Called to be a Great Saint! EWTN to Air ‘Dominic: Light of the Church’
He was a renowned preacher, a tireless defender of the Faith, and famous for his profound learning, heroic sanctity and apostolic zeal. He founded one of the greatest orders in Church history, and according to pious tradition, the Blessed Mother appeared to him in 1214, instructing him to preach the Rosary, something his order has been instrumental in spreading for centuries.
Find out more when EWTN airs “Dominic: Light of the Church” at 8 p.m. ET, 5 pm Pacific, Saturday, April 24. See the full program schedule in your local time:
Dominic was born to noble parents, Felix de Guzman and Joanna of Aza, in 1170 at Caleruega, Spain. Their saintly example not only affected the young Dominic, but also his brothers. Antonio, the eldest, became a secular priest caring for the poor and ministering to the sick in hospitals. Manes, following in Dominic’s footsteps, would become a friar preacher and was later beatified by Gregory XVI. Dominic’s mother Joanna was beatified by Leo XII in 1828.
Dominic was educated at the University of Palencia. In 1191, Spain was hit by a famine. Dominic gave up many of his possessions to feed the hungry, including precious manuscripts. In 1194, at age 25, Dominic was ordained a priest for the Canons Regular in the canonry of Osma. He would later travel with Diego de Acebo, bishop of Osma and prior of his community to spread the Gospel. In 1207, with Pope Innocent III’s blessing, the two went to preach in the south of France to the Cathars, a heretical sect with gnostic and dualistic beliefs.
After Diego’s death in 1207, Dominic continued to preach with a community and a few of the converts he won from the Cathar sect. In 1215, he moved on to Toulouse, adapting a new rule of life based on The Rule of St. Augustine. By December of 1216, Pope Honorius III approved of the new Order of Preachers, popularly known today as the Dominicans.
St. Dominic went home to the Lord in Bologna on Aug. 6, 1221. Jordan of Saxony, Dominic’s first successor, wrote of him: “Nothing disturbed the even temper of his soul except his quick sympathy with every sort of suffering. And as a man’s face shows whether he is happy or not, it was easy to see from his friendly and joyous countenance that he was at peace inwardly.” In 1234, Pope Gregory IX canonized him.
Let us ask for St. Dominic’s intercession in these trying times that we too will always give a heroic defense and have a strong zeal for our Catholic Faith.
St. Dominic, pray for us!