Holy Orders For Lay People Following in the Footsteps of St. Dominic —Dominican Lay Fraternities— By Anne Tschanz here are many heroic and were attracted to the sect because Tholy men and women who of their persuasive teaching and have been members of “Third ascetic lifestyle, which contrasted Orders,” but perhaps none so unfavorably with the wealth, pomp, well-known as the saintly luminar- and ordinary lives of the Catholic ies of the Dominican Third Order, clergy. or as they are now referred to The To counter this heresy, Saint Lay Fraternities of . Dominic came into France in the St. , St. Rose early 13th century like a “fresh of Lima, St. Martin de Porres, breeze” and began to preach. The and Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, to heretics spoke of him as their most name a few, were all Dominican dangerous enemy for his eloquence Tertiaries. Perhaps this is due to and knowledge of the truths of the the very mission of the Dominican Faith silenced and angered his op- Order which is, as Pope St. John ponents. Despite threats against his Paul II said nothing less than “the life, Dominic’s only weapon was arduous task of the evangelization “God’s Word, living and effective, of the world.” And as part of the sharper than any two-edged sword” Dominican family, Lay Domini- In our own times, when so many (Heb 4:12). cans “share in its apostolic mission are echoing the words of Pontus Pi- According to tradition, it was by prayer, study and preaching…” late: “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38) and Dominic who encouraged devo- (Rule I:4). there is “a famine of the hearing of tion to that other powerful weapon, The motto of the Dominican the Word of God” (Amos 8:11), the the Rosary. While the Rosary was Order is Veritas (“Truth”), and it is example of the founder of the Order something that developed over this clear focus on a fundamental of the Preachers gives lay people a time, we do know that Dominic had principle of our Faith that God is model to follow for evangelization: a tender devotion to Our Lady, that Truth which gives the of the prayer first, then study and, finally, is, according to Pope Benedict XVI, their clear direc- preaching. This is the mission for “a precious legacy to his spiritual tives as witnesses to Jesus Christ all Dominicans—preaching and the children.” Pope Pius XI stated: in the world. Pope Benedict XVI salvation of souls. “The Rosary of Mary is the prin- (whose predecessor Pope Benedict Dominic was born in Spain in ciple and foundation on which the XV was a Dominican Tertiary) said 1170 and lived during the time very Order of St. Dominic rests.” in speaking about Saint Domini c of the Albigensian heresy, whose The early Third Orders arose that “Christ is in fact the most pre- adherents denied the humanity of from a desire amongst the lay faith- cious good that men and women Christ, the Sacraments, the good- ful to live a more apostolic life and of all times and all places have the ness of marriage and childbearing, many of them were followers of right to know and to love.” and even promoted suicide. People Dominic from the beginning. The

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Nov-Dec2018 sat.indd 13 11/1/18 2:04 PM origins of the Third Order for the souls in Purgatory came out of a pious, evan- and for the sins against gelical and fervent group Our Lord. She was the first of men and women who person in the Americas to were deeply unhappy with be canonized. the laxity found among Another Peruvian Do- those who professed to be minican and friend of Christians. In 1285, the Saint Rose was St. Martin Master General of the Do- de Porres. The child of minicans devised a Rule a Spanish knight and a for them, in which they freed slave from Panama, were called to be zealous Martin was born in 1579. propagators of the Catho- In his homily during Mar- lic Faith, eager to bring the Word Siena, born in 1347, is an example tin’s in 1962, Pope St. of God wherever the Holy Spirit of one profoundly in union with John XXII said: “He forgave the led them. Our Lord through prayer, works bitterest injuries.… He tried with The current updated Rule, faith- of charity and as part of the Third all his might to redeem the guilty; ful to the original, dates from 1987. Order. One of twenty-five children, lovingly he comforted the sick; he With the promises made, a Lay she took a vow of virginity at age 7 provided food, clothing and medi- Dominican is canonically obligated and at age 16 became a Dominican cine for the poor; he helped, as best (without penalty of sin) “to fan anew Tertiary. You cannot preach what he could (those) who were looked the flame of the tradition and voca- you do not know so she devoted upon at that time as akin to slaves: tion of the Lay Branch of the Order the next several years to prayer and thus he deserved to be called by the of Preachers.” This dovetails with meditation. Always solicitous of the name the people gave him: ‘Martin the Vatican Council II document poor, she cared for the sick, espe- the Charitable.’” Gaudium et Spes in which it says: cially lepers, and offered her suffer- Popular today is Bl. Margaret of “By their prophetic mission, lay ings for the renewal of the Church Castello, a severely handicapped people are called to be witnesses to and for sinners. Like St. Joan of woman who was abandoned as a Christ in all circumstances and at Arc, she was very involved with the child by her parents and survived the very heart of the community of issues of the day while experiencing on the streets through the good- mankind” (GS 43,4). Saint Domi- a profound mystical union with ness of strangers. She instructed nic reminds us that “the seed will Our Lord. Working for the reform children in the Faith and was molder if it is hoarded up. It will of the Church, she strove to foster permitted to wear the Dominican be fruitful if it is sown.” As leaven peace between warring factions, habit as a tertiary. In modern times, in the world, they must be ready energetically urged the Holy Father St. Arnold Janssen, founder of the “to give an explanation to anyone to return from Avignon to Society of the Divine Word, was who asks you for a reason for your and worked tirelessly to end the a lay Dominican. As was Bl. Pier hope” (1 Pet 3:15-16). They should great Schism. She was proclaimed Giorgio Frassati, born to an affluent embody the second motto of the a Doctor of the Church in 1970. Italian family in 1901. Devoted to Dominicans taken from St. Thomas St. Rose of Lima, inspired by works of charity and social action Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae: “To con- Saint Catherine, was also a Domini- in support of Catholic teaching, template and to give to others the can Tertiary. Born in 1586 in Peru, he died in 1925 and is a Patron of fruits of our contemplation.” her family wanted to contract a . As people of the Middle Ages marriage for their beautiful daugh- Those wishing to follow in the moved from the countryside to cit- ter, but she resisted their efforts and footsteps of these holy ones must ies and universities, the Dominicans made a vow of virginity. Her life of first discern with the local chapter if were there to meet them intellectu- mortification and prayer in the face they are truly called to Dominican ally and spiritually. St. Catherine of of hardships were offered to Jesus life; if yes, then they begin an in-

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Nov-Dec2018 sat.indd 14 11/1/18 2:04 PM quiry period. Then follows the Accompanied by the prayers candidacy period of one year of the cloistered Dominican where the life of St. Dominic nuns, they witness to their is studied, as well as the history “faith, listen to the needs of of the Order, the Rule and their contemporaries and serve the requirements of Lay Do- the truth” (Rule I:5). And “in- minican life. After this period, spired by the charism of the if it is mutually agreeable, the Order, they are mindful that candidate makes a temporary apostolic activity comes out of promise to live according to an abundance of contempla- the Rule for three years. Upon tion” (I:7). For in the end, the first (temporary) profession is goal is union with Jesus Christ when the man or woman is and life everlasting. invested in the Scapular of St. Today, there are about Dominic. Finally, a person may be respecting the dignity of the human 200,000 Lay Dominicans around invited to live according to the Rule person and promoting unity and the world, with 80,000 or so in Viet- of the Fraternities of St. Dominic dialogue (Rule II:12). Amazingly, nam alone, a country where many until death by making a perpetual for so venerable an Order, the Do- of them gave their lives for the promise. After death, one may be minicans have never experienced Faith. May the Lay Dominicans, buried in a full Dominican habit any schisms or breakaways since lit by the zeal of Dominic, continue and they are remembered in the their founding in 1216. to fulfill their mission to preach prayers, Masses and penances of Christianity is being driven and defend the Faith. Dominic was the whole Order. more and more out of the public described as having “all love for A Lay Dominican’s spirituality square. Lay Dominicans, in shar- his neighbor, all pity for the poor, has four key elements: prayer, study, ing in the prophetic, priestly and and the simplicity of his conduct, community and the apostolate. Their royal office of Jesus Christ through without a shadow of insincerity ei- prayers take the form of daily cel- Baptism and Confirmation, are by ther in word or in deed, made him ebration of the Holy Mass, praying the special charism of the Order, dear to all.” Through Dominic’s Liturgy of the Hours and recitation called to preach the Word of God intercession, “we ask God,” said of the Rosary. Lectio Divina, that is, in their workplace, in their families Pope Benedict XVI, “to enrich prayerful mediation on Scripture, and in places that may be beyond the Church always with genuine and monthly participation in the the reach of religious and priests. preachers of the Gospel. Sacrament of Reconciliation are strongly recommended. They Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic study the recent documents of the Founder: St. Dominic of Osma and promulgated in 1285 Church, the history of the Order and Dominican writers. They in- Motto: Veritas (“Truth”) voke the intercession of the Blessed External Sign: The Dominican Scapular Virgin Mary and St. Catherine of Spirituality: Prayer, study, apostolate Siena, Patroness of the Dominican and community Laity, for fruitfulness in the apos- Mission: Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere tolate. The local chapters meet regularly to worship, pray, study (“to contemplate and hand on to others and socialize together. Finally, they the fruits of contemplation”) go out to all the world to “proclaim Formation Stages: Inquiry (1 year), the Good News” (Mk 15:16) to Candidacy (1 Year), Temporary Profession (3 years), Final Professed everyone who needs to hear the Websites: LayDominican.org or OPLaityWest.org saving message of the Gospel, while

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