DOMINICANS, an order of preaching friars in the Roman Catholic church (fratres founded at Toulouse in 1215 by Dominic (Domingo) de Guzman. Dom inic was born at Calahorra, in Old Castile, in 1170. He studied theology at Palencia, and in 1199 became canon and archdeacon of Osma in Castile. In 1205. along with his superior, Diego de Azebes, bishop of Osma, he began to itinerate through the s. of France, for the purpose of converting the "heretical" Albigenses; and convinced that the ignorance of the people and the worldliness of the clergy were great helps to the progress of heresy, he instituted the order which bears his name, for the express pur pose of preaching and the cure of souls. Dominic, however, found it impossible to convert the Albigenses by this method, and therefore had recourse to another. In 1208, at the instigation of Dominic, the pope proclaimed a crusade against these "heretics;" the barons of France were summoned to take part in it. and headed by De Montfort, committed horrible slaughter on these unfortunate people, The order of the D. was confirmed by Innocent HI. and Honorius III. in 1216. The members followed the rule of St. Augustine, somewhat modified; their dress was a white garment, resem liling that of the Carthusians, with a black cloak and pointed cap of the same color. In 1220 they took the vow of poverty. Dominic died at Bologna in 1221, and was can •onized by Gregory IX. in 1233. He is said to have been ordinarily not a cruel or unfeel ing man, but his religious passions were so vehement, that they entirely dried up the milk of human kindness in his heart, and his conduct towards heretics was merciless in the extreme. As early as 1206, he founded an order of Dominican nuns, which, after 1218, when the first convent was established at Rome, spread far and wide. These nuns followed the same rule as the friars, and were solemnly pledged to habits of industry. Athird Dominican order (the Knights of Christ) was established in 1224, and confirmed in 1279. It was originally a company of knights and nobles who had leagued them. selves together for the suppression of "heresy" by force of arms, but after the death of its founder, the order was changed into that of the Penitents of St. Dominic. The mem bers of this branch of the D. were also called the Tertiary Dominicans. They were not bound by any vows, but their special duties were to observe particular fasts and devo tions, and to execute great ecclesiastical judgments. They retained all their civic and •domestic privileges. There were also female Penitents of St. Dominic, a few of whom, .however, betook themselves to a conventual life, and became nuns. These few were 'chiefly in Italy; the most famous was St. Catharine of Siena. The glory of apostolic poverty, which encircled the D., the privileges which they possessed—especially of ,preaching and hearing confession—and the circumstance that as early as 1230, only 15 years after the foundation of their order, they secured a chair of theology in the great university of Paris, all helped to rapidly increase their numbers and influence. Within
:six years after their establishment, they had spread to England through one Gilbert du Fresney, and founded a monastery at Oxford. "The monks," writes a contemporary annalist, Matthew Paris, himself a Benedictine, "did not, in three or four hundred years, ascend to such a height of greatness as the friars, minors and preachers, within twenty-four years after they began to build their first house in England." Their prog ress was scarcely less rapid in Scotland, where they found a munificent patron in king Alexander II. who is said to have met St. Dominic at Paris about the year 1217. In 'Britain, the D. were called the Black .friars. In France they received the name of from the Rue St. Jacques (Lat. Jacobus) in Paris, where they first established -themselves. Their monasteries arose throughout all Christendom, and were even to be 'seen on the shores of Asia, Africa, 'and subsequently America. Their monarchical bound all the branches and congregations of the order under one grand head (magister ordinis), insured their progress and the co-operation of their efforts -to secure influence in church and state. Through their preaching and proselytizing, it is undeniable that they exercised, at the time of the foundation of their order, and for a considerable time after, an influence alike extensive and beneficial. They have pro-. -duced several great scholars and men of genius, such as Albertus Magnus; Thomas -Aquinas, the normal theologian of the Roman Catholic church; and Raymund de Pen naforte. They have, however, acquired a black reputation in history in connection with the inquisition (q.v.), in which they were the chief agents. After 1425, when they obtained permission to accept endowments, they in sonic measure refrained from beg ging, and engaged themselves more with politics and theology. Their great rivals were the Franciscans (q.v.), and the mutual of the two orders was strongly exhibited in the disputes of the Thomists and Scotists. These two orders divided between them the honor of controlling the church, and often the Catholic states of Christendom, until the rise of the Jesuits in the 16th c., who gradually drove both from the schools and the court, when the D. were compelled to return to their original vocation. Their power was, however, again revived to a certain extent in 1620, when the censorship of books was conferred on the master of the Vatican at Rome, who must always be a Dominican. In the 18th c., the order of D. possessed 1000 monasteries and convents, divided into 45 provinces, besides 12 separate congregations or sects. At present, the order flourishes only in Italy, France, Hungary, Switzerland, and America. The Dominican nuns, who are not numerous, have convents in Italy, France, Belgium, Hungary, Bavaria, and America.