A Revolution in Monastic Life in the Middle Ages

On December 22, 1216, Pope Honorius III (r. 1216–27) promulgated the papal bull Religiosam vitam, establishing the Order of Preachers, led by its founder, Dominic de Guzmán. The Dominicans, along with the Franciscans who were approved a few years earlier, dramatically changed the face of religious life in Western Europe. While maintaining elements of traditional monastic practice, including the cloistered life, the communal life, and a commitment to praying the Divine Office, the apostolate or work of these new orders brought important innovations. Among the most significant innovations was their approach to poverty. Not only individual members but the entire Dominican Order renounced possessions and received their daily bread from the charity of others, a practice which led to their being called “mendicants” or beggars. In addition, the mendicants renounced a vow of stability binding them to a single monastery or convent, and consequently members were freely sent as needed beyond diocesan, regional, or state boundaries. This freedom of movement facilitated another, more controversial change to tra-ditional modes of monastic life. As the title “Order of Preachers” implies, the Dominican mission was to preach the Word, a role traditionally assumed solely by bishops. The challenge of the Albigensians and other rebellious groups of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries motivated Pope Honorius to endorse this new initiative, with the intention of supporting rather than abrogating the bishop's role as preacher. Dominic and his Dominican brothers were set for the task: a band of preachers living religious vows and, as the original constitutions state, “established from the beginning, for preaching and the salvation of souls.” This required a life dedicated solely to study and to preaching the truth, veritas, one of the Dominican mottos.

Dominic's Early Life: Of Dogs and Dead Skins

In the year 1169 (possibly 1170), in the small town of Caleruega in Castiglia, Spain, a woman pregnant with child had a vision. She dreamt that the life within her took the form of a dog, running round the globe with a lighted torch in its mouth, setting the world ablaze. The woman was Jane of Aza, wife of Felix de Guzmán.