ST. DOMINIC
The St. Dominic cards were inspired by the O Lumen Ecclesiae (O Light of the Church), which is an antiphon that is sung after the Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen) at the end of Night Prayer. The O Lumen is taken from the Magnificat antiphon for Evening Prayer on the Feast Day of Saint Dominic.
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Not long after Saint Dominic’s death, the words of the O Lumen were written by Constantine of Orvieto as an antiphon. The antiphon likely began to be recited or sung at the conclusion of Night Prayer after Dominic was canonized. As Dominicans, we are each called to heroic holiness lived in and for Christ’s Church, and the O Lumen leads us to contemplate the virtues that united St. Dominic to Christ.
O light of the church...
...teacher of truth...
...rose of patience... ​
...ivory of chastity, you freely poured forth the waters of wisdom...
...preacher of grace ​
unite us with the blessed..."
ST. ALBERT
Universal Doctor
St. Albertus Magnus, OP, also known as St. Albert the Great, OP, was a German Dominican bishop, theologian, philosopher, and scientist. For well over 400 years, he was renowned for his universality of mind. He believed in harmony between faith and reason and a well-ordered cosmos with one Divine Author. He gathered the sciences under one Divine Science, which led to him earning the title "universal doctor.” Saints can be martyrs, mystics, builders of the Church, and theologians who provide the Church a solid foundation on which to build.
Patron of Scientists
St. Albert was a true scientist, remarkably free from confusion between science and theology. He recognized that the laws of science did not divorce itself from its source and true end: God. St. Albert is famous for being the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was the first to isolate arsenic, and he played an important role in introducing the science of the ancient Greeks and of the Arabs into the curriculum of medieval universities. He was also very interested in Aristotle, and he made commentary on nearly all of Aristotle's works.
Servant of the Church
St. Albert was appointed as provincial of Germany and then Bishop of Regensburg. Even though these roles went against his natural inclination to be a simple friar who dedicated himself to study, he carried them out with grace until he was allowed to step down. Blessed Humbert of the Romans wrote to him: "I would sooner see the most beloved child of my predilection in prison than seated on a bishop's throne! ... I conjure you by the humility of the Immaculate Virgin and of her Son, not to abandon your lowly state..."
Natural Philosopher
St. Albert the Great did a lot of observational work in botany and zoology, especially in the classification of plants, flowers, and fruits; in animal reproduction and embryology; and in the study of insects. He was the first to distinguish between thorns and prickles on the basis of their formation and structure, to note the influence of light and heat on the growth of trees, and to establish that sap is tasteless at the root of a plant but becomes flavored as it ascends.
OUR LADY
Mother of the Word
Dominic was caught up in spirit before God and saw Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin sitting at his right. It seemed to Dominic that Our Lady was wearing a mantle of bright blue, the color of sapphire. As Dominic looked around, he could see religious of all the orders but his own before the throne of God. He began to weep bitterly and stood far away, not daring to approach the Lord and His Mother. Then our Lady motioned for him to come near. He would not dare, until our Lord himself also called him. Then Dominic cast himself before them weeping bitterly. Our Lord told him to rise, and when he did, Our Lord asked him, “Why are you weeping?”
Dominic said, “I am weeping because I see all other orders here but there is no sign of my own.” The Lord said to him, “Do you want to see your Order?” Dominic answered, “Yes, Lord.” Then Our Lord, putting his hand upon the shoulders of the Blessed Virgin, said to Dominic, “I have entrusted your Order to my Mother.” Then the Blessed Virgin opened the mantle that covered her and spread it out before Dominic. It seemed vast enough to cover the entire heaven and, under it, he saw a large multitude of his brethren. Then, prostrating himself, Dominic gave thanks to God and to Blessed Mary.
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Excerpted from the narration in The Miracles of Saint Dominic by Blessed Cecilia (c. 1280)
Mother of the Word
Dominic was caught up in spirit before God and saw Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin sitting at his right. It seemed to Dominic that Our Lady was wearing a mantle of bright blue, the color of sapphire. As Dominic looked around, he could see religious of all the orders but his own before the throne of God. He began to weep bitterly and stood far away, not daring to approach the Lord and His Mother. Then our Lady motioned for him to come near. He would not dare, until our Lord himself also called him. Then Dominic cast himself before them weeping bitterly. Our Lord told him to rise, and when he did, Our Lord asked him, “Why are you weeping?”
Dominic said, “I am weeping because I see all other orders here but there is no sign of my own.” The Lord said to him, “Do you want to see your Order?” Dominic answered, “Yes, Lord.” Then Our Lord, putting his hand upon the shoulders of the Blessed Virgin, said to Dominic, “I have entrusted your Order to my Mother.” Then the Blessed Virgin opened the mantle that covered her and spread it out before Dominic. It seemed vast enough to cover the entire heaven and, under it, he saw a large multitude of his brethren. Then, prostrating himself, Dominic gave thanks to God and to Blessed Mary.
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Excerpted from the narration in The Miracles of Saint Dominic by Blessed Cecilia (c. 1280)
Mary our Advocate
In 1221, a convent of Benedictine nuns in Rome, at Santa Maria in Tempulo in Trastevere, decided to become Dominicans. They were asked to join the new Dominican monastery at San Sisto, not far from the Colosseum. However, they were reluctant to do so, in part due to the ancient icon of Mary which hung in the Benedictine convent. It is an icon with a storied history, likely dating back to the first centuries of the church. One legend claims that it was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. In the early 900s, Pope Sergius III transferred the icon to the Cathedral of Rome on the Lateran Hill.
To everyone’s astonishment, the icon had returned to Santa Maria in Tempulo the following day! Aware of the nuns’ reluctance to move, St. Dominic led a procession carrying the icon from Santa Maria in Tempulo to San Sisto, thus uniting the two communities of nuns. The icon was placed in the chapel at San Sisto and remained there the following day, which the nuns took as a confirmation that this move was meant to be. Today the icon can be found in the chapel of the Dominican monastery on the hill of Monte Mario. Mary’s eyes are particularly captivating, and evoke the phrase from the Salve Regina: Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte (Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us).
Our Lady of Guadalupe
In 1531, our Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous peasant, on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico. Mary asked that a church be built on that spot as a sign of Mary’s love for the people. Juan Diego relayed this message to the Franciscan Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga, who was skeptical and told Juan Diego to bring proof of the Lady’s identity. Two days later, Juan Diego’s uncle fell ill. The following day, Juan Diego set out to search out a Catholic priest to minister to his uncle. He walked around the hill of Tepeyac in an attempt to avoid another encounter with Mary. Nevertheless, she appeared to him once again with the comforting words: “¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?” (Am I not here, I who am your mother?) She told Juan Diego to return to the top of the hill, where he found roses in bloom, an odd sight in cold December.
Mary arranged the roses in Juan’s tilma, directing him to take the roses to the Archbishop as a sign. When Juan opened his tilma to display the roses, everyone was astonished to find an image of Our Lady miraculously printed on the cloak.
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The Dominican Friars present in Mexico during that time were instrumental in the spread of the devotion of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Dominican Alonso de Montúfar, OP succeeded Zumárraga as Archbishop of Mexico. He defended the authenticity of the image and supported veneration of the tilma, against claims of idolatry railed by some who saw the growing devotion to the image by the native peoples as superstitious or unorthodox. The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on the hill of Tepeyac, is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of Mexico and the Americas.
Our Lady of the Rosary
According to an ancient tradition, Mary appeared to Dominic in 1206, offering him the Rosary as a tool for his new Order of Preachers. The Rosary would be important to this new group of religious, who would need to learn how to pray effectively on the road as they moved about to preach. The original 150 Hail Marys of the Rosary match the 150 Psalms. Since the friars were unable to travel with large books of the Psalms, a Hail Mary could replace a yet-to-be memorized Psalm in the Liturgy of the Hours. The Rosary grew as a devotion through the work of the Dominicans. Fr. Alan de Rupe, OP, formed the first Rosary Confraternities and encouraged the practice of praying the Rosary in France, Flanders, and the Netherlands between 1460 and his death in 1475.
In 1569, Dominican Pope Pius V promulgated the papal bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices, which officially established the Rosary as a devotion of the Church.
On October 7, 1571, maritime forces from southern European Christian states came up against the mighty Turkish forces at the Battle of Lepanto. Knowing that the Christian forces were greatly outnumbered and at a significant disadvantage, Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory and led a Rosary procession in Rome. The Christian forces were victorious, which was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady. Pope Pius V instituted the Feast of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate this win. Today, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is on October 7, which celebrates Our Lady’s great intercession for us through this powerful prayer.
THE HOUND
Hounds of the Lord
Before conceiving him, St. Dominic’s mother had a dream in which she saw a puppy emerge from her womb carrying a blazing torch in its mouth; it appeared to be setting the whole world on fire. This dream signified what kind of man he was going to be: an outstanding preacher, who would rekindle with the fiery word of his preaching the charity which was growing cold in many people, and chase the wolves away from the flocks with his timely barking and rouse to the watchfulness of virtue those who were asleep in their sins.
Excerpted from The Life of St. Dominic by Jean de Mailly.
St. Dominican named the order "The Order of Preachers," but shortly after his death, they became known as the Dominicans. They are also sometimes called Hounds of the Lord because "Dominicans" translates to Dominicanus in Latin, which is a very similar spelling to "domini canis" or “dog of the Lord."
