Sebastian Maggi lived in a colorful and troubled age, the time of Savonarola; he was, in fact, a friend of the friar of Ferrara and always staunchly defended him.

Sebastian entered the Dominican Order as Brescia as soon as he was old enough. His early years were remarkable only for his devotion to the rule, for the purity of his life, and the zeal with which he enforced religious observance. He was superior of several houses of the order, and finally was made vicar of the reformed congregation of Lombardy, which made him the superior of Jerome Savonarola, the dynamic reformer around whom such a tragic storm was brewing.

Perhaps, if Sebastian Maggi had lived, he might have saved Savonarola from the political entanglements that sent him to his death. Sebastian was his confessor for a long time, and always testified in his favor when anyone attacked the reformer’s personal life. It is hard to say just where he stood politically in the long and complex series of events concerning the separation of Lombard province from the province of Italy. But all that has been written of him conveys the same impression: he was a kind and just superior, who kept the rule with rigid care, but was prudent in exacting it of others.

Several times Sebastian Maggi was sent on missions of reform, and he died on one of these. On his way to a convent for visitation, he became ill at Genoa and died there in 1496. His body is incorrupt at the present time (1963) (Benedictines, Dorcy).

Born: 1414 at Brescia, Italy

Died: 1496 at Genoa, Italy of natural causes; body was still incorrupt in 1963

Beatified: April 15,1760 by Pope Clement XIII (cultus confirmed)

Blessed John of Vercelli, C.O.P.

1 December   John Garbella was born early in the 13th century, somewhere near Vercelli. He studied at Paris and was ordained priest before 1229. He taught canon law at the University of Paris. While he was professor there, Jordan of Saxony (who was a friend of Saint Albert the Great) came to Paris, and John saw one after another of his best pupils desert their careers to join the Dominicans. He seems to have considered them quite objectively, without reference to himself, until one day he had an interior voice that spoke to him that it was God’s will for him to join the Dominicans. No one can say that John did not respond with alacrity; he dropped everything and ran down the street. (“Let me go; I am on my way to God!”) Jordan received him happily and gave him the habit.

In 1232, John was sent to Vercelli to establish a convent there. He built this and several other convents in Lombardy as houses of regular observance. While provincial of Lombardy, he also became inquisitor. It was a particularly difficult moment. His brother in religion, Peter of Verona, had just been killed by the heretics in Como. The entire countryside was in a state of war, with roving bands of heretics and robbers. It was the task of the new inquisitor to try to bring order out of this chaos, and what John did was remarkable, considering the situation. In spite of his heavy labors, which included the supervision of 600 friars in 28 different cities (he reached them only by walking), John of Vercelli established the ideals of study and regular observance in all of his houses.

It was the good fortune of John of Vercelli to live in an age that was well peopled by saints. He formed a close friendship with Saint Louis, the king of France. Several of his tasks in the order, particularly the Commission on the Program of Studies, he shared with Saint Albert the Great, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Peter of Tarentaise (the future Pope Innocent V). In such company one would need to have a superior set of talents; John did.

In 1264 the chapter of the order met at Paris. Blessed Humbert had resigned as master general of the order. John went to the chapter hoping that he could resign as provincial of Lombardy. Instead of escaping one office, he fell heir to a still more difficult one. He was elected master general in 1264 and served in that capacity until 1283. John was then a man in his sixties and was, moreover, handicapped by a crippled leg. However, he accepted the office which would require him to walk, not only all over Lombardy, but all over Europe. It took a brand of courage and obedience that was little short of heroic.

During the generalate of John of Vercelli, the relics of Saint Dominic were transferred to the new tomb that had been prepared for it by Nicholas of Pisa. When the transfer was made, John of Vercelli fixed his seal on the tomb; the seals were still intact on their examination in 1946. During the translation of the relics, according to the account in the Vitae Fratrum, when the body of Saint Dominic was exposed to view, the head was seen to turn towards John of Vercelli. John, embarrassed, moved to another part of the church and gave his place to a cardinal. Whereupon, the head of Saint Dominic was seen by all to turn again in John’s direction.

On the death of Clement IV, John of Vercelli was very nearly elected pope. Being warned of the possibility, he fled in fright. However, his good friend Cardinal Visconti, was elected and took the name Gregory X. He appointed John as legate on several different missions.

He was commissioned by the pope to draw up the Schema for the second ecumenical council of Lyons in 1274–that council to which Saint Thomas Aquinas was hurrying when death found him on the road. At the council John distinguished himself for his assistance by offering to the council the talents of his best men. At the council, he accepted for the Dominican Order the special commission of promoting reverence for the Holy Name of Jesus and fighting blasphemy, which was, in that day as in ours, a prevalent vice. He can thus be considered the founder of the Holy Name Society, even though the Confraternity was not formed until 1432.

Several precious relics were suitably enshrined by John of Vercelli. These included several thorns from the Crown of Our Lord, which had been given him by Saint Louis of France. The cord of Saint Thomas, with which he had been guided by the angels and which he had worn until death, was given into the care of the master general, who gave it to the convent of Vercelli for safe keeping.

John’s career was rapidly reaching its end. In 1279, he presided over the famous chapter of Paris at which the order made the doctrine of Saint Thomas officially its own. The following year he laid the foundations of the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. One of his last official acts was to provide for a work on the instruction of novices (Benedictines, Dorcy).

Born: 1205 at Mosso Santa Maria, Italy as John Garbella

Died: September 1283 at Montpelier, France of natural causes; buried at the Dominican convent at Montpelier; his tomb was desecrated by Calvinists in 1562, and his body disappeared.

Beatified: 1903 by Pope Pius X (cultus confirmed), 1909 elevated him to the honors of the altar

 

Direct ancestor of thousands of Dominican sisters, who today are engaged in all the active charities of the Order, was Blessed Emily Bicchieri. She built the first convent for conventual Third Order Sisters in 1256.

Emily was born in 1238, the fourth of seven daughters. Before her birth, her mother was privileged to see in a dream something of the future work of her daughter. She saw a magnificent church-one that she had never seen before-and a beautiful young girl wearing white robes and a veil with a wreath of white roses. Around the young woman gathered other girls, all dressed in the same fashion, and, as the good woman watched, enthralled by the beauty of the scene, they formed into a procession and marched singing around the church. An old Dominican to whom she related the dream explained to her it concerned the child she was bearing, and that this child, a daughter, would be a saint.

Emily grew up among her sisters and received, for that time, a good education. They were all taught to read and embroider, and Emily very early developed a talent for seeking out the poor and the troubled, using her talents to relieve miseries. She was her father’s favorite, in spite of the fact that she emptied her purse as fast as he could fill it. While her three older sisters were concerning themselves about making advantageous marriages, she was already planning her future, she would be a nun-just what kind, she did not know.

When Emily was seventeen, the first and the greatest grief of her life came to her- her father died. She had been his constant companion for several years, and she had dreaded breaking the news to him that she wanted to enter a convent. However, faced with death, he had quite easily given her the permission she desired, and, after his estate was settled and her mother provided for, Emily set about accomplishing her desire. Her portion of the sizeable estate she used to build a convent for sisters of the Third Order Conventual of Saint Dominic. It is not known that any such institution existed before her time, but it must have been both in mind of Saint Dominic and in the plans of his successors, because the Dominican fathers of Vercelli enthusiastically supported her in her project.

The papal brief authorizing the new foundation, the Convent of Saint Margaret, bears the date 1256. On the feast of Saint Michael, Emily and her companions- who now numbered more than thirty-were dressed for their bridal day in white gowns, with veils and wreaths of white roses. Emily’s mother, coming into the church for the first time to attend the ceremony, was amazed to see the details of her dream worked out in actuality. The young aspirants were questioned concerning their intentions, and then were taken out and dressed in the Dominican Habit. A Dominican nun from the Second Order has been appointed by the Cardinal to train in the tradition of the Order, and their novitiate began.

It was perhaps inevitable that the band of young novices would recognize Emily as their natural superior. She had all the qualities of leadership that one hopes for in a superior, as well as being the foundress of the convent. Consequently, when the borrowed novice mistress completed her work and saw them all professed, Sister Emily, in spite of her youth, was unanimously named superior. She was called “Mother Emily,” which was a great trial to her.

We wish that we knew more about this interesting household. We know that it was designed for good works as well as prayer, which indicates that the cloister was not strict as it was in the Second Order houses of the time, though even Second Order nuns traveled considerably in the late thirteenth century. One of the differences, and it may well be one of the principal differences, between the Convent of St. Margaret and the Second Order foundations, was that Blessed Emily’s house had no lay sisters; all the sisters were of the same category and shared in the work of the house. The Divine Office was said, though we do not know whether the sisters rose at midnight Matins. Blessed Emily herself discouraged the contact with seculars which was to bring so many religious houses to ruin, and set up her horarium so that the sisters would have time and privacy for the life they were expected to lead. The rich gifts that she and the other sisters received from friends and relatives were promptly given out to those who came seeking help at the alm’s gate.

Blessed Emily was not spared the agonies of spiritual doubt. Anxious as she was to receive Holy Communion frequently, the practice at the time was to go only rarely to the altar rail. Overly conscientious about her small faults, and battered about by the opinions of people less fervent that she was, she entered upon a long period of worry. Finally, our Lord Himself came to relieve her of it, and assured her that it was much more pleasing to Him for her to receive Him through love than for her to abstain from receiving through fear of unworthiness.

One of the convent tasks that Blessed Emily particularly enjoyed was that of infirmarian. This gave her the double joy of helping the sick and of mortifying herself. Once, in the exercise of this office, she had to make a difficult choice. It was Christmas Day, the time when she wanted with all her heart to receive Communion. There were three very sick sisters in the infirmary, and one of them could not be left alone. Emily had to remain with her during Mass, only hurrying out to receive her Lord and rushing back again, without time for the long thanksgiving that she felt the occasion demanded. However, as she came back to the infirmary and glanced at the three sick sisters, she acted on divine inspiration and said to them, ” I am not alone, my sisters; see. I bring Jesus to bless you.” Whereupon, our Lord chose that moment to cure the three sick sisters. They promptly rose up and joined in the celebration of the feast. On another day, Emily arrived in the chapel too late for Communion. Sad and regretful, she knelt in prayer. An angel came and gave her Holy Communion, miraculously.

Emily had always been a devotee of mortification. She made use of the usual medieval methods of conquering self-fastings, disciplines, hairshirts- and added others as she thought of them. Her special devotion was to the Holy Crown of Thorns. This famous relic had been brought from the Holy Land in the year that Emily was born, and, although she could hardly have seen it, she must have heard a great deal about it. She meditated often on it and on the terrible pain that it caused our Lord. One day she bravely asked our Lord to let her share this pain, and He granted this request. The stigmata of the crown of thorns was impressed on her head for three days of intolerable suffering, and during that time she was visited by several of the saints associated with our Lord’s Passion. At the end of three days, the pain disappeared, but she retained her great devotion to the Crown of Thorns all her life.

Blessed Emily was a strict superior, but a beloved one. Many times she saved her sisters from grief of one kind or another by her parents in their behalf, and her corrections were so gentle that they had great power over the culprit.

At least twice Our Lady is said to have come to see Blessed Emily, both times to teach her prayer. Miracles were worked by the prayers of the Blessed on the occasion of a disastrous flood, and also when a fire broke out inside the convent. She cured many sick people by her prayers, but she was always embarrassed at this sort of thing, as though she had somehow committed a fault.

Born: in Vercelli, Italy, c. 1238

Died: She died in1314 after a half century of prayer and good works in the convent which she had founded.

Beatified: She was beatified in 1769 by Pope Clement XIV

Let us Pray: O God who, who didst give unto Blessed Emily, Thy Virgin, grace to despise all earthly things, grant through her merits and intercession that, despising all perishable allurements, we may love Thee with our whole heart. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Hyacinth, whom ecclesiastical writers are rightly wont to call the apostle of the north and one of the wonder-workers of his century, was of the house of the Odrowaz, counts of Konski, an old and noble Polish family. Some of his ancestors enjoyed palatine rights. To his line also belonged a number of military officers whose bravery and patriotism more than once proved their country’s bulwark against invasions by barbarian hordes. His great-grandfather, Saul Odrowaz, defeated the enemy in several bloody engagements. The saint’s grandfather, Saul Odrowaz, who gained an enviable reputation for courage by his martial exploits in the twelfth century, had two sons. Ivo, the younger, studied for the ministry, filled the office of chancellor for the king of Poland, became bishop of Cracow, and died with a great reputation for sanctity. Eustachius, the elder, married a lady whose piety ranked with her birth. God seems to have blessed their union with a fine family. Hyacinth, of whom we now write, was the eldest. According to the more common opinion he first saw the light of day in 1185. His birthplace was the Castle of Lanka, Kamin, in Silesian Poland, now a part of Prussia. The next sketch will be of a younger brother, or at least a near relative, Blessed Ceslas.

Almost from the cradle, nature seemed to have disposed Hyacinth to virtue. His parents not only studiously fostered this happy disposition, but also used great care to procure for their son teachers who would protect his innocence. In this way, he was so well grounded in his religious duties that he passed through his higher studies at Cracow, Prague, and Bologna, without tarnish to his pure soul. Doubtless his model life had not a little to do in helping him to win the admiration of both his professors and fellow-students. God also blessed him with, a splendid mind. Thus, through diligent study, at Bologna he obtained the degree of doctor in canon law and theology.

From Italy the future apostle returned to Cracow, whose bishop, Blessed Vincent Kadlubek, received him as a blessing sent by heaven for the good of his diocese. Father Hyacinth was at once appointed one of the canons at the cathedral, and soon afterwards became a member of the diocesan council. In this way, he not only took his part in the administration of the affairs of the great diocese; he was also a source of much consolation to the aged and saintly bishop. In whatever he undertook, or was entrusted to his care, the young priest showed rare prudence and ability. Furthermore, he ‘was zealous and pious.

However manifold were his duties, the future Friar Preacher did not permit them to interfere with his good works, or to dampen his spirit of prayer, or to lessen his practice of recollection. None were more punctual or exact in the recitation of the divine office by the canons. He mortified himself in many ways. He visited the hospitals regularly, and the sick found in him a sympathetic comforter. A friend to the poor, he distributed his income among them; for he felt that money received through the Church could not be devoted to a better or more advantageous use.

While Hyacinth was thus employed, edifying the clergy and people of the diocese, Bishop Kadlubek determined to resign his see that he might have more time to prepare to meet his God. This was in 1218. The Rev. Ivo Odrowaz, chancellor of Poland and uncle of Hyacinth, was then selected as Blessed Vincent’s successor. The bishop elect went to Rome in regard to his appointment. No doubt the journey was urged by King Leszek, the Right Rev. Vincent Kadlubek himself, and the cathedral chapter of Cracow, if not even by many of the hierarchy of Poland. On the one hand, the resigning prelate enjoyed too great a reputation for Honorius III readily to consent to his laying down the reigns of authority; on the other, the Polish authorities were not only content that the holy man should be allowed the rest he craved, but also anxious that the Diocese of Cracow should have as its head the one whom they judged the best fitted to take his place.

Ivo Odrowaz took with him to Italy Saint Hyacinth and Blessed Ceslas. Both of them, because of their zeal, piety, good judgment, and learning, were among the most influential clergymen of the diocese. Doubtless, therefore, the bishop elect chose them that he might have the advantage of their counsel and knowledge. In the episcopal retinue were also Henry of Moravia and Herman of Germany — a fact, which, in spite of some contrary opinions, seems to prove that they, too, stood high in the ecclesiastical circles of Cracow. The Journey appears to have assumed the added character of a pilgrimage. But, in the light of subsequent events, one is justified in the belief that it was guided by a special providence.

At Rome the little band met the Right Rev. Henry von Guttenstein, bishop of Prague. They also soon came in contact with Saint Dominic, the report of whose miracles resounded throughout the capital of Christendom, especially that of raising young Napoleon Orsini to life, which he had just performed. This was in 1218. The two bishops were so pleased with the holy man and his disciples that they besought him to establish his Order in Poland and Bohemia, where they held out every hope of great good that could be accomplished. This was precisely in line with Dominic’s wishes. Yet he felt that he should first attend to the needs of the countries nearer at hand; and his confrères were not yet sufficient in number to supply all demands. Another difficulty was the fact that none of those who had until then joined the new institute knew aught of the Polish or Bohemian languages and customs. The saint, therefore, urged the two dignitaries to wait until he should be better able to comply with their wishes.

Henry von Guttenstein seems to have been content with this promise. But Ivo Odrowaz pressed his case, for he wanted the missionaries without delay. He declared that he would protect them, nay, be a father to them, and that they would be as well cared for in Poland as in their own native lands. No one, he insisted, knew the needs of his diocese better than himself. They were extreme, and could not be met any too soon.

This appeal touched the saint’s heart. Perhaps God suggested a new idea to him. “Bishop,” he then said, “if you will let me have some of the virtuous young priests with you, I trust your wishes may be soon fulfilled. I will give them the habit; and I hope that, with the assistance of heaven, they will in a very short time be sufficiently drilled in the religious life to undertake the apostolic activities of the Order. Then I will turn them over to you. There is no doubt but that they will do in Poland what a number of my confr6res are accomplishing in Italy, France, Spain, and elsewhere.”

The suggestion pleased Cracow’s bishop. He spoke of it to those who had come with him — Hyacinth, Ceslas (both his nephews), Henry, and Herman. While, he said, his natural affections and personal interests disposed him to retain them about himself, he felt that he would render the country a great service by sacrificing them to the new Order, if they should like to join it. As it happened, all four of them had been no less impressed by Saint Dominic than Bishop Odrowaz himself. The holy man’s spirit had gained possession of their souls. Accordingly, the four, filled with the hope and desire of laboring as Friars Preacher, decided to enter the Order. They received the habit from the founder at Santa Sabina’s on the Aventine Hill.

Father Touron places this event about March, 1218. Others say that it took place a year later; while some assign it to 1220. The precise date, although important, is of less consequence than the fact that the calling of the four men seems certainly to have come from heaven. They had already been thoroughly formed, trained, and educated for the priesthood, and had had no little experience. This now stood them in good stead; for through this, the grace of God, and the masterful guidance of Dominic, they made marvellous progress in their preparation for their new life. The saint kept his promise to the bishop of Cracow. He did not wait until they had made a year’s novitiate. When he felt that they were prepared for the work of the Order, he used the extraordinary power given him by Honorius III, and permitted them to take their vows. Then he sent them, perhaps with a few others, to the field of labor which had been determined for them.

Possibly nowhere does a reflection, which often occurs to the reader of Saint Dominic’s history, present itself with greater force than in connection with Saint Hyacinth and his companions. How could the founder of the Friars Preacher prepare men in so short a time to announce the word of God with extraordinary success, while such a training, in the natural course of things, requires years? None of those mentioned in this sketch, though they were educated men, had been specially drilled in sacred oratory, or distinguished themselves by their eloquence. Yet, after the few months spent in the novitiate at Santa Sabina’s, their preaching was all but resistless, and drew immense crowds wherever it was known that they were to appear.

To the writer at least it appears that such a phenomenon can not be accounted for in any natural way, even though, as must be admitted, Saint Dominic possessed a marvellous personal magnetism, and was endowed with rare gifts for inspiring others with his enthusiasm. The only satisfactory explanation of the fact is that the great and sudden change was the work of grace. Like the apostles of old, after the day of Pentecost, they were different men.

Hyacinth, who was then thirty-three years of age, received the appointment of head of the little missionary band. Whether or not Bishop Ivo Odrowaz remained at Rome until the new Friars Preacher made their religious profession, as Father Touron thinks, they did not form a part of his episcopal train on the return journey.(11) Taking another course, they passed through the territory of the former Republic of Venice into Carinthia, and founded a convent at Friesach, in the northern part of that duchy. The Most Rev. Eberhard von Truchsen, archbishop of Salzburg, received them all the more cordially because he had met Saint Dominic at the fourth Lateran council, Rome, in 1215, and had asked him for some of his disciples. Doubtless it was at the archbishop’s request that the house was established at Friesach.

During his six months’ stay in Carinthia Saint Hyacinth really began his wonderful career. People flocked in enormous numbers to hear his sermons. He gave the habit of the Order to many, among whom were not a few clergymen. Then, with the powers conferred on him by Dominic, he instituted Father Herman of Germany superior of the house; for, as Polish historians tell us, he was a man of exemplary life, as well as possessed of great zeal, prudence, and oratorical ability.

Hyacinth, Ceslas, Henry, and some others now continued their way towards Cracow in accordance with their promise. However, they labored as they passed through Styria, Austria, Moravia, and Silesia. The report of their sanctity and eloquence had preceded them in all these places. As Father John Croiset, S. J., correctly states, the fervor of their preaching was such that the people everywhere soon recognized that the new religious institute was composed of truly apostolic men.

By this time our saint’s extraordinary life was fairly under way. Not in Cracow only, but throughout his native land word was scattered abroad of the wonderful things that God effected through his ministry. Thus, as he passed through Poland, immense crowds met him with every expression of joy and esteem; and it could easily be seen that it was the ambassador of Christ, not the nobleman, whom they sought to honor. In his well-balanced humility, Hyacinth, who had not been used to such things in his younger years, referred it all to God, of whom he was only an agent.

At Cracow itself, the bishop, his clergy, and crowds of every station in life received the former canon of the cathedral as an envoy from heaven. In accordance with the request sent by Honorius III, they left nothing undone in order to facilitate the Friar Preacher’s mission. God blessed his sermons from the start. Enmities, pride, and rivalries were laid aside. Sinners gave up their evil ways. Those who had long neglected their religious duties began to hear mass and receive the sacraments. Cracow soon became a different city. Bishop Ivo Odrowaz must have taken a keen spiritual pride in his nephew, as well as have been thoroughly convinced that his vocation was divine.

It must be admitted, writes Adrian Baillet, that such marvellous effects were the work of God rather than that of man. It is impossible to write a sketch of Hyacinth’s life that would be worth the while without playing the part of the hagiographer, no less than that of the historian. Indeed, however appealing his words and the example of his saintly life, there can be little doubt but that his labors would have been far less fruitful in good, had they not been supported by the gift of miracles. Writers of history mention many of these, which gave great éclat to his apostolate from the start.

However, as the saint himself ever sought to cover them under the cloak of humility, we shall follow his example, and mention only those marvels which are so connected with some trait or fact of his life that they can not be omitted without obscuring the course of his missions. Suffice it here to say that he was not content to tear up the cockle which the enemy had sown in with the Lord’s good grain. He ever sought to stabilize his work by the introduction of religious practices in the place of the vices against which he waged incessant war. This is what he accomplished in the city and diocese of Cracow, where even many of the high-born were soon so changed that they became models of docility.

While Hyacinth was engaged in this work of reformation, the bishop, his cathedral chapter, and the magistrates of the city acted in concert to bestow the Church of the Holy Trinity in Cracow on the Order, erect a convent, and furnish it with the necessaries for a religious community. Large as was the house, it was soon filled with ardent subjects. Trained under his care, and filled with his spirit, they extended the work of reform with signal success to the furthermost parts of Poland.

Among those whom the apostle of the north received into the Order at Cracow was a noted Roman doctor, James Crescenzi, whom an uncle, Cardinal Gregory Crescenzi, had brought from Italy in the capacity of secretary and counsellor when appointed papal legate to Bohemia and Poland. Hyacinth’s sermons so won the admiration of this young ecclesiastic, and fired his zeal, that he decided to become a Friar Preacher. He felt that in no other life could he more surely save his own soul, or do more for the extension of the kingdom. of Christ on earth. The cardinal legate, while he naturally disliked to lose the assistance of his kinsman, was too pious a man to interfere with his vocation. As a zealous preacher Father Crescenzi attained no little reputation.

Dominic’s promise to Bishop von Guttenstein of Prague had not yet been fulfilled. When, therefore, the convent of Cracow was well on its feet, Hyacinth sent Ceslas, Henry of Moravia, and others to establish themselves in Bohemia. He himself continued his, work through the provinces of Poland, where God sanctioned his efforts with frequent wonders. Everywhere he met with the same success that had crowned his toil in Cracow.

Requests for Friars Preacher came in from various places. For this reason, Hyacinth founded a convent at Sandomir, capital of a palatinate of the same name in Little Poland. He built another at Plock, on the Vistula and in the old Polish Province of Warsaw. At both these houses he gave the habit to many whom his preaching, saintly life, and miracles won to the Order. Thus, like that in Cracow, they became centers from which the entire kingdom was supplied with missionary workers.

It is in the Province of Warsaw that we first see the holy man walking on water dryshod. The account of the miracle is found in the bull of canonization by Clement VIII. While on his way, with three companions, to preach at Vissegrad, he found the Vistula in such a state of flood that the boatmen did not dare to undertake to cross it. In his strong faith, and unwilling to disappoint the people, he offered a prayer to heaven, made the sign of the cross, urged his confrères to follow him, and began to walk on the waves as if they were solid earth. As they were afraid to imitate his example, he returned to the bank. There he took off his cloak, spread it on the water, and said in a most confidential tone: “In the name of Christ our Lord, brothers, do not fear. Come on. This mantle will serve you as a bridge.”

Not only did the three missionaries obey; all four passed over the raging stream as though it had been the smoothest road. This marvellous occurrence happened in plain view of many in Vissegrad. One may thus easily imagine the effect his preaching had on the people of the town. It was one of the outstanding miracles brought up at the time of the saint’s canonization.

Hyacinth had drunk in deeply the spirit of Dominic. Like the founder of his Order, he ever dreamed of new spiritual conquests for the Church and more souls to be saved. When, therefore, religion was renewed in Poland, leaving his confrères to continue the good work there, he wended his way towards the remoter and more barbarous north. There he knew were vast numbers either still buried in the darkness of idolatry, or adherents of the eastern schism. No distance, no peril, no hardship, no lack of comfort or climatic condition could dampen the ardor of the zeal which consumed him, so Iono, as there was hope of extending the kingdom of Christ. He was ready joyously to suffer any and everything for God and the spiritual welfare of his fellow man.

From Poland the apostle took a number of Friars Preacher on this journey. Heaven blessed their endeavors with many conversions. Wherever he saw a prospect of permanent good he began a convent, and left some of his confrères to spread the light of the Gospel. Often he was left alone on his peregrinations. Although he was ignorant of the languages spoken by the various peoples in whose midst he came, he preached without an interpreter, and was understood as though he spoke their own tongues. It was like a renewal of the apostolic age. Miracles, so to express it, walked in his footsteps. While they did not always bring conversions, they at least combined with his sweet character to protect the ambassador of Christ and to make him loved.

Among the convents which the leading citizens of Pomerania, Prussia, and other places along the shores of the Baltic Sea had Hyacinth erect for them were several that became noted centers of spiritual activity. Such, for instance, was that at Kammin, on the Oder. Another was the convent of Przemysl, on the San. Kulm, Elbing, Königsberg, and Dantzic also had their great houses of Friars Preacher, which furnished many missionaries for the Lord’s vineyard. Nor must we forget the one situated on the island of Rügen, out in the Baltic Sea, just off the mainland of Prussia. All these, and more, were the fruit of the toil of the apostle of the north. That in Dantzic, as we shall soon see, has a beautiful and interesting bit of history attached to it.

To not a few of our readers, no doubt, it will be a surprise to learn that, when Saint Hyacinth went to Prussia, he found worship of the devil broadcast. Despite edicts against the impious and sacrilegious practice, myriads, who were still sunk in the darkness of idolatry, tenaciously clung to their idols, adored them with incense, and even honored them with abominable sacrifices. Others had tried to enlighten and convert these benighted people, but failed. Our Friar Preacher undertook the task, and succeeded. Here again, in the beginning, miracles were his most effective weapon against the powers of evil. Wonderful cures of the sick first won him the confidence and affection of the barbarians. Then by his sermons and instructions he not only led them to destroy their temples and burn their idols, but also to embrace the true faith. It was a glorious achievement.

That this good work, so happily begun, might be rendered durable by a thorough instruction of the people, the saint asked the duke of Pomerania for a piece of land on the River Vistula, not far from its mouth. It was almost an island; and in this secluded spot Hyacinth wished to erect a convent, whose members should devote themselves to further enlightenment of those just rescued from idolatry. At first, the duke told him that the place was not suited to his purpose, for it was practically abandoned, and inaccessible. The fathers, said the prince, would be able to effect greater good, were they located more within reach of those who needed their assistance so sadly.

But Hyacinth not merely held his ground, and won his point; he predicted that on this deserted spot would rise one of the most important cities in the north. This actually happened; for, about 1295, Przemyslaw, king of Poland, started there the present Dantzic, so well known for its commerce and manufactures. It is worthy of notice that, when, in the sixteenth century, the Lutherans gained possession of Dantzic, while they either destroyed all the other Catholic churches in the city, or converted them to their own or profane uses, they respected the one established by our saint. In 1739, when Father Touron published his book, the Dominicans still served the sacred edifice, but as a parochial church. They remained there until the expulsion of the religious orders from the German Empire.

The success of Hyacinth and his disciples, their zeal, their holy lives, and the religious observance they established in their houses of prayer were a source of the keenest delight and interest to Gregory IX. To this fact, besides the testimony of historians, we have that of the Pontiff himself in the many bulls he sent to the Friars Preacher. In a brief (of 1231), addressed to the princes of Pomerania and other places in the north, he tells of the joy given him by the conversion of so many by the labors of these missionaries, and exhorts the leaders of society in those parts to be ever docile to the teachings of the fathers, that all may be permanently brought under the sweet yoke of Christ.

Had Saint Hyacinth ceased from toil after his accomplishments in Pomerania and Prussia, he would still be one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen. But his thirst for the glory of God and the salvation of souls seemed insatiable. No sooner had he firmly established the missions of which we have just spoken, than he buried himself deeper in the northern forests. Denmark, Sweden, Gothland, Norway, and most likely Finland now became the scenes of his activity. Our Lord continued to follow him with the gift of miracles, which he did not hesitate to use in confirmation of his strong sermons against sin, idolatry, and superstition, as well as in favor of the Church of Christ.

Success again crowned his efforts. But the holy man seems to have moved with greater rapidity here than in his former spheres of labor. Perhaps it was because he felt age creeping upon him, while the world was large, and he still looked for other fields of spiritual conquest. However, for he always had an eye to the future, Hyacinth took good care to build convents in those outskirts of civilization, and to people them with fervent religious who could carry on the good work, when he should have passed to other parts.

Here we must pause in the historical part of our story, and consider a striking trait of Hyacinth’s character, which should not be overlooked, but to which we have hitherto scarcely called attention. It is his spirit of humility, prayer, penance, and mortification. The more God blessed his efforts, the more he prayed and sought to sink himself in self-annihilation. Like Saint Paul, he wished the glory of all that he did to be given to heaven. Like Paul also, he chastised his body, and brought it into subjection, lest, while he preached to others, he himself should become a castaway.

It should not be forgotten that these travels, through which we have traced the apostle, were all made on foot. He nearly always slept on the bare earth, or a bard board. Frequently, even in the frozen regions of the furthest north, he was overtaken by night during his journeys, and compelled to use the snow for a bed. One marvels how he stood it. Withal, he slackened not in the observance of his rule, or in his practice of penance and mortification.

From the extreme northwest of Continental Europe the man of God retraced his steps eastward, and passed into Little Russia. There, too, he made many conversions, the most noteworthy and helpful of which was that of Daniel, king of Ruthenia and an ardent adherent of the schismatical Greek Church. There can be no doubt but that the bringing of this sovereign into the true Catholic faith aided immensely in the work of converting his subjects, even if he did suffer politics to lead him back into his former way of error. Yet, it would seem, only an apostle like Hyacinth could have succeeded so happily with the Ruthenians; for obstinate schism, frightful moral corruption, and extreme ignorance prevailed among them. However, his patience and zeal triumphed over these obstacles. The night he gave largely to prayer; the day he spent in preaching, catechetical instruction, and the confessional.

Rome had given the apostolic man every faculty for his missions, which he did not hesitate to use for the good of souls. He never lost any time. Thus, as God always came to his assistance with miracles, he could accomplish in the course of a few months what would take years for others to do. His stay in the country of King Daniel was not long. Yet he built a convent in Lemberg (or Leopold), on the Peltew, and another in Haliez, on the Dniester. Both of these houses not only became the parent of others; they also sent forth numerous missionaries to preach the faith far and wide. Many of them crowned their lives with glorious martyrdom. Some also were made the first bishops in dioceses afterwards established by the Holy See in places which the subject of our narrative won for the true fold.

Our readers might fancy that surely the Friar Preacher’s zeal had reached its surfeit by this timeif we may use the expression, it was just getting a good start. From Little or Red Russia he passed eastward to the shores of the Black Sea or Euxine Sea. Thence he made his way southward into the numerous islands of the Grecian Archipelago in the Aegean Sea, that lies between Greece and Asia Minor. Later he proceeded north again, and entered ancient Muscovy which was called by the names of both Great and Black Russia.

What fruits Hyacinth reaped from these missionary exploits it would be hard to say, for we have no authorities from whom to draw on this part of his life. Father Touron himself does not tell us. But we can rest assured that the saint did all in his power to bring souls to God and His Church. One may readily imagine, yet not easily portray, the hardships he encountered on these journeys, as well as the difficulties he must have experienced in his efforts against the superstitions, errors, and evil ways in which these barbarous peoples had been sunk for some centuries.

Most likely our missionary left the Grecian Archipelago for Great or Black Russia on instructions from Rome, where the keenest anxiety prevailed to bring the Christians of that part of the north into communion with the Holy See. Be that as it may, he found there a medley of pagans, Mohammedans, and schismatic Greeks. Although they had a bishop, the Catholics were few in number, and without influence. They neither possessed a place of public worship, nor dared to make open profession of their faith. The situation fired Hyacinth’s zeal. Even though it had been hard even to civilize these northern hordes, he felt that it would not be impossible to convert them, if he could only bring their sovereign, Vladimir, into the Church. Redoubling his prayers and penances, therefore, the Friar Preacher sought to obtain an interview with the prince, either between themselves, or in the presence of the court, on affairs of the soul. It was a useless attempt. Education, schism, politics, and the influence of Vladimir’s counsellors combined to thwart every request for such a meeting. In none of his missions had the ambassador of Christ met with so strong an opposition. Another would have followed the advice of our Lord, shaken the dust of Russia off his feet, and gone to seek some more promising field of labor. Hyacinth did not lose courage. Probably in obedience to the Holy See, he resolved to undertake what seemed an impossibility; that is, to obtain permission to preach to the Catholics publicly.

It was as much in acknowledgment of the saint’s eminent virtues, which none could but see, as in consequence of his incessant solicitations, that the prince eventually granted him even this favor. Hyacinth now began not only to preach, but also, as was his wont in such cases, to, confirm his teaching by miracles. The report of these soon brought crowds of pagans, Mohammedans, and schismatic Greeks to his sermons. It goes without saying that the few Russian Catholics and their bishop were more than delighted. Although the others doubtless went to hear him more out of curiosity than out of any desire to learn the truth, the grace of God began at last to enkindle the light of faith in many Souls. Amy number of pagans became Christians, while not a few others gave up their schism in order to be received into the bosom of the Catholic Church.

As soon as such conversions, which included persons from every walk in life, justified it, our Friar Preacher began to stabilize his work, and to make preparations for its continuance, by the erection of a convent in Kiev (or Kieff), at that time the capital of both Russias. Then, with the assistance of confrères sent to him from elsewhere, he received subjects from among his converts and prepared them to perpetuate his apostolate.

Meanwhile, the saint continued his mission of spreading the light of the faith. One day, as he passed along the banks of the Borysthenes, now called the Dnieper, he beheld a crowd of people, bareheaded and on their knees before an oak tree, on an island in the river. Ile knew at once that they were pagans engaged in their idolatrous prayers and sacrifices. Under an impulse of charity, as there was no boat at hand, he confidently crossed over the arm of the stream which separated him from them, treading on the water as though it were solid earth. So extraordinary a spectacle not only caused these benighted people to receive the messenger of Christ with joy, but also prepared them to listen to his instructions. Indeed, before he left them, they made a pyre of their idols, felled the oak which they had considered sacred, because the throne of their false deity, and embraced Christianity.

The many conversions effected by our Friar Preacher and his confrères caused Prince Vladimir no little uneasiness. He was a headstrong member of the Russian or Greek schismatical Church, over which his position as leader of his dukedom gave him practically unlimited authority. The numbers embracing the Catholic faith made him fear a decrease of power in matters both spiritual and temporal. This was an erroneous notion, of course. Yet it led him to revoke the permission he had given to preach, and to begin a bitter persecution of the Church in order to undo the good work which the saint had accomplished. In this he was ardently abetted by politicians and schismatical clerics who had closed their eyes to the light.

But Hyacinth and his co-laborers were not to be frightened by hardships. They were ready to seal their faith with their blood, and continued to preach the truths which bad been confirmed by many miracles. Like the apostles, with Peter at their bead, they declared: “We ought to obey God, rather than man.” Divine punishment was not slow in coming upon the leaders in this persecution. The early historians are one in the opinion that the unspeakable calamity which soon befell Kiev was a chastisement of it. Unawares a large army of Tartars, who spread terror through Europe in the thirteenth century, laid siege to the city. It was defended with heroism. Still, in the end, it was taken by assault, pillaged, and reduced to ashes.

The missionaries were saved by a miracle. While the barbarians were engaged in the sack of Kiev and the butchery of its inhabitants, after the city had been captured, Saint Hyacinth, carrying a ciborium in one hand, and in the other a heavy alabaster statue of the Blessed Virgin which had appealed to him for protection, conducted his community in safety to the banks of the Dnieper. There he told them to follow him. He led the way, and they all walked dryshod across the waters of the deep river, which then protected them from the fury of the Tartars. All the Polish historians are one in recording this marvellous fact, although some of the later writers confuse it with the similar crossing of the Vistula mentioned earlier in our sketch.

A circumstance, which is recorded in connection with this miracle, renders it all the more remarkable. It is said that the footprints of the saint remained on the water, even after he had crossed the river; and that, when the stream was calm, they could be seen for centuries afterwards. Be it as it may, it is certain that, when the cause of the man of God was up for canonization, four hundred and eight witnesses were rigidly examined on this very matter, and they all attested on oath that they bad seen these footprints with their own eyes; which, they said, the natives of the country call “the way of Saint Hyacinth.” The comment of the learned Jesuit editors of the Acts of the Saints (Acta Sanctorum) on this point is well worthy of reproduction. They tell us:

Possibly the remaining of the footprints [of Saint Hyacinth] on the waters of the Dnieper, which are also said to be still seen on the water of another river, will appear incredible to some. But, as says our Father Peter Ribadeneyra (Flores Sanctorum, Part II — Vita Sancti Hyacinthi –, page 418), nothing is impossible to God. Although this miracle appears most singular and stupendous, it is not beyond His power. Since, therefore, we know that the arm of the Lord is not shortened, and numerous witnesses have given sworn testimony that they have seen these footprints, we advisedly admit this marvel, however extraordinary it is.

The Friars Preacher at Cracow claim that they have the statue of our Blessed Lady which Hyacinth carried away from Kiev. Some historians, however, say that he left it at the convent in Halicz, which was built in 1234, and that it was taken to Lemberg in 1414, when the archiepiscopal see was transferred thither from the former city. Be this as it may, the saint, for he was provincial in all those northern parts, placed at Halicz the youngest of the religious whom he brought from Kiev. The others he sent to preach in different places. Then he continued his way to Poland, delivering sermons in the various towns along his route.

It was in 1241 when he reached Cracow on this return journey. He was then in the fifty-sixth year of his age. For nearly two years he now remained at the Convent of the Holy Trinity, possibly in part to rest his body after so many arduous labors, and in part to refresh his soul in the greater quiet of the cloister. He was rejoiced to find that the number of missionaries, largely through the ardor of Father James Crescenzi, bad much increased since he left the place, and that the spirit of regularity which he had established there continued to flourish. He was edified, as well as gave edification. All regarded him as a model after whom to pattern their lives. Even during this retirement, for his zeal and charity ever urged him on to help others, he preached to the faithful, and consoled the afflicted, whether spiritually or physically.

It was apparently at this time that a distinguished lady, named Clementina, who lived at Kosczieliecz, some miles distant from Cracow, invited the Friar Preacher to preach to her vassals on Saint Margaret’s day. When he arrived at the village, on the eve of the feast, he found all the crops destroyed by a storm of wind and hail. Nothing bad been spared. To make matters worse, those who were prepared for an abundant harvest would now be unable to seed their fields for the ensuing year. Great want confronted everyone. The kindly lady who had invited him mingled her tears of sorrow with those of her dependents.

A less sad spectacle would have sufficed to move Hyacinth to besiege heaven for the performance of a miracle to relieve suffering. But here he saw an opportunity of reaching the hearts of sinners by the unexpected. He persuaded the poor people to spend the night in prayer, and to have confidence in the fatherly goodness of God. His own supplications blended with theirs. To the surprise and happiness of all, when the sun rose the next morning, every sign of disaster had disappeared. The grain was in as good condition as before the storm. Quite naturally, the holy man’s sermon bore rich fruit among these poor people.

Two other miracles, which, it would seem, belong to this period of his career, we may mention as illustrating the general course of our saint’s life. As he entered the cathedral of Cracow to preach, a distressed mother placed before him two blind children who had been born without even eyes. The man of God made the sign of the cross over them, and at once both became normal.

In the same city there lived a distinguished man and his wife, who, like Elcana and Anna (I Kings, Chapter 1), had no children. This circumstance rendered their married life unhappy, for they had no natural heir to whom they could leave their fortune. In her sorrow, the wife, Madam Felicia Gruszouska, went to Hyacinth to beg his prayers that God might bless her with a son. Having made his usual sign of the cross over her, he told the lady to be of good cheer, for heaven would give her a male heir who would be the progenitor of many bishops and princes. History proved the truth of his prophecy.

The houses which the saint himself founded, or caused to be built by others, in Poland and the northern countries (especially in the two Russias) were divided into two historical provinces, of which he is justly considered the father. A Polish historian, who wrote his life from reliable sources, is quite positive in his declaration that the subject of our narrative long governed all these convents in the capacity of provincial; and this statement is substantiated by an ancient document in the priory of Lemberg.

Some writers of the seventeenth century, it is true, do not accept this conclusion. But the argument on which they base their stand tends rather to refute their opinion. They tell us that his missionary journeys and engagements would not have permitted him to attend to the duties of a provincial. On the contrary, however, it was precisely the rapidity with which he passed from place to place that enabled him to visit so many monasteries scattered in such widely separated localities. Almost any other man would have been appalled by the very thought of the endless travel the position necessitated.

As a matter of fact, after somewhat less than two years spent in Cracow and its vicinity, the tireless Friar Preacher started on another tour of the north and extreme northwest, where he had either established, revived, or strengthened the faith. Sweden, Denmark, and the other countries, through which we have traced him, were not forgotten. Everywhere his memory was still treasured. His presence aided his own confrères, no less than the faithful. Through his preaching new members were added to the convents, and the fold of Christ was increased. Possibly some other religious houses rose along his path.

Hyacinth was a character to whom Saint Dominic would hardly have failed to reveal his wish to consecrate himself to missionary work among a people then known as Cumans. They were a wandering race, who seem to have made their principal habitat in a stretch of country extending from northeastern Hungary and Roumania into adjacent parts of Russia. A desire to bring this people into the fold of Christ was inherited by more than one of the early disciples of the founder of the Friars Preacher. Father Paul of Hungary (chosen by Dominic himself for this apostolate) and his companions had already sown the seed of faith there. Thither Hyacinth also turned his mind on his return from the missionary tour described in the preceding paragraph. Possibly he resigned his provincialship for that purpose.

With his usual zeal he began to toil hand in hand with his confrères. But, as he saw there was no special need of his labor in those parts, because of the number engaged in the mission, he soon cast about for some more distant center of action. The Tartars had driven him from Kiev, and largely destroyed the fruits of his labor in that part of Russia, where everything yielded to their arms. Why not, therefore, thought the saint, carry the sword of the cross into their own country? With the permission of his superiors, he now made his way to the very strongholds of this barbarous and warlike people. We are told that, through his miracles and holy life, he converted several thousand of them to the Christian faith.

Father Michael Pio tells us that a prince of Tartary was among Hyacinth’s converts, and that this leader, together with a number of his followers, attended the first council of Lyons (1245), and was baptized there.  No proof of this statement can be found in the history of the council. On the contrary, we know that it considered measures for repressing the ceaseless and bloody incursions of these barbarians into Europe — particularly Poland, Russia, and Hungary. It is true that, in 1248, ambassadors of the great Tartar sovereign visited the French king, Saint Louis, in the Island of Cyprus. They said that their khan had become a Christian, and had sent them to offer assistance against the Saracens, who were no less enemies of the Tartars than of the Christians. The letter of the Tartar sovereign was given to Father Andrew de Longjumeau, O. P., to read; for he had been a papal envoy to Tartary, was acquainted with one of the ambassadors, and knew their language.

This fact, recorded both in ecclesiastical history and in the Life of Saint Louis, shows that Christianity was preached to these fearless barbarians, before whom the world trembled, prior to 1248. It is also proof that Hyacinth was neither the first nor the only Friar Preacher who labored for their salvation. Writers generally suppose that he was alone on this mission. Yet rarely did the sons of Saint Dominic take long journeys without companions. In any case, however, it seems certain that he remained longer among these intractable people than any of his confrères. Doubtless, too, for he was a man whose tireless zeal God ever supported with miracles, he made more conversions among them than any other.

Our Friar Preacher traversed a large portion of the immense stretches of Tartar territory. Then he made his way to the old Kingdom of Thibet, and continued his course northeast to Cathay, or the uppermost part of China. Everywhere the apostolic man preached redemption and salvation through Christ crucified. Everywhere he strove with all his might to revive the spark of faith which missionaries had enkindled there in the early centuries, but which war, persecution, paganism, and time bad combined to extinguish. Ambassadors of Christ, who traversed these regions in after times, found traces of Catholicity still in existence.

Our readers, we can but fancy, have marvelled at the prodigious labors and travelling of Saint Hyacinth, although we have given only a meager account of them. They extended over a period of nearly forty years, and carried him through a large part of Europe and Asia. Doubtless, if they were recorded in detail, and in proper sequence, they would be found infinitely more stupendous than we have painted them. He alone could have told them as they should be recounted. Yet it possibly never entered his mind to leave posterity any information on his life. The one thing that engaged his thoughts was, after saving his own soul, to help those of others, to make God known, and to extend the kingdom of Christ. The same idea filled the minds of the confrères who were often his companions in labor. In this way, it was only through the scanty records discovered in cities and the early convents that historians have been able to tell us the little we do know about him. Still perhaps never was there a life which should be more completely written than that of Saint Hyacinth Odrowaz.

From the east the missionary made his way back to Poland, travelling and preaching as he had done on the outward journey. Soon we find him again in Red Russia, where his efforts seem to have borne as much fruit as they had done in his younger days. Among the conversions he now made was that of Prince Coloman (or Koloman) and his wife, Princess Salomea. Not merely did the saint bring them out of schism into the Church; through his guidance they were led to the practice of heroic virtue.

At this period of his life, he gave practically all his attention to Volhynia, Podolia, and Lithuania. The people flocked in enormous numbers to hear the sermons of the Friar Preacher. Convents arose under his influence. That at Vilna, then the capital of the Duchy of Lithuania, became the chief house of a large Dominican province, whose members labored most earnestly for the spread or preservation of the faith in the northern parts which he had evangelized. The repute of Hyacinth’s sanctity, zeal, goodness of heart, self-sacrifice in behalf of religion, and what he had done for the Church, combined with the consequent love and veneration in which he was held not only to spur these religious on in their labors, but also to render the people more responsive to their efforts.

It is no wonder that the Catholics among the Slavonic races look upon Saint Hyacinth as the apostle of their various countries. In Poland especially he is as deeply loved as Saint Patrick in Ireland. No doubt this veneration has contributed not a little towards maintaining the inhabitants of that country true to the faith. The influence of his labors in Russia may be seen from the mere fact that, from 1320 to 1439, all the bishops of Kiev were taken from the Order of Preachers. There were six of them in succession.

In the three provinces mentioned in the last paragraph, but one, our Friar Preacher travelled four thousand leagues (that is, some twelve thousand miles) afoot. Then he returned to Cracow. This was in 1257. He was then in the seventy-second year of his age, and broken down by ceaseless toil. So he wished to end his days where he had begun his glorious career. The arrival of the holy man was an occasion of universal joy. Both the convent and the city received him with open arms. All classes, because of his sanctity and what he had done for religion in the diocese, called him their guardian angel. King Boleslaw V and his wife, Queen Cunegunda, held him in the highest esteem. Through his spiritual direction of their souls, they led such model Christian lives that his majesty has come down in history under the name of “Boleslaw the Chaste.”

Everyone had absolute confidence in the saint’s goodness of heart and power of miracles. An example of this is shown in Princess Przybislauska, a pious lady, who sent her only son to ask him to preach at Zernitz, not far from Cracow. Hyacinth consented, and said that he would start for the place in a short while. When on his way home, the young man accidentally fell into the River Raba, and was drowned. On reaching the stream, our Friar Preacher found the princess almost in despair over the loss of her child, who had been taken from the water. Moved to compassion, the saint said a prayer. Then, taking the youth by the hand, he commanded him to rise, and gave him to his mother. This was perhaps the holy man’s last miracle.

The great missioner knew perfectly well that not only were his days of labor over, but also that he was near the end of life’s journey. Like Saint Paul, he welcomed the dissolution of his body; for then his soul would be united to God, whom he had served so long, so faithfully, and with so much good to others. His communion with our Lord and our Blessed Lady were more intimate and tender than ever. Historians tell us of his great devotion to the Mother of God, and assure us that he received many of his greatest blessings through her. Now he placed himself under her protection in an especial manner. His last illness was not long. On August 14, 1257, he called the community of the Holy Trinity, Cracow, to his bedside. Then he addressed them somewhat after this fashion.

“My dear brothers, the time has come at last, when I must leave you. God calls me, and I must go to Him. Do not be sad, for I only go to join Christ our Lord. I have always loved you on earth. I will not cease to love you in heaven. Continue to strive to prepare a place for yourselves there; for you know our Saviour never refuses such a blessing to those who are faithful to grace, and persevere in His service until the end. That which our holy father, Saint Dominic, bequeathed to me I leave to you.

“Love one another. Be exact in the observance of the rules of the Order. Everything in it is important; for the smallest matters are so many aids to perfection. Love and practise poverty, charity, and obedience. Remember that your vocation requires that you ever labor for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Be always eager to preach, and zealous in the propagation of the Order unto the end that more souls may be brought to love and serve God.”

Weak as he was, Saint Hyacinth attended the matins, and perhaps prime and tierce, of the divine office in choir on the morning of August 15. Then, because unable himself to offer up the holy sacrifice, he attended the community mass, after which he received communion at the foot of the altar. It was also the viaticum for him. Indeed, the prior, thinking that he was in the agony of death, gave him extreme unction in the same place. The holy man was anxious to die there. But his confrères persuaded him to let them carry him to his cell, where he died a few hours later in transports of love, while saying the psalm: “In thee, O Lord, have I hoped. Let me never be confounded. Deliver me in thy justice.” He retained perfect consciousness until the end.

The Blessed John Prandota, then bishop of Cracow, went to the church of the Friars Preacher just as soon as he heard of the death, in order to pay his last respects to one whom he regarded as a saint and treasured as a friend. Indeed, not only the city but even the entire diocese of Cracow was cast down by sorrow, which was equally felt by rich and poor, high-born, freeman, and serf.

Miracles began at once to be wrought at the saint’s grave. From Poland they gradually extended throughout the Christian world, as the faithful had recourse to him in prayer. During life he had been called a wonder-worker. After death the many marvels effected through his intercession gave him a still more just title to this name. We can not undertake to write of all those given by historians, or proved in the course of his canonization. The merest outline of them would require as much or more space than is given to this sketch. Page after page in large folio is taken up with them in the Acts of the Saints.  Suffice it to reproduce the epilogue of the learned editors of the Acts to their treatise on the great Friar Preacher, where they say:

We have given the foregoing facts, dear candid reader, for the contemplation of the devout and for the glory of the holy man of God, Saint Hyacinth. His every act was consecrated to the propagation or maintenance of divine truth, or to enkindling devotion in the hearts of the faithful. These facts are drawn from original and authentic sources used in the process of the saint’s canonization. We have been very brief in the presentation of the miracles effected by him, lest a complete list of them, because it would be exceedingly long, should prove tiresome to many. Yet we have sought to include enough of them to give a good idea of this extraordinary man, and to show how God was ever with him. In fine, though in as short a space as possible, we have endeavored to do him a justice which can but redound to the glory of the Almighty.

In the cause of brevity, for instance, we omitted visions and apparitions of Saint Hyacinth at various times to different sick persons. We counted thirty-six of these from the original documents used for his canonization. Similarly, and for the same purpose, we passed over thirty witnesses to his sanctity and holy life in general. We felt justified in this course, for the reason that fathers of his Order and other men, who are absolutely trustworthy, and are described in the process of his canonization, mention almost innumerable prodigies performed by the blessed servant of God for the spiritual welfare of the faith. These marvels are in addition to those given in writing and universally sworn to by the witnesses called for his canonization, as recorded in our pages. In other words, we largely confined ourselves to miracles juridically attested. Yet we trust that we have left out nothing that might add materially to a knowledge of the saint’s life, character, and virtue.

One may consider the practical, lively faith of the Poles, whether in the home land or in others, as a perpetual miracle of Saint Hyacinth. In no small measure they owe it to him. To that keen faith we must attribute the magnificent institutions of learning, charity, benevolence, and the like, as well as the churches, monasteries, and similar edifices, in which Poland abounds, and in which it has found expression. All these are filled with the spirit which the people largely derived from him. They simply thrill with love and gratitude for him. This true spirit of Catholicity, we must remember, has been preserved undiminished for centuries through wars of every kind, division, hardships, persecution, and every sort of oppression-the like of which the world has seen few parallels. We have here, it would seem, the greatest miracle of the zealous apostle’s life. At least, it has contributed more to the glory of God, the good of the Church, and the salvation of souls than any miracle he performed.

Throughout the northern countries our saint found paganism, or idolatry, or atheism, or moral corruption, or schism, or superstition. In some places there was a mingling of all these evils. He soon learned from experience that they were often largely a result of ignorance, for his converts were ever ashamed of their former error. Accordingly, the holy man left nothing undone that the people might be enlightened. This was one of the reasons why he was so careful to establish houses of his Order wherever he could. Like Saint Dominic, through a special gift from heaven, he soon prepared those whom he clothed with the religious habit to carry on the work of instruction. His was a pre-eminently constructive genius.

How well he laid his foundations, and how thoroughly he trained those whom he received into the Order, may be seen from what we have now to relate. Not a few of them died a martyr’s death. Several became bishops in those northern lands. Indeed, for two hundred years after lie had ended his earthly career, subjects of the convents lie founded continued to be chosen for the miter. Among his immediate disciples thus honored we may mention one Father Vitus, whom Mindowe, duke of Lithuania, had appointed bishop of his duchy. After the murder of Mindowe, the prince’s eldest son, Vaisvilkas, began a persecution of the Catholic religion, and compelled the holy prelate to leave the country. He retired to the Convent of the Holy Trinity, Cracow, where he died before Saint Hyacinth. Bzovius (or Bzowski) claims that miracles were wrought at Vitus’ tomb.

Enormous numbers of apostolic Friars Preacher, in fact, went forth from Saint Hyacinth’s convents or schools, both before and after his death, to spread the light of the Gospel, or to die for the faith, far and wide. As has been noticed, bulls of Gregory IX and Innocent IV give eloquent testimony to the ardent zeal and extensive labors of those who toiled in Hyacinth’s own time.

His confrères in the north, in concert with the Polish sovereigns and grandees, began to urge the saint’s canonization shortly after his death. Still, owing to distance, slow and difficult communications, wars, the death of various Popes, and other tantalizing causes of delay, the case dragged along for more than two hundred years. Finally Lutheranism, with its condemnation of the cult and invocation of saints, and the danger with which it threatened Poland, aroused the zeal of Sigismund I and his successors on the throne. By them, rather than by some of the Polish hierarchy, was Hyacinth’s cause then ardently advocated. The people at large were most anxious to see him elevated to the honors of the altar.

Clement VII beatified the great missionary, and granted his office and mass to the Friars Preacher and all the dioceses of Poland. This was in 1527. The Holy Father could hardly have given the northern Catholics greater joy. In 1543, the Most Rev. Peter Gamrat, archbishop of Gnesen, having had a chapel erected in the Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity, Cracow, for the purpose, the first translation of Hyacinth’s relics took place. It was an occasion of gala, not for the city and diocese only, but for the entire country as well. In 1583 there was a second solemn translation of his relics, under the supervision of the Right Rev. Peter Miszkowski, bishop of Cracow. At this time, they were exposed on the altar of Archbishop Gamrat’s chapel for the veneration of the enormous crowds who flocked to the sacred edifice for the event.

The cup of spiritual joy for all the Catholics in northern Continental Europe, not less than that for those of the Polish tongue, was finally filled by the formal canonization of the saint. This took place on April 17, 1594, under Clement VIII. It was not without reason that the papal bull for the occasion declared that the miracles performed by Hyacinth were “almost countless.” It is quite possible that the multiplicity of these wonders, together with the extraordinary character of many of them, was in part the cause of the long delay in according Hyacinth so signal an honor; for Rome, in her usual prudence, wished to have them thoroughly examined before she placed on them the seal of her sanction.

However that may be, the action of Clement VIII met with universal favor. Prayers of gratitude rose to heaven everywhere. Poland and the Order of Preachers, as was but natural, outdid the rest of the world in their solemn celebration of the event. Other marvels now added to the renown of the new saint. In consequence of all this, February 1, 1625, Urban VIII extended his feast to practically the entire Church, with the rank of a duplex, and set August 16 as the day for its observance; but it has lately been transferred to the seventeenth of the same month. As a crowning glory of the Friar Preacher, Hyacinth was finally declared a patron saint of the Polish Church and people.

Born: 1185 at Lanka Castle, Kamin, Silesia, Poland

Died: August 15, 1257 at Krakow, Poland of natural causes; relics at Paris, France

Canonized: April 17,1594 by Pope Clement VIII

Patronage: Poland

Although Father Touron failed to give a sketch of this distinguished Friar Preacher in his First Disciples of Saint Dominic, it is certain that he belonged to them, and that he was an outstanding character in the noble galaxy. Some authors say that John was a scion of the noted Guana family, and connected with the Norman princes who long reigned over the former kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. Whilst they do not give the date of his birth, practically all hold that he first saw the light of day at Salerno, some thirty miles south of Naples; that he studied at the University of Bologna; and that he entered the Order in that educational center. With one or two exceptions who give this honor to Blessed Reginald of Orleans, the writers maintain he received the habit from Saint Dominic himself. The year 1219 is the date assigned for the ceremony.

Evidently John was then a man of mature years, for he was soon placed at the head of twelve other confrères sent to establish the Order in Florence. A few date this commission in 1219; but 1220 is the time ordinarily given. The choice of him for superior in so important a city confirms the statement that his rare virtue, which he had practiced from early youth, made a strong impression on Saint Dominic. Although very small of stature, the future blessed possessed a mighty mind and a courage that nothing could awe. Doubtless these qualities also appealed to the patriarch, who seemed to judge of the characters ‘ of men almost by intuition, for an able, fearless leader was needed in Florence. Dominic and John are said to have been intimate, trustful friends-no doubt, a relationship born of grace. That the saint formed a correct estimate of his young disciple is shown by the fact that our blessed soon became one of the most influential Friars Preacher in Italy.

A curious story is told about the first house of the fathers at Florence. It was built, so it would seem, by one Deodate del Dado (possibly a merchant) who wished to make restitution for his dishonesty by devoting it to religious purposes. Situated in the “plain of Ripoli”, two or three miles from the city limits, on the way to Arezzo, it was better suited for a contemplative order than for one of the apostolic character of Saint Dominic’s. Mamachi thinks another community had occupied it. Be that as it may, it was free when the builder beard of the wonderful preaching of the holy man from Caleruega, in Bologna. So he hurried to that city, attended one of the saint’s sermons, and then offered the place to him. Some writers say that the proffer was accepted at once, and the delighted donor accompanied the first missionaries back to Florence.

When the fathers arrived at the hermitage of Ripoli, land saw its lonely, remote location, some of them likely wondered if their prayerful, mortified superior might intend to sacrifice the active side of their institute, which they had seen brought so prominently to the fore in Bologna, to the retired and cloistered side. They did not have long to wait before learning his views. Although the house was small, John of Salerno felt that it would suffice for a start. The first few days he spent in setting the place in order. Then he called the community together, and made known his plan of action. The life of a Friar Preacher, he said, is that of an energetic apostolate. They had come to humble Hipoli, not for their own sakes, but for the spiritual welfare of the faithful in the Province of Tuscany. The work would commence on the morrow, and every man would be expected to do his duty.

Day by day the little handful of soul harvesters left their hermitage at an early hour, in bands of two, that they might preach the word of God in Florence or elsewhere. In all things the diminutive superior, with a great mind and magnanimous soul, set the example, as well as led the way, which he would have the others follow. They assembled the people in churches, public squares, market places, open plains — wherever they could procure an audience. In the evening, unless too far away, they returned to their quiet abode for prayer and meditation.

Proud, cultivated Florence was stirred to the very core by the eloquence and zeal of the new religious, in whose lives there seemed to be naught of the worldly. The effect of their sermons was enhanced by the patience with which they trudged afoot back and forth between Ripoli and the city. They were on every tongue-in every mind. Their preaching was discussed in public, no less than in private. Repentant Deodate seems to have taken care of their secluded home while they were absent, as well as to have contributed towards their maintenance. No doubt he was happy in the realization that his work of amends bore such rich fruit.

Among the band of missioners, men of God though they all were, John of Salerno shone especially for his oratory, virtue, and quest for souls. None of them appeared quite so heroic as he. Whilst his example, fatherly government, and kindly admonition ever urged his confrères on in their exertions, his fine judgment and tact won the confidence of the faithful. All this combined with his superb scholarship and rare devotion to bring him the affection of the archbishop, John di Velletri, together with that of the vast majority of the diocesan clergy. Indeed, our Friar Preacher had every qualification for a perfect superior and a successful fisherman of men. Thus it is no matter for wonder that he was retained at the helm of his Order in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities, yet ever a maelstrom of political intrigue.

Saint Dominic is said to have been so impressed with the reports of the good’ effected by his brethren in Florence that he paid them at least one visit, and was delighted with their fervor and zeal.  Their benefactor, Deodate, seems to have lived less than a year after they settled in his hermitage. His death deprived them of their principal source of support. This misfortune, together with the fatigue of walking back and forth each day between the city and the “plain of Ripoli,” caused the Florentines to obtain permission for them to use the hospice of Saint Pancratius, which stood at the side of the church of the same name within the municipal limits, until a more suitable place could be obtained for them. John of Salerno gladly acceded to the proposal, -and moved his community thither at once, for this more convenient location would be of great aid to his confr6res in their work.

From Saint Pancratius’ the fathers were soon transferred to Saint Paul’s. There, however, as was but natural, objections against their presence were raised by the clergy stationed at that church. John and his companions, while continuing their labors, bore all difficulties with admirable patience. Fortunately, no doubt in answer to their prayers, providence came to their aid. A Father Foresio, rector of Santa Maria Novella, touched by their virtue, zeal, and forbearance, offered them his church, together with the buildings attached to it, on condition that they would pay a moderate allowance each year for his support. Our blessed, in his capacity as superior, gratefully accepted the generous proffer. Cardinal Ugolino, the papal legate whom we have so often seen in the ro^le of a friend of the Order, and Archbishop di Velletri warmly approved of the project.

Santa Maria Novella passed into the hands of the Friars Preacher, November 8, 1221. Thus John of Salerno became the founder of the great convent at Florence, which was destined to become one of the most historic and beautiful in a religious institute renowned for its learning and deeds, as well as for its cultivation of the artistic. Many noted clergymen were trained and educated there. Not a few of Italy’s most famed painters, sculptors, and architects were employed there. It is still an object of delightful study for artists from every part of the world. Because of its exquisite decorations, Michael Angelo was wont to call it “The Bride.”

Florence had become one of the strongholds of the new Manicheans in Italy, whence their evil influence spread throughout Tuscany. They hesitated at nothing for the propagation of their destructive principles. In the subject of our sketch they met with a relentless foe. Day and night he opposed them, whether by deed or word. Never was he known to quail before their threats or attacks. His fearless action and preaching not only produced the most salutary effects, but even won for him the name of “hammer of heretics.” He must ever rank high amongst those brave Friars Preacher who helped to free the Italian Peninsula from the dangers of Manicheanism and Albigensianism.

The persuasive eloquence of the man of God combined with the odor of his sanctity and the fire of his zeal to draw many and brilliant subjects into his Order. They came from numerous places, but especially from Florence, Prato, and Pistoia. Among them was the noted Hugh of Sesto, a canon at Saint Paul’s who had led the opposition to the fathers at that church. Others who should not be omitted were: Roderic, a canon at Saint Peter’s; James Rabacante, who later succeeded John of Salerno as prior of Santa Maria Novella; Ottavente di Nerli; Roger Calcagni, who became the first papal inquisitor at Florence and bishop of Castro; Father Buoninsegna, a martyr at Antioch who is commonly called blessed; Ambrose of Rimini, a celebrated preacher who became bishop of his native city; Thomas Morandi, honored with the miter of Fano; and Aldobrandini Cavalcanti, entrusted with the charge of the Diocese of Orvieto. We might mention more, but those given above suffice to show the character of those whom the early disciple brought into his institute.

Blessed John had a special gift for governing others. He seemed to read dispositions almost as he would read a book. In all things he showed himself a father, brother, friend, and servant to those under his charge. He dominated their wills by kindness, quickened their zeal by his own, directed them along the path of perfection by his example and gentle words. The love which he bore them merited the affection which they gave him.

Whatever he did, the man of God was doubtless guided by the lessons which he had received from Saint Dominic. He had lived under the patriarch at Bologna, had met him in Florence, and of course bad come in contact with him at the general chapter of 1221. Some writers say he was the saint’s travelling companion on several apostolic journeys; but this statement seems doubtful. However, such was his love for the Order’s founder that he no sooner received word of his serious illness than he started in all haste for Bologna, where he arrived just in time to receive the dying man’s last blessing and the assurance that he would be more helpful to the infant institute in heaven than he could be on earth. Such is the importance which one saint attaches to the word of another, that we are justified in believing those of Dominic must have acted as an inspiration for Blessed John of Salerno the rest of his life.

God enriched the soul of this early disciple with many choice graces. One of the things which greatly aided him in the spiritual direction of others, whether in his Order or without it, was the faculty often accorded him of reading their consciences. Many a time did he make known to his penitents sins which they had forgotten. This gift, quite naturally, increased his influence; and he was careful to use it only for the spiritual betterment of those who sought his aid. Not a few miracles were also attributed to him, but these he did all in his power to conceal.

There is an adage which tells us that the ways of God are not the ways of man. Rare is it that providence does not permit even the most faithful servants of Christ to be tried in the crucible of temptation; but, as Saint Paul assures us, the temptation is always accompanied with the grace necessary to overcome it. So it was with John of Salerno. There were those who sought to lead him from the path of virtue. Yet his resistance not merely saved him from sin; it issued unto his greater glory before God and man. It made him “the good odor of Christ” even unto the conversion of those who thirsted for his ruin.

Among our Friar Preacher’s notable works for the benefit of religion in Tuscany must be placed the establisbment of the first community of Dominican Sisters in the province. These he started in the hermitage of Ripoli, built by Deodate del Dado, sometime after the fathers had left it. He had great faith in the prayers of these holy women, and trusted to their intercession as an aid to the success of his work and that of his confrères. In later years, because the neighborhood of Florence became infested with brigands, these sisters moved into the city. There they divided into two communities. One of them retained the old title of Ripoli, while the other took the name of Saint Dominic. Both long continued to edify the Florentines by their saintly lives and to bring blessings on the Church of the municipality by their perpetual orisons.

So labored on Blessed John of Salerno until the end of his useful life. Father John Caroli and other earlier writers speak of his toil and his heroic virtue in terms of the highest praise. They tell how he was loved and venerated, how his confr~res mourned his death, and how the people of Florence turned out in a body for his funeral; but they give us no further indication of its date than to say that it happened after many years of faithful labor (“quumque inultis jam annis . . . . . laborasset”). In the light of this assertion that he surrendered his pure soul to God in Florence after long years of constant service, one can not accept the statement of those later authors who say that he died in 1225. As a matter of fact, the Année Dominicaine assures us that Gregory IX, who ascended the papal throne in March, 1227, entrusted him with some reformation work in the Diocese of Chiusi, which he brought to a happy termination. The same publication, by way of guess, places the holy man’s death in the thirties of the thirteenth century. Yet it is just as probable that it occurred in the following decade.

Our blessed was buried with great honor in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, where his tomb immediately became a place of pilgrimage for the faithful. A number of miracles were attributed to him. It would seem that there were several translations of his relies, one of which doubtless took place when his body was removed from the old church to the new. On these occasions the faithful of the city and neighboring places came in immense crowds to pay honor to one whom they held in deep veneration. The last, and possibly the most notable, ceremony of the kind took place on February 18, 1571. At this time his relics were placed in a tomb and chapel specially dedicated to his memory. Pius VI, who reigned from 1775 to 1799, officially ratified the immemorial cult to John, permitted his Order to say mass and the divine office in his honor, and appointed August 9 for his feast day.

Born: c.1190 at Salerno, Italy

Died: 1272 of natural causes; buried at the church of Saint Maria Novella in Florence, Italy; relics translated several times, the last being on February 18,1571

Beatified:1783 by Pope Pius VI (cultus confirmed)

 

“A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.”

– Saint Dominic

Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order; born at Calaroga, in Old Castile, c. 1170; died 6 August, 1221. His parents, Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, undoubtedly belonged to the nobility of Spain, though probably neither was connected with the reigning house of Castile, as some of the saint’s biographers assert. Of Felix Guzman, personally, little is known, except that he was in every sense the worthy head of a family of saints. To nobility of blood Joanna of Aza added a nobility of soul which so enshrined her in the popular veneration that in 1828 she was solemnly beatified by Leo XII. The example of such parents was not without its effect upon their children. Not only Saint Dominic but also his brothers, Antonio and Manes, were distinguished for their extraordinary sanctity. Antonio, the eldest, became a secular priest and, having distributed his patrimony to the poor, entered a hospital where he spent his life minis ministering to the sick. Manes, following in the footsteps of Dominic, became a Friar Preacher, and was beatified by Gregory XVI.

The birth and infancy of the saint were attended by many marvels forecasting his heroic sanctity and great achievements in the cause of religion. From his seventh to his fourteenth year he pursued his elementary studies tinder the tutelage of his maternal uncle, the archpriest of Gumiel d’lzan, not far distant from Calaroga. In 1184 Saint Dominic entered the University of Palencia. Here he remained for ten years prosecuting his studies with such ardour and success that throughout the ephemeral existence of that institution he was held up to the admiration of its scholars as all that a student should be. Amid the frivolities and dissipations of a university city, the life of the future saint was characterized by seriousness of purpose and an austerity of manner which singled him out as one from whom great thin might be expected in the future. But more than one he proved that under this austere exterior he carried a heart as tender as a woman’s. On one occasion he sold his books, annotated with his own hand, to relieve the starving poor of Palencia. His biographer and contemporary, Bartholomew of Trent, states that twice he tried to sell himself into slavery to obtain money for the liberation of those who were held in captivity by the Moors. These facts are worthy of mention in view of the cynical and saturnine character which some non-Catholic writers have endeavoured to foist upon one of the most charitable of men. Concerning the date of his ordination his biographers are silent; nor is there anything from which that date can be inferred with any degree of certainty. According to the deposition of Brother Stephen, Prior Provincial of Lombardy, given in the process of canonization, Dominic was still a student at Palencia when Don Martin de Bazan, the Bishop of Osma, called him to membership in the cathedral chapter for the purpose If assisting in its reform. The bishop realized the importance to his plan of reform of having constantly before his canons the example of one of Dominic’s eminent holiness. Nor was he disappointed in the result. In recognition of the part he had taken in converting its members into canons regular, Dominic was appointed sub-prior of the reformed chapter. On the accession of Don Diego d’Azevedo to the Bishopric of Osma in 1201, Dominic became superior of the chapter with the title of prior. As a canon of Osma, he spent nine years of his life hidden in God and rapt in contemplation, scarcely passing beyond the confines of the chapter house.

In 1203 Alfonso IX, King of Castile, deputed the Bishop of Osma to demand from the Lord of the Marches, presumably a Danish prince, the hand of his daughter on behalf of the king’s son, Prince Ferdinand. For his companion on this embassy Don Diego chose Saint Dominic. Passing through Toulouse in the pursuit of their mission, they beheld with amazement and sorrow the work of spiritual ruin wrought by the Albigensian heresy. It was in the contemplation of this scene that Dominic first conceived the idea of founding an order for the purpose of combating heresy and spreading the light of the Gospel by preaching to the ends of the then known world. Their mission having ended successfully, Diego and Dominic were dispatched on a second embassy, accompanied by a splendid retinue, to escort the betrothed princess to Castile. This mission, however, was brought to a sudden close by the death of the young woman in question. The two ecclesiastics were now free to go where they would, and they set out for Rome, arriving there towards the end of 1204. The purpose of this was to enable Diego to resign his bishopric that he might devote himself to the conversion of unbelievers in distant lands. Innocent III, however, refused to approve this project, and instead sent the bishop and his companion to Languedoc to join forces with the Cistercians, to whom he had entrusted the crusade against the Albigenses. The scene that confronted them on their arrival in Languedoc was by no means an encouraging one. The Cistercians, on account of their worldly manner of living, had made little or no headway against the Albigenses. They had entered upon their work with considerable pomp, attended by a brilliant retinue, and well provided with the comforts of life. To this display of worldliness the leaders of the heretics opposed a rigid asceticism which commanded the respect and admiration of their followers. Diego and Dominic quickly saw that the failure of the Cistercian apostolate was due to the monks’ indulgent habits, and finally prevailed upon them to adopt a more austere manner of life. The result was at once apparent in a greatly increased number of converts. Theological disputations played a prominent part in the propaganda of the heretics. Dominic and his companion, therefore, lost no time in engaging their opponents in this kind of theological exposition. Whenever the opportunity offered, they accepted the gage of battle. The thorough training that the saint had received at Palencia now proved of inestimable value to him in his encounters with the heretics. Unable to refute his arguments or counteract the influence of his preaching, they visited their hatred upon him by means of repeated insults and threats of physical violence. With Prouille for his head-quarters, he laboured by turns in Fanjeaux, Montpellier, Servian, Béziers, and Carcassonne. Early in his apostolate around Prouille the saint realized the necessity of an institution that would protect the women of that country from the influence of the heretics. Many of them had already embraced Albigensianism and were its most active propagandists. These women erected convents, to which the children of the Catholic nobility were often sent-for want of something better-to receive an education, and, in effect, if not on purpose, to be tainted with the spirit of heresy. It was needful, too, that women converted from heresy should be safeguarded against the evil influence of their own homes. To supply these deficiencies, Saint Dominic, with the permission of Foulques, Bishop of Toulouse, established a convent at Prouille in 1206. To this community, and afterwards to that of Saint Sixtus, at Rome, he gave the rule and constitutions which have ever since guided the nuns of the Second Order of Saint Dominic.

The year 1208 opens a new epoch in the eventful life of the founder. On 15 January of that year Pierre de Castelnau, one of the Cistercian legates, was assassinated. This abominable crime precipitated the crusade under Simon de Montfort, which led to the temporary subjugation of the heretics. Saint Dominic participated in the stirring scenes that followed, but always on the side of mercy, wielding the arms of the spirit while others wrought death and desolation with the sword. Some historians assert that during the sack of Béziers, Dominic appeared in the streets of that city, cross in hand, interceding for the lives of the women and children, the aged and the infirm. This testimony, however, is based upon documents which Touron regards as certainly apocryphal. The testimony of the most reliable historians tends to prove that the saint was neither in the city nor in its vicinity when Béziers was sacked by the crusaders. We find him generally during this period following the Catholic army, reviving religion and reconciling heretics in the cities that had capitulated to, or had been taken by, the victorious de Montfort. it was probably I September, 1209, that Saint Dominic first came in contact with Simon de Montfort and formed with him that intimate friendship which was to last till the death of the brave crusader under the walls of Toulouse (25 June, 1218). We find him by the side of de Montfort at the siege of Lavaur in 121 1, and again in 1212, at the capture of La Penne d’Ajen. In the latter part of 1212 he was at Pamiers labouring, at the invitation of de Montfort, for the restoration of religion and morality. Lastly, just before the battle of Muret. 12 September, 1213, the saint is again found in the council that preceded the battle. During the progress of the conflict, he knelt before the altar in the church of Saint-Jacques, praying for the triumph of the Catholic arms. So remarkable was the victory of the crusaders at Muret that Simon de Montfort regarded it as altogether miraculous, and piously attributed it to the prayers of Saint Dominic. In gratitude to God for this decisive victory, the crusader erected a chapel in the church of Saint-Jacques, which he dedicated, it is said, to Our Lady of the Rosary. It would appear, therefore, that the devotion of the Rosary, which tradition says was revealed to Saint Dominic, had come into general use about this time. To this period, too, has been ascribed the foundation of the Inquisition by Saint Dominic, and his appointment as the first lnquisitor. As both these much controverted questions will receive special treatment elsewhere in this work, it will suffice for our )resent purpose to note that the Inquisition was in operation in 1198, or seven years before the saint took part in the apostolate in Languedoc, and while ie was still an obscure canon regular at Osma. If he was for a certain time identified-with the operations of the Inquisition, it was only in the capacity of a theologian passing upon the orthodoxy of the accused. Whatever influence he may have had with the judges of that much maligned institution was always employed on the side of mercy and forbearance, as witness the classic case of Ponce Roger.

In the meantime, the saint’s increasing reputation for heroic sanctity, apostolic zeal, and profound learning caused him to be much sought after as a candidate for various bishoprics. Three distinct efforts were made to miss him to the episcopate. In July, 1212, the chapter of Béziers chose him for their bishop. Again, the canons of Saint-Lizier wished him to succeed Garcias de l’Orte as Bishop of Comminges. Lastly, in 1215 an effort was made by Garcias de l’Orte himself, who had been transferred from – Comminges to Auch, to make him Bishop of Navarre. But Saint Dominic absolutely refused all episcopal honours, saying that he would rather take flight in the night, with nothing but his staff, than accept the episcopate. From Muret Dominic returned to Carcassonne, where he resumed his preaching with unqualified success. It was not until 1214 that he returned to Toulouse. In the meantime the influence of his preaching and the eminent holiness of his life had drawn around him a little band of devoted disciples eager to follow wherever he might lead. Saint Dominic had never for a moment forgotten his purpose, formed eleven years before, of founding a religious order to combat heresy and propagate religious truth. The time now seemed opportune for the realization of his plan. With the approval of Bishop Foulques of Toulouse, he began the organization of his little band of followers. That Dominic and his companions might possess a fixed source of revenue Foulques made him chaplain of Fanjeaux and in July, 1215, canonically established the community as a religious congregation of his diocese, whose mission was the propagation of true doctrine and good morals, and the extirpation of heresy. During this same year Pierre Seilan, a wealthy citizen of Toulouse, who had placed himself under the direction of Saint Dominic, put at their disposal his own commodious dwelling. In this way the first convent of the Order of Preachers was founded on 25 April, 1215. But they dwelt here only a year when Foulques established them in the church of Saint Romanus. Though the little community had proved amply the need of its mission and the efficiency of its service to the Church, it was far from satisfying the full purpose of its founder. It was at best but a diocesan congregation, and Saint Dominic had dreamed Of a world-order that would carry its apostolate to the ends of the earth. But, unknown to the saint, events were shaping themselves for the realization of his hopes. In November, 1215, an ecumenical council was to meet at Rome “to deliberate on the improvement of morals, the extinction of heresy, and the strengthening of the faith”. This was identically the mission Saint Dominic had determined on for his order. With the Bishop of Toulouse, he was present at the deliberations of this council. From the very first session it seemed that events conspired to bring his plans to a successful issue. The council bitterly arraigned the bishops for their neglect of preaching. In canon X they were directed to delegate capable men to preach the word of God to the people. Under these circumstances, it would reasonably appear that Dominic’s request for confirmation of an order designed to carry out the mandates of the council would be joyfully granted. But while the council was anxious that these reforms should be put into effect as speedily as possible, it was at the same time opposed to the institution of any new religious orders, and had legislated to that effect in no uncertain terms. Moreover, preaching had always been looked upon as primarily a function of the episcopate. To bestow this office on an unknown and untried body of simple priests s seemed too original and too bold in its conception to appeal to the conservative prelates who influenced the deliberations of the council. When, therefore, his petition for the approbation of his infant institute was refused, it could not have been wholly unexpected by Saint Dominic.

Returning to Languedoc at the close of the council in December, 1215, the founder gathered about him his little band of followers and informed them of the wish of the council that there should be no new rules for religious orders. Thereupon they adopted the ancient rule of Saint Augustine, which, on account of its generality, would easily lend itself to any form they might wish to give it. This done, Saint Dominic again appeared before the pope in the month of August, 1216, and again solicited the confirmation of his order. This time he was received more favourably, and on 22 December, 1216, the Bull of confirmation was issued.

Saint Dominic spent the following Lent preaching in various churches in Rome, and before the pope and the papal court. It was at this time that he received the office and title of Master of the Sacred Palace, or Pope’s Theologian, as it is more commonly called. This office has been held uninterruptedly by members of the order from the founder’s time to the present day. On 15 August, 1217, he gathered the brethren about him at Prouille to deliberate on the affairs of the order. He had determined upon the heroic plan of dispersing his little band of seventeen unformed followers over all europe. The result proved the wisdom of an act which, to the eye of human prudence at least, seemed little short of suicidal. To facilitate the spread of the order, Honorius III, on 11 Feb., 1218, addressed a Bull to all archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors, requesting their favour on behalf of the Order of Preachers. By another Bull, dated 3 Dec., 1218, Honorius III bestowed upon the order the church of Saint Sixtus in Rome. Here, amid the tombs of the Appian Way, was founded the first monastery of the order in Rome. Shortly after taking possession of Saint Sixtus, at the invitation of Honorius, Saint Dominic begin the somewhat difficult task of restoring the pristine observance of religious discipline among the various Roman communities of women. In a comparatively short time the work was accomplished, to the great satisfaction of the pope. His own career at the University of Palencia, and the practical use to which he had put it in his encounters with the Albigenses, as well as his keen appreciation of the needs of the time, convinced the saint that to ensure the highest efficiency of the work of the apostolate, his followers should be afforded the best educational advantages obtainable. It was for this reason that on the dispersal of the brethren at Prouille he dispatched Matthew of France and two companions to Paris. A foundation was made in the vicinity of the university, and the friars took possession in October, 1217. Matthew of France was appointed superior, and Michael de Fabra was placed in charge of the studies with the title of Lecturer. On 6 August of the following year, Jean de Barastre, dean of Saint-Quentin and professor of theology, bestowed on the community the hospice of Saint-Jaques, which he had built for his own use. Having effected a foundation at the University of Paris, Saint Dominic next determined upon a settlement at the University of Bologna. Bertrand of Garrigua, who had been summoned from Paris, and John of Navarre, set out from Rome, with letters from Pope Honorius, to make the desired foundation. On their arrival at Bologna, the church of Santa Maria della Mascarella was placed at their disposal. So rapidly did the Roman community of Saint Sixtus grow that the need of more commodious quarters soon became urgent. Honorius, who seemed to delight in supplying every need of the order and furthering its interests to the utmost of his power, met the emergency by bestowing on Saint Dominic the basilica of Santa Sabina.

Towards the end of 1218, having appointed Reginald of Orléans his vicar in Italy, the saint, accompanied by several of his brethren, set out for Spain. Bologna, Prouille, Toulouse, and Fanjeaux were visited on the way. From Prouille two of the brethren were sent to establish a convent at Lyons. Segovia was reached just before Christmas. In February of the following year he founded the first monastery of the order in Spain. Turning southward, he established a convent for women at Madrid, similar to the one at Prouille. It is quite probable that on this journey he personally presided over the erection of a convent in connexion with his alma mater, the University of Palencia. At the invitation of the Bishop of Barcelona, a house of the order was established in that city. Again bending his steps towards Rome he recrossed the Pyrenees and visited the foundations at Toulouse and Paris. During his stay in the latter place he caused houses to be erected at Limoges, Metz, Reims, Poitiers, and Orléans, which in a short time became centres of Dominican activity. From Paris he directed his course towards Italy, arriving in Bologna in July, 1219. Here he devoted several months to the religious formation of the brethren he found awaiting him, and then, as at Prouille, dispersed them over Italy. Among the foundations made at this time were those at Bergamo, Asti, Verona, Florence, Brescia, and Faenza. From Bologna he went to Viterbo. His arrival at the papal court was the signal for the showering of new favours on the order. Notable among these marks of esteem were many complimentary letters addressed by Honorius to all those who had assisted the Fathers in their vinous foundations. In March of this same year Honorius, through his representatives, bestowed upon the order the church of San Eustorgio in Milan. At the same time a foundation at Viterbo was authorized. On his return to Rome, towards the end of 1219, Dominic sent out letters to all the convents announcing the first general chapter of the order, to be held at Bologna on the feast of the following Pentecost. Shortly before, Honorius III, by a special Brief, had conferred upon the founder the title of Master General, which till then he had held only by tacit consent. At the very first session of the chapter in the following spring the saint startled his brethren by offering his resignation as master general. It is needless to say the resignation was not accepted and the founder remained at the head of the institute till the end of his life.

Soon after the close of the chapter of Bologna, Honorius III addressed letters to the abbeys and priories of San Vittorio, Sillia, Mansu, Floria, Vallombrosa, and Aquila, ordering that several of their religious be deputed to begin, under the leadership of Saint Dominic, a preaching crusade in Lombardy, where heresy had developed alarming proportions. For some reason or other the plans of the pope were never realized. The promised support failing, Dominic, with a little band of his own brethren, threw himself into the field, and, as the event proved, spent himself in an effort to bring back the heretics to their allegiance to the Church. It is said that 100,000 unbelievers were converted by the preaching and the miracles of the saint. According to Lacordaire and others, it was during his preaching in Lombardy that the saint instituted the Militia of Jesus Christ, or the third order, as it is commonly called, consisting of men and women living in the world, to protect the rights and property of the Church. Towards the end of 1221 Saint Dominic returned to Rome for the sixth and last time. Here he received many new and valuable concessions for the order. In January, February, and March of 1221 three consecutive Bulls were issued commending the order to all the prelates of the Church-. The thirtieth of May, 1221, found him again at Bologna presiding over the second general chapter of the order. At the close of the chapter he set out for Venice to visit Cardinal Ugolino, to whom he was especially indebted for many substantial acts of kindness. He had scarcely returned to Bologna when a fatal illness attacked him. He died after three weeks of sickness, the many trials of which he bore with heroic patience. In a Bull dated at Spoleto, 13 July, 1234, Gregory IX made his cult obligatory throughout the Church.

The life of St. Dominic was one of tireless effort in the, service of god. While he journeyed from place to place he prayed and preached almost uninterruptedly. – His penances were of such a nature as to cause the brethren, who accidentally discovered them. to fear the effect upon his life. While his charity was boundless he never permitted it to interfere with the stern sense of duty that guided every action of his life. If he abominated heresy and laboured untiringly for its extirpation it was because he loved truth and loved the souls of those among whom he laboured. He never failed to distinguish between sin and the sinner. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if this athlete of Christ, who had conquered himself before attempting the reformation of others, was more than once chosen to show forth the power of God. The failure of the fire at Fanjeaux to consume the dissertation he had employed against the heretics, and which was thrice thrown into the flames; the raising to life of Napoleone Orsini; the appearance of the annals in the refectory of Saint Sixtus in response to his prayers, are but a few of the supernatural happenings by which God was pleased to attest the eminent holiness of His servant. We are not surprised, therefore, that, after signing the Bull of canonization on 13 July, 1234, Gregory IX declared that he no more doubted the saintliness of Saint Dominic than he did that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Born: 1170 at Calaruega, Burgos, Old Castile

Died: August 6, 1221 at Bologna

Beatified: July 13, 1234 by Pope Gregory IX at Rieti, Italy

Patronage: astronomers; astronomy; prelature of Batanes-Babuyanes, Philippines; diocese of Bayombong, Philippines; Dominican Republic; falsely accused people; scientists

Representation: chaplet, Dominican carrying a rosary and a tall cross; Dominican holding a lily; Dominican with dog and globe; Dominican with fire; Dominican with star shining above his head; rosary; star

Devotion to Our Lady was typical of medieval Spaniards, as indeed of any Christian of the time. But the devotion to Mary bequeathed by Saint Dominic to his children was something more than ordinary , and in the natural course of events it could come from only one source-his own mother. her name, the scanty records tell us, was Jane of Aza, and neither the date of her birth nor that of her death is known with certainty. Not being of great material importance , she made little impression on history; but the print of her personality will be seen for all time on the order founded by her son. Dominic must have had a very tender love for his mother to make him turn so constantly, trustingly, instinctively to Our Lady in all the troubles and joys of his later life.

Legend relates that before the birth of Dominic, Blessed Jane beheld a vision in which she saw her son , running as a swift greyhound through the world, bearing in his mouth a torch with which he illumined the world (The son became the founder of the Order of Preachers, known as the Dominicans thus the prophetic dream was fulfilled as the Dominican friars took the light of the gospel throughout the world. They became known as the Dogs of the Lord. In Latin the word Dominican would be Domini Canes, literally Dogs of the Lord). It was for her to fan and shelter that flame at its very kindling, and to teach this child of predilection the prayers he would say with such rich results for a lifetime of saintly action. Not only was it Jane who first taught her son the words of the Hail Mary- that key with which he unlocked heaven for so many souls – but it was she that gave to him the living example of Christian womanhood. If in later years his sons were to cherish such a chivalrous love for the gracious Queen of Heaven, much of it was due to the reverential awe and tender love with which this truly Christian lady inspired her three priest-sons. to every priest, his own mother is the personification of all that is good and lovable in woman; she is the ideal to inspire him, the lighthouse to beckon him, and the living picture of the Mother of the first Priest. It could have been no different for Dominic. Where else would he , brought up amid the scenes of war and the mans world of thee university, see in action the ideals of womanly purity, gentleness, and never failing help that he was to cherish as the attributes of his heavenly Queen?

History is silent regarding events in the Life of Blessed Jane. probably there were no great events to record. As the wife of the Castellan of Calaruega, a fortress castle on the border of Christian Spain, she would have led a life filled with the monotony of small things. Tradition relates that her two older sons, Anthony and Manez, were already preparing for the priesthood when Dominic was born. She named her youngest son for Saint Dominic of Silos, at whose shrine she was frequent pilgrim . Knowing that her solider/husband expected their third son to carry on the family name and fortunes, Jane seems still to have cherished for him the goal of the priesthood. Very likely Dominic- and we – owe to his understanding Mother the fortune that placed a book in his hands instead of a sword.

Pope Leo XII beatified Jane of Aza in 1828. Devotion to her has persisted through the centuries despite the poverty of records. The mother of three priest, one of whom died a death of heroic charity and two who were raised to altars of the Church, can safely be judged to have been not only a valiant woman but also a saintly one. Her picture, as that of any mother, can best be seen reflected in her sons.

Born: in Aza, Unknown date

Died: about 1202 in Calaroga

Beatified: Pope Leo XII in 1828 approved her cultus