Showing posts with label Dominic Guzman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dominic Guzman. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

St. Dominic

The Dominicans have been mentioned many times, and their founder has been mentioned as a friend of Simon de Montfort, but his life deserves a little more attention.

St. Dominic is most often referred to (prior to canonization, that is) as Dominic Guzmán. He was born in 1170 in Castile, and was supposedly named for an earlier St. Dominic.* Nothing reliable is known of his family, since the earliest chroniclers had no interest in his parents and later chroniclers naturally tried to make his parentage sound impressive.**

In 1191, when Spain was suffering from famine, the young university student Dominic sold all he owned—including his clothes—for money to feed the starving poor. A few years later he joined the Canons Regular, who followed the rule of St. Augustine.

In 1215, the year of the Fourth Lateran Council (mentioned here and other places), Dominic and six disciples started their own house in Toulouse with some monastic rules, and were given permission by the local bishop to preach in Toulouse. That same year, Dominic and the bishop went to Rome to request permission for the founding of a new order to combat heresy; it was given by Pope Honorius III in the winter of 1216/17 and called Ordo Prædicatorum ["Order of Preachers"] (which is why, although referred to as "Dominicans," they have the initials "OP" after their names).

Interest in his order grew, and although his headquarters was in Rome where the pope had given the Dominicans a house, Dominic constantly traveled to keep in touch with the various chapters. We are told that he abstained from meat and excessive food and talking, and that he never allowed himself to sleep in a bed. The use of the rosary is attributed to him: it was known earlier, but he certainly promoted it as a guide for prayer.

His icons, seen in the picture above, are the lily for his chastity, the book and staff representing his authority to preach (supposedly granted to him by a vision of Saints Peter and Paul), and the star above his head. The star was seen by his mother in a vision before he was born; because of it, he is considered the patron saint of astronomers. The last symbol, also seen by his mother in a vision, is the dog with the torch in its mouth, representing that he was to "set fire to the earth" with his preaching. This ties directly to the Dominican connection to the Inquisition, which will get its own post in the near future.

Dominic died on 6 August 1221.

*St. Dominic of Silos (1000 - 1073), who had been abbot of a monastery a few miles from Dominic's birthplace.
**The name eventually given to Dominic's mother was Joan of Aza, and that name was beatified in 1828 by Pope Leo XII.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Dominic

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Simon de Montfort

Plaque on the site of Montfort's death
Simon de Montfort has been mentioned before, opposing Henry III, but that was the 6th Earl of Leicester. The Simon de Montfort we want to talk about today was his father, the 5th Earl.

Simon was born in 1160, succeeding his father as Baron de Montfort in 1181. In 1199, while taking part in a tournament, he heard Fulk of Neuilly preaching the 4th Crusade and decided to "take up the Cross" along with his brother, Guy (who had been on the 3rd Crusade already), and Count Theobald de Champagne.

Certain actions of the 4th Crusade were not to his liking, however. For one thing, on behalf of Venice and at the direction of Doge Enrico Dandolo, the Crusade was diverted to attack the city of Zara—a Christian city—on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Montfort was opposed to this, and the "mismanagement" of the Crusade; he chose to break away from the main Crusading body. In the words of a contemporary chronicler who was with the 4th Crusade:
Then there befell an adventure which weighed heavily upon the host; for one of the great barons of the host, by name Simon of Montfort, had made private covenant with the King of Hungary, who was at enmity with those of the host, and went to him, abandoning the host. With him went Guy of Montfort his brother, [...], and the abbot of Vaux, who was a monk of the order of the Cistercians, and many others. And not long after another great lord of the host, called Enguerrand of Boves, joined the King of Hungary, together with Hugh, Enguerrand's brother, and such of the other people of their country as they could lead away.
These left the host, as you have just heard; and this was a great misfortune to the host, and to such as left it a great disgrace. 
[Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade, Geoffrey de Villehardouin]
Geoffrey probably had personal reasons for declaring this a disgrace (some of the mismanagement of the Crusade can be laid squarely at his feet), but Montfort clearly could not countenance a Crusading army attacking Christians. Neither could Pope Innocent III, who excommunicated the attackers' actions.*

Montfort was a supporter of the new Dominican order, having known its founder Dominic Guzman, and a devout Christian. After returning to Europe, Montfort was instrumental in the Albigensian Crusade in 1209, a war against the Cathars. (The Cathars were considered heretics for some of their unorthodox ideas.) He was a good tactician and a ruthless leader, willing to carry out orders from the Church no matter how harsh, such as when in 1210 he had 140 Cathars burned alive at Château de Minerve, a Cathar stronghold.

For his efforts, King Philip Augustus granted him the lands of Raymond of Toulouse, who was in Aragon. The difficulty was that Toulouse did not want to be handed over to someone else, so Montfort needed to besiege Toulouse in order to take control. After nine months of siege, Montfort was killed by a rock to the head thrown by a type of catapult called a mangonel.

He died on 25 June 1218, 796 years ago today.

*We will look at the 4th Crusade a little more tomorrow.