Our Saints

St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers commonly known as the Dominicans, was born in 1171 at Calaruega, Spain to a pious family of five. His mother, Jane of Aza and one of his brothers who later became a Dominican,

Mannes were beatified by the Church. From childhood, onwards Dominic excelled in all the virtues. After his university studies he was ordained a priest and became a Canon at the Cathedral of Osma. At that time, the Western Europe was under the grasp of Albigensian heresy. Having moved by compassion Dominic decided to begin an Order whose members would go around to preach the Word fearlessly for the salvation of souls. His Order was approved by the Holy See in 1216 and his Order became the first missionary Order in the Catholic Church. He replaced customary manual work of the religious with study thus always preparing themselves to preach the Good news in season and out of season. He himself went around the whole Western Europe and converted heretics in tens of thousands. It is said that he either spoke with God or about God. Fie spent his night in prayer and day preaching the Gospel. The devotion of Rosary is attributed to Dominic. Blessed Alan of Rock says that Mother Mary appeared to Dominic and giving him the Rosary, asked him to pray

and preach it and as a greatest means for the salvation of souls. Since then the Dominicans spread the devotion of the Most Holy Rosary all over the world. During his life time Dominic performed many miracles including raising the dead. He died in 1221 at Bologna and canonized a saint in 1234. He is the patron saint of astronomers. His feast day is August 8.

St. Thomas Aquinas, renowned as the Angelic Doctor, was born toward the end of the year 1226 in Aquino, Italy.

When he was five years old, he became a Benedictine oblate. His teachers were surprised at the progress he made, for he surpassed all his fellow pupils in learning as well as in the practice of virtue. While he was studying in Naples he met Dominicans and was attracted to their mendicant way of life. He joined the Order in 1243 against the will of his family. He continued his studies under another Dominican, St. Albert the Great at Naples and was ordained a priest. He was then sent to Paris and taught in Paris University as well as many other places. He wrote volumes of books both in philosophy and theology. The work for which he is best known is the Summa Theologica, a theological masterpiece. He dedicated his whole life

for the study of truth. He was very pious and holy that God bestowed on him the gift of levitation. Towards the end of his life he had a mystical experience after which he never wrote anything. He died on 7 March 1274. Fie was canonized in 1323 and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V. Thomas was one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time. He is held to be the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of both natural reason and speculative theology. He is the patron of philosophers, Catholic Universities and students. He is also invoked for the gift of purity and chastity by youngsters.

St. Albert, also known as Universal Doctor, was born before 1200 in Bavaria. He was educated in the University of Padua and in 1223 he became a member of the Dominican Order. He taught at many places like Cologne, Paris and Freiburg. He is famous as the professor of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 1254, he was made Provincial in the Order. In 1260, he became the bishop of Regensburg. He wrote volumes of books of various topics ranging from Theology and Philosophy to natural science. He brought a perfect harmony between faith and reason. He could teach the world that the truth is one and the truth is God. Though he was busy in academic activities he had always time for God. He was also a renowned preacher of his time and a model pastor. He died on November 15, 1280. He was canonized and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on

December 16, 1931, by Pope Pius XI and the patron saint of natural scientists in 1941. St. Albert’s feast day is November 15. He is called Great because of his vast knowledge in various fields.

St. Catherine was born on 25 March 1347 in Siena, Italy as the 25th child of her parents. St. Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon, in 1377, and when she died she was endeavouring to heal the Great Western Schism. In 1375 Our Lord give her the Stigmata, which was visible only after her death as a gift for her love for him. She nourished her spiritual life under the constant guidance of her spiritual director Blessed Raymond of Capua, a Dominican. St. Catherine’s letters, and a treatise called “Dialogue” are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Church. She

died when she was only 33 on 29 April 1380, and her body is incorrupt. She was canonized on 29 June 1461 and declared a Doctor of the Church on n 3 October 1970. She is patron saint of Europe, Italy and nurses and invoked against fire attacks.

She was born Isabel Flores y de Oliva in the city of Lima on April 20, 1586. She took her name as Rose during her confirmation. As a young girl—in emulation of St. Catherine of Siena—she began to fast three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. When she was admired for her beauty, Rose cut off her hair and smeared pepper on her face, upset that suitors were beginning to take notice of her. She was determined to take a vow of virginity, which was opposed by her parents, who wished her to marry. Finally, out of frustration, her father gave her a room to herself in the family home. She wanted to become a nun, but her father forbade it, so she instead entered the Third Order of St. Dominic while living in her parents’ home; thus became a Dominican tertiary. She used to fast often and permanently abstained from eating meat. She helped the sick and hungry around her community, bringing them to her room and taking care of them. She

donned a heavy crown made of silver, with small spikes on the inside, in emulation of the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ. For eleven years she lived this way, with intervals of ecstasy, and died on August 24, 1617, at the age of 31. On April 12, 1671 she became the first saint from the Americas and is the patron of the same. Her feast day is on August 23.

St. Martin was born December 9, 1579 in Lima, Peru as an illegitimate son of a Spaniard and a negro woman. After the birth of his sister, the father abandoned the family. He grew up in poverty and, when his mother could not support him,

Martin was confided to a primary school for two years, and then placed with a surgeon to learn the medical arts. Lie spent hours of the night in prayer, a practice which increased as he grew older. At the age of 15 he asked for admission to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received first as a servant boy. Martin continued to practice his barbering and healing and performed many, many miraculous cures. He also took on kitchen work, laundry, and cleaning.

When Martin was 24, he was allowed to profess religious vows as a Dominican lay brother in 1603. He was known for his & care of the sick. He led a very austere life. Martin did not eat meat. He had many extraordinary gifts: ecstasies that lifted him into the air, light filling the room where he prayed, bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures and a remarkable rapport with animals. Martin was a friend of both St. Juan Macias, a fellow Dominican lay brother, and St. Rose of Lima, a lay Dominican. He died, on November 3, 1639. He was canonized on May 6, 1962. He is the patron saint of people of mixed race, and of innkeepers, barbers, public health workers, etc. with a feast day on November 3.

St. Hyacinth, known as the Apostle of the North, was born in 1185 at the casde of Lanka, at Kamin, Poland. He became a Doctor of Law and Divinity. Once when he accompanied his uncle Ivo Konski, the Bishop of Krakow, to Rome he witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic, and became a Dominican friar, along with his brother Blessed Ceslaus and two attendants of the Bishop of Krakow. The young friars were then sent back to their homeland to establish the Dominican Order in Poland and Kiev. As they travelled back to Krakow, he set up new monasteries. Hyacinth went throughout northern Europe, spreading the faith like an apostle. Tradition holds that he also evangelized throughout Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, and Greece travelling by foot. He performed innumerous miracles in his lifetime which earned him the name ‘wonder-worker.’ He also had the gift of tongues. He died in the year 1257 and was

canonized on April 17, 1594. His memorial day is celebrated on August 17. He is the patron saint of Lithuania and invoked by those in danger of drowning.

Born Antonio Ghislieri in Bosco, Italy, to a poor family, he labored as a shepherd until the age of fourteen and then joined the Dominicans, being ordained in 1528. Called Brother Michele, he studied at Bologna and Genoa, and then taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years before holding the posts of master of novices and prior for several Dominican houses. He was elected as pope on January 7, 1566. As pope, Pius saw his main objective as the continuation of the massive program of reform for the Church, in particular die full implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent. He published the Roman Catechism, the revised Roman Breviary, and the Roman Missal. He spread the devotion of rosary throughout the Church which gave him the name Pope of the Rosary. Pius also spurred the reforms of the Church by example. His life was very austere even as a pope. He insisted upon wearing his coarse Dominican robes, even beneath the

magnificent vestments worn by the popes, and was wholeheartedly devoted to the religious life. Today he is an example to all those who are in power to live a life of holiness. Pius V died on 1 May 1572 of what is believed to be cancer. He was canonized by Pope Clement XI on 22 May 1712. His feast is on April 30.

St. Vincent was born on 23 January 1350 in Valencia, Spain. At the age of eighteen, Ferrer entered the Dominican Order.

For a period of three years, he read solely Sacred Scripture and eventually committed it to memory. He published a treatise on Dialectic Suppositions after his solemn profession, and in 1379 was ordained a Catholic priest at Barcelona. He eventually became a Master of Sacred Theology and was commissioned by the Order to deliver lectures on philosophy. He was then sent to Barcelona and eventually to the University of Lleida, where he earned his doctorate in theology. He was the most celebrated preacher of his century. For twenty-one years he was said to have travelled to England, Scotland, Ireland, Aragon, Castile, France, Switzerland, and Italy, preaching the Gospel and converting many.

Many biographers believe that he could speak only Valencian, but was endowed with the gift of tongues. Vincent died on 5 April 1419 at Vannes in Brittany, at the age of sixty-nine and was canonized by Pope Callixtus III on 3 June 1455. His feast day is celebrated on 5 April. He is the patron of builders, construction workers and plumbers.

Many more hundreds of members of the Dominican Order are declared as saints and blesseds in the Church. May their intercession be with us all..