DOMINICAN VOCATIONS
PROVINCE OF THE ASSUMPTION
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DOMINICAN VOCATIONS PROVINCE OF THE ASSUMPTION |
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Saints, Blesseds and Servants of God |
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News -------------------------- Welcome Benedict XVI Master -------------------------- History Introduction St Dominic's gift Australia --------------------------- Order Discernment Formation Dominican habit Novitiate Studentate --------------------------- Life Introduction Four pillars Apostolate --------------------------- People Dominican saints Our brethren --------------------------- Resources Lectio Divina Links Prayer Reading --------------------------- Site dedication |
To
the Carmelites,
she is Our Lady of Mount Carmel, cradling her
Son in one arm and offering the Brown Scapular with the other.
To the Franciscans, she is Our Lady of the Angels, whose serene face
looks out from the twelfth-century mural in the Portiuncula. In
Dominican religious art, Mary is depicted either as handling the
Rosary to Saint Dominic or as Mary, Queen of Preachers, spreading her
motherly mantle wide over all the saints of the Order of Preaching
Friars. While it is impossible to say that any
religious order loves Mary the most, each of the great religious
orders honors Our Lady in a way fitting with its charism. We
Dominicans are especially known for popularising that quintessential
Marian prayer, the Rosary. What is not so well known is the
wealth of 'household devotions' to Mary that permeate life in a
Dominican priory. Our habit incorporates a full-length scapular which symbolizes humility and service and is thus associated with Mary. The white Dominican scapular was added to the canons' traditional white tunic and cape after Our Lady appeared to a mortally ill Blessed Reginald of Orleans and healed him by a holy anointing. She asked that the scapular be worn by members of the Order from that time onward. A number of traditional Dominican convent customs are rooted in the Order's devotion to Mary. Since the earliest days of the Order, it has been the custom to bless the cells in the dormitory with holy water shortly before the friars or the sisters retire. This custom comes from a tradition that Our Lady, accompanied by Saint Cecilia and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, was seen blessing the friars' dormitory cells with holy water. A few years later, Our Lady appeared to Blessed Jordan of Saxony to tell him that every night when the friars sang the Salve Regina at Compline, she prostrated herself before her Son at the words, Eia, ergo advocata nostra (meaning, Therefore, O [Mary] our advocate) and interceded for the Dominican Order. The Rosary was born from medieval popular devotion to Mary, especially the repeating of the Angelic salutation from Luke 1:28: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!" so as to bring back to Mary the joy she received in the angel's first greeting. Other medieval practices allowed for meditation on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Dominicans in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially Alan de la Roche, are credited with the popularizing of the Rosary, to the extent that the New Catholic Encyclopedia entry on the Rosary also calls it the Dominican Rosary." Regardless of the nature of one's Marian devotion in the world, once a person enters Dominican religious life, the Blessed Mother of God becomes a friend, mother, and patroness in an entirely new way. Dominicans have a tender love for the Blessed Mother, a pure and chivalrous and childlike love characteristic of the High Middle Ages that gave birth to our Order of Preachers. Tradition has long connected Saint Dominic and his Order with the preaching of the Rosary. St Dominic's followers have been called the Friars of Mary. The Rosary adorns our habit with the frequent reminder that we are united to the Son of God in the living presence of our Blessed Mother. Taken from: http://www.nashvilledominican.org/Community/Community_Traditions/Mary.htm |
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