The Dominican Order
Originally made up of priests, brothers, and cloistered nuns, the Dominican Order is the most diverse of all religious orders in the Catholic church. Our recent blog posts have defined Dominican Friars, our vocation and vows, and introduced St. Dominic and the habit of the Dominican Order, formally known as the Order of Preachers. But how did it all come about?
St. Dominic was a canon at the cathedral of Osma, in Spain. Canons are Catholic priests who reside at and care for cathedrals, having lifestyles similar to a religious orders, but in fact are diocesan priests.
In 1203, the King of Castile sent St. Dominic and his Bishop, Diego, on a diplomatic mission.
Passing through southern France, St. Dominic was stunned that so many Catholics abandoned their Christian faith and embraced false teachings of the Cathars (the pure) who professed belief in two Gods: the good God of Jesus Christ and the new Testament, and the evil God who created the physical world. One branch of this heresy very active in France was the Albigensian movement.
Shocked by so many confused people being led from the Church, St. Dominic discerned his vocation to teach the truth of the Gospel to all the world. Knowing he could not do it alone, he sought to gather Catholic priests and brothers into an order who would “preach the Gospel for the salvation of souls.”
Founding the Order
Before St. Dominic’s success in recruiting priests and brothers to his cause, he accomplished another task.
Most people are surprised to learn that the first members of St. Dominic’s new religious order were not priests or brothers, but nuns!
Nuns are religious sisters who live in cloistered monasteries and convents. Only on rare occasions do they have interactions with the outside world.
Their primary mission, and a critical one at that, is to pray constantly for the Church.
Why did St. Dominic found these monasteries? Pope Innocent III gave permission for St. Dominic to preach the Gospel wherever he journeyed.
As he preached, many people who had strayed from their faith converted back to the true teachings of Christianity. Some of these converts became priests and brothers, following St. Dominic in his mission. But some converts were women who had been rejected by their Cathar families and discerned their vocations to support St. Dominic’s mission.
With the Pope’s consent, St. Dominic gathered these women together in Prouille, France. In 1206, the first monastery of cloistered Dominican Nuns was established. To this day, Dominican Nuns live in monasteries throughout the world, praying for the mission of the Dominican Order.
Here in the Southern United States, The Dominican Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, TX, and The Dominican Monastery of St. Jude in Marbury, Al, serve as centers of contemplative prayer, offering their prayer as support for the preaching of the Dominican Friars.
Not only do these cloistered monasteries serve as a home of prayer for the nuns, they also serve as a symbol of the Kingdom of God on earth. For example, in 1944, when racial tensions in the Southern United States were growing ever more tumultuous, The Dominican Monastery of St. Jude in Marbury became the first interracial religious cloister in the United States.
Priests and Brothers: The Future Dominican Friars
St. Dominic continued his preaching mission, traveling from place to place, begging for food and lodging in exchange for his preaching. This way of life came to be known as “mendicancy,” and is characteristic of the Dominican Order, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians.
St. Dominic gradually gathered men to his cause: priests already ordained, others who discerned a vocation to be priests, and others called to be brothers. These brothers, not ordained to celebrate the Sacraments, dedicate their lives to service of the Church. Many of these men came from universities, well-versed in theology and other disciplines.
In 1216, having gathered many priests and brothers, St. Dominic returned to Rome seeking formal approval for the order. On December 22, 1216, Pope Honorius III officially approved the “Order of Friars Preachers.” The broader term “Order of Preachers” was used to include not only the friars, but the nuns who had been with St. Dominic from the beginning. In honor of its founder, “Dominican Order” is often used as well.
The founding of the Dominican Order was a landmark for the Catholic Church for many reasons:
- Dominican Friars, both priests and brothers, live in community, but are not bound to cloister or assigned to a single location for life, like monks in monasteries. Until this time, monks were the prevalent form of religious life. They offered hospitality, prayed for the world, and supported local areas around their monasteries. The mission of the friars is more apostolic, bridging the monastic tradition (prayer, community, and study) with the active mission of preaching.
- The Dominican Order is governed by democratic principles. After the Pope’s approval, St. Dominic convened the friars as an order for the first time. He included all the friars in establishing their way of life. Dominican Friars elect their leadership, from the local superior all the way to the Master of the Order. Dominican Friars vote on legislation rather than have one superior dictate their way of life. This concept of self-governing has kept the Dominican Order unified and focused on the mission of preaching for 800 years!
- The Dominican Order has a mandate to preach everywhere. While other groups today, such as the Jesuits, Franciscans, etc., work throughout the world, the Dominican Friars were the first priests with permission to preach everywhere. In St. Dominic’s time, only bishops could preach everywhere. Priests could usually only preach if they were a) properly trained, b) pastors of a parish, and c) in their parish church. The Dominican Order’s permission preach everywhere they traveled was a radically new concept.
The success of the Dominican Order lead to the demise of the Albigensian movement and the overall Cathar heresy. Mission accomplished, the Dominican Order continued to serve the Catholic Church. While preaching remained the core vocation of the Dominican Order, the Friars also excelled in celebrating the Sacraments, teaching, legal work, producing sacred art, and a variety of other ministries all focused on bringing people to the truth of the faith.
Growing into a Dominican Family
In 1286, lay members were incorporated into the mission of the Dominican Order. Members of the Dominican Laity, as they are called, live according to their state of life (married or single) and promise to pray, study, and preach.
Over time, apostolic sisters founded congregations in the Dominican tradition and gained recognition by the Dominican Order. These sisters live in communities like the nuns, but their vocation is to the apostolic life like the friars. Today, many sisters congregations throughout the world serve the Church in a variety of ministries. For example, The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, TN, and The Dominican Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Houston, TX, established convents and schools in the Southern United States, where their sisters teach and serve in various other ministries for local parishes and dioceses.
The Dominican Sisters of Houston, TX, have a special connection to the Dominican Friars of Memphis. Sister Mary Agnes Magevney, O.P., was the daughter of Mary and Eugene Magevney of Memphis. Since there were no Catholic churches in Memphis at the time, the first Catholic Mass in Memphis was celebrated in the Magevney house (198 Adams Avenue) in 1839. The Magevney couple married in the same home a year later. And on February 14, 1841, Mary, their eldest daughter, was baptized. She grew up next door to the newly-founded St. Peter Catholic Church (190 Adams Avenue), founded in 1840 by Dominican Bishop Pius Miles, O.P., (first bishop of Nashville and all of Tennessee) and served by Dominican Friars since 1845.
Sr. Mary Agnes became the Superioress of a house in Columbus, OH, dedicated to founding a new school. She was a member of the Dominican Congregation of St. Mary of the Springs, Columbus. After her success in Ohio, Mother Agnes wrote to Bishop Nicholas Gallagher of the Diocese of Galveston, TX, the mother diocese of the State of Texas. She asked for and received permission for members of her congregation to enter Galveston and, eventually, Houston. Sister Mary Agnes and a group of twenty sisters founded Sacred Heart Academy in Galveston. The sisters’ numbers eventually grew to a sustainable size, and they founded their own motherhouse in Houston.
Reflecting the diversity of the Order, the members of the Magevney family each contributed to the mission of the Dominican Order in a unique way. While St. Mary Agnes served as a Dominican Sister, her father Eugene continued to help the Dominican Friars of Memphis by contributing to the building of the current St. Peter Catholic Church building in 1852. That building still stands and serves the Greater Memphis Area as the oldest Catholic Church in West Tennessee…and the Dominican Friars of Memphis still serve here!
Once can see how the various members of this “Dominican family” working together is what makes us so diverse: We incorporate priests, brothers, cloistered (i.e., contemplative) nuns, apostolic (i.e., active) sisters, and laity into the preaching mission. How many religious orders offer a role in their mission for every member of the Catholic faithful?
But let’s get back to the Dominican Friars…
The Friars Preachers Today
Priests and brothers of the Dominican Order are distributed into provinces throughout the world. The entire Order of Friars Preachers is united under the leadership of the Master of the Order. We have been united in this way since our foundation over 800 years ago!
These provinces serve geographical locations and, in some cases, cultural groups spanning larger regions. This distribution allows the Dominican Friars to assess the unique needs of the Catholic Church in their region and offer exemplary service in the tradition of St. Dominic.
The Province of St. Martin de Porres
During a period when many Catholic religious orders saw fewer numbers of vocations, the Dominican Order, especially in the United States, saw great growth.
While some religious orders were consolidating resources, the Dominican Friars were gifted with expansion.
Established in 1979, the Province of St. Martin de Porres, also known as the Southern Dominican Province, spans the southeast United States, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi.
We serve many places, such as Christian Brothers University and St. Peter Catholic Church in Memphis, Tulane University and Xavier University in New Orleans, Texas Tech and St. Elizabeth Parish in Lubbock, The University of Dallas, Emory University in Atlanta, and many more places.
Like St. Dominic, priests and brothers of the Province of St. Martin de Porres continue to see and serve the needs of the Church. From universities to parishes, retreats by itinerant preachers to longtime positions of leadership and service, the Dominican Friars of the Southern Dominican Province have been vital to the growth of the Catholic Church in the south.
We work closely with the Archbishops and Bishops of the Archdioceses and Dioceses we serve and enjoy an excellent reputation. They often ask us to provide retreats and lectures as enrichment for their own priests. We care for many of their parishes, serve in Catholic universities, and offer them counsel whenever they seek our insights. Some of our communities have been around long before the foundation of the province.
The Dominican Friars of Memphis
Every Dominican Province is made up of Dominican Friars living in local communities.
As stated above, the Dominican Friars of Memphis have served the Catholic Church in Tennessee since 1845!
Today, we serve in a variety of ministries throughout the Diocese of Memphis. Fr. Auggie DeArmond, O.P., is Pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church, along with Fr. Michael O’Rourke, O.P., as Parochial Vicar of St. Peter and Rector of the St. Martin de Porres National Shrine and Institute. Fr. Paul Watkins, O.P., Superior of the Dominican Friars of Memphis, is Associate Professor in the Business School at Christian Brothers University.
Both Frs. Paul and Auggie serve on the Presbyteral Council of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, offering support and counsel to our Bishop, The Most Rev. Martin D. Holley, DD. Fr. Paul also serves on the Diocese’s College of Consultors for Bishop Holley.
Fr. Auggie also lends his help to the local Tribunal of the Diocese and serves as Bishop Holley’s Episcopal Delegate for Religious and the Consecrated Life.
Just as the early Dominican Order found in Europe, the Province of Saint Martin de Porres and the Dominican Friars of Memphis have many great opportunities to serve the Catholic Church in the south. Like St. Dominic we seek more men as priests and brothers to join our way of life and serve the Church as Dominican Friars.
Want to hear more about how you can serve as a Dominican Friar?
