By Nicholas Scotchie
The August 8 feast day of Saint Dominic allows us to contemplate the life of one of the greatest saints in the history of the Church, from his efforts against the Albigensian heresy to his founding of the Dominican Order.
As with any feast day, this celebration is accompanied by prayers, hymns, and readings that are composed for the liturgy of the Mass.
Along with aiding in the worship of God through their beauty and solemnity, these texts can provide valuable insights into the character and spirit of the saint in question and allow us to enter into a more intimate relationship with these titans of faith.
Looking at the Mass in the Dominican Rite, we can find key phrases that illustrate the charism of Saint Dominic and his life of service to God and His Church.
In the Midst of the Church
In the introit, or opening hymn, of the Mass, we find text taken from Psalm 2 which speaks to the profoundly ecclesial nature of Saint Dominic’s vocation. Throughout his life Saint Dominic placed himself entirely at the disposal of the Church, sending his friars where they were most needed.
The Dominican Order was founded in part to provide bishops with holy priests and able preachers at a time when the clergy were largely uneducated and poorly formed.
Along with Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Dominic was seen holding up a crumbling Lateran Basilica in a dream by Pope Innocent III, foretelling the crucial service his order would provide the Church during the turbulent 13th century.
Enlighten Your Church with Merits and Teaching
The collect, a prayer that invokes and petitions the Lord, requests that God continue to aid His Church according to the example of Saint Dominic’s merits and teachings.
This text also points to aspects of Saint Dominic’s iconography; when his mother Blessed Joan of Aza was pregnant, she dreamed of a dog carrying a torch in his mouth, while at his baptism Saint Dominic’s grandmother saw a star appear above the babe’s head.
These visions foreshadowed the greater preacher that Saint Dominic would become.
He preached with a zeal that sought to set the world ablaze, not by his own light, but by the light of Christ which he carried through the grace of his baptism.
Plead for Your Poor Company
In the alleluia verse sung before the reciting of the Gospel, the hymn calls to mind Saint Dominic’s lifelong dedication to praying for the salvation of souls. From an early age, Saint Dominic was noted for his closeness to the poor and the suffering, having a deep love for those afflicted by sin.
This gift of “weeping for sinners,” as described by his successor Blessed Jordan of Saxony, was most evident in Saint Dominic’s nightlong vigils where he would ask the Lord “What will become of sinners?”
So great was Saint Dominic’s charity that this prayer was not just for those in his time, but was a plea for all sinners, including us.
Champions of the Faith
In the preface that precedes the Eucharistic Prayer, we find a very apt description of the work carried out by Saint Dominic against heresy and sin that was continued by his order after his death.
Since its founding the Dominican Order has emulated its saintly founder by being a voice for orthodoxy and truth, seeking to champion the Catholic faith against all opposition.
From the Albigensian heresy to the errors of our modern times, Dominicans have sought to win souls for the kingdom of Heaven through prayer, contemplation, and preaching; a charism carried out through the grace given through the intercession of Holy Father Dominic.
