, and the Truth that he wants us to know as well, is not some intellectual abstraction. Ultimate Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ. All study and quest for truth needs to lead to Christ.
The third virtue Fathers Briscoe and Janczyk highlight is how profoundly St. Dominic’s life and actions are rooted in the Church. In an era plagued by heresies and poor shepherds of the flock, he did not abandon the Church but stayed ever united to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Any reforms of the Church began with the battle against sin in his own heart, through the means received from the Church.
The fourth virtue stressed by the authors is St. Dominic’s love of contemplation, his desire to grow ever closer to God through deep personal prayer. He did not see the contemplative and apostolic aspirations of the Christian soul as separate but as profoundly united. One cannot pass on to others what one has not first received. Pray grounds everything.
The fifth virtue examined is St. Dominic’s great fraternal charity. He lived in friendship with his first companions, and the love of Christ shared by them all elevated what was human in this friendship to a profound witness to the Gospel as lived in and through our daily struggles.
Sixth, Fathers Briscoe and Janczyk reflect on St. Dominic’s chastity. As a religious, the saint lived out his holy purity in imitation of Christ’s purity. He was able to rightly order human things as well as divine things in his life, not to denigrate the body, but to show that human beings, body and soul, are intended for the love of God and of neighbor.
Seventh, the authors look at how St. Dominic’s gift of preaching was rooted in his entire way of life. Preaching is who he was. His entire person, intellect, will, and body, were placed at the service of God. His contemplation of the truth that is the Word Incarnate could not help but overflow into apostolic preaching. Eight hundred years in advance of St. Paul VI, Dominic knew that people listen more willingly to witnesses than teachers (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi 41).
Though it is by no means the least of St. Dominic’s virtues, the last examined in the book is the saint’s great love for the Virgin Mary. Dominican tradition understands the very foundation of the order to be rooted in the prayers of the Virgin Mary. Tradition recounts the full Dominican habit as having been given by Our Lady. St. Dominic’s connection to the rosary is well known, and what is the rosary but a systematic invocation of Mary where we contemplate the mysteries of the life of her Son and ask her that the virtues shown forth in those events take root and grow in our lives. The vocation of St. Dominic might in fact be seen as an imitation of Mary.
St. Dominic, of course, exhibited more than just these eight families of virtues in his life. And of course, these eight virtues are not unique to St. Dominic. What Fathers Briscoe and Janczyk stress is that the saint lived these virtues in a way unique to his personality and uniquely suited to the needs of his age. But by doing so, and by the grace of God, he became a model of virtue not only for his spiritual children but for all Christians down to the present day.
In essence, the good fathers put in the mouth of St. Dominic the words of his beloved St. Paul: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (cf. 1 Cor. 11:1). His feast day is an excellent opportunity for us to use his virtues to reflect on how well our own lives witness to Christ.
Saint Dominic’s Way of Life: A Path to Knowing and Loving God
By Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP and Jacob Bertrand Janczyk, OP.
Our Sunday Visitor Press, 2021
Paperback, 139 pages
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Am praying for a future Pope St. Dominic who will model and teach these eight virtues and more!
Uitvlugt’s analogy parallels my thoughts on the unique character of individual saints, each reflecting their virtues similar to a prism. Although not Uitvlugt’s [at first I thought those difficult Scandinavian names, then found out the name is Dutch, a small town in former Dutch Guiana] clearly correct identification of their reflecting what’s in God.
There’s a great variety of personality and actions of the saints. They weren’t all manifestly meek and subdued. Paul’s letters to the churches [I believe Hebrews is consistent with his theology] describe an impassioned man, one who can weep over his love for the churches, became angered, indignant with impostors. Submitting some to Satan exhibiting amazing authority, wishing circumsisers castrate themselves. Indeed, not a Francis de Sales or Jean de Vianney. Then there’re the courageous, soft spoken martyrs Maximilian Kolbe and Damian De Veuster. Perhaps there’s a slot for a knucklehead.
There’s definitely a place in grace for holy fools and jongeleurs of the good God! In imitation of the foolishness of the One who came down from heaven to save sinners. The foolishness of which St Paul speaks.
I have a grand dream of one day writing a spectrography of many saints, showing how they each bring us back to a greater appreciation of the unfathomable mysteries of Christ…
Glad you enjoyed the review!