Today we conclude the series of 15 Tuesdays in honor of our Holy Father St. Dominic with a reflection on St. Dominic’s spiritual paternity.
Thank you for joining us over these fifteen weeks! These meditations have been a delightful opportunity for us to share our reflections with you, and also with each other here in the monastery during this 800th Jubilee of the death of St. Dominic. Know of our prayers for a most blessed feast of our Holy Father St. Dominic!
St. Dominic’s Spiritual Paternity
For the past fifteen weeks we have been reflecting on the life and virtues of our Holy Father St. Dominic as refracted through the mysteries of the Rosary. As founder, St. Dominic bequeathed his charism and virtues to all those God called, through his intercession, to form the body of his Dominican family down through the centuries. As Dominican nuns of the Perpetual Rosary tradition, “engrafted on the glorious Dominican tree,” we take our place with our fellow Dominicans and Dominican saints and blesseds, with great gratitude to God for all the graces we have received through our Dominican vocation.
Every year on the anniversary of departed brothers and sisters of the Order, we read in the Divine Office the account of St. Dominic’s death given by the witnesses at his canonization. (Even his death is a model, in a sense, for ours.) In this account there are several events which speak tellingly of the Saint’s spiritual paternity.
First, as a father, St. Dominic gave himself fully to the mission of the Order. When he arrived in Bologna the day before his death, he spent all his time and stayed up late at night speaking with the local prior about the affairs of the Order, which was then still newly founded, growing, and being formed. When the prior urged him to go to bed, since he himself was tired and wanted to get some rest, St. Dominic refused, going instead to the church as usual to spend the night in prayer. St. Dominic’s zeal for the salvation of souls, and his inspiration to found this Order in the Church to pursue that end by preaching the Truth, came from his total dedication to God. He gave himself fully, selflessly.
Second, St. Dominic saw his paternal authority at the service of the Order. The next day, when the Saint became increasingly ill, the brethren carried him to another church on higher ground, in hopes that the location would be more conducive to his health. If the saint died there, claimed the monk who was rector of that church, he would have to be buried there too! When St. Dominic was told this, he replied, “God forbid that I should be buried anywhere except under the feet of my brethren. Take me outside that I may die on the way and you may bury me in our church.” Under the feet of the brethren: even on his deathbed, St. Dominic couldn’t imagine himself anywhere except in the communion of the Order, in the midst of the brethren. He knew how to exercise authority as Master of the Order, how to command, how to organize, how to rebuke when necessary, but always at the service of the Order. He even wanted to relinquish his office as Master of the Order, to go and preach to the Cumins, but when the brethren at the first General Chapter refused, he obediently resumed his authority. He ruled to serve.
Third, St. Dominic’s headship of the Order is from God, an image of Christ’s headship of the Church. Back at the priory in Bologna, the brethren prepared themselves for the solemn commendation of St. Dominic’s soul. The prior said to him, “’Father, you know that you are leaving us desolate and sad. Remember us and pray to the Lord for us.’ And the blessed brother Dominic lifted his hands to heaven and said: ‘Holy Father, you know that I have gladly persevered in your will, and I have watched over and kept those whom you gave me. I commend them to you. Watch over them and keep them.’” These words, paralleling the words of Christ at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John, show that the brethren and sisters of the Order were given him by God. This is true not only of those brethren gathered sorrowfully around the saint’s deathbed, but of all of us who have been called by God to share in St. Dominic’s charism, to devote our lives to the holy preaching, and to walk the path of love and knowledge of God in the footsteps and image of our holy Father. St. Dominic receives his spiritual paternity from the Father.
Finally, St. Dominic continues to exercise his paternity from heaven. Most dear to Dominican hearts are the consoling words our holy Father spoke in answer to the brethren when they asked about themselves. Dominic replied: “I shall be more useful to you and more fruitful after my death than I was in my life.” Thus the traditional Dominican antiphon in honor of this promise of our Holy Father: O spem miram, O wonderful hope, which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, promising after your departure, to be helpful to your brethren. R: Fulfill, O Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers. As we love and reverence our Holy Father St. Dominic here on earth, we are confident that he loves and intercedes for us in heaven.
On Friday, August 6th, 1221, around 6:00 p.m, St. Dominic said to the prior and the brethren: “Begin.” “They began the office for the solemn commendation of his soul and, as the witness believes, the blessed brother Dominic said the office with them because his lips were moving. The brethren firmly believe that he breathed his last while they were saying the words: ‘Come to his help, saints of God. Hasten to receive his soul, angels of the Lord and offer him to God the Most High.’”
Today, on his liturgical feast day in 2021, we celebrate the 800th Jubilee of St. Dominic’s death, his Dies Natalis or heavenly birthday. For us in the communion of the Order, and we hope for all of you who have been following this series and have been touched in some way by the grace of St. Dominic, it is an occasion of great joy and thanksgiving for all the graces God has bestowed on us through our Holy Father. May this Jubilee Year continue to be a source of grace for us all to draw closer to Jesus and Mary through the intercession of St. Dominic.
15 Tuesdays in Review
