Church History, Volume 2 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
History
Church History, Volume 2 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
general chapter of the order met at Bologna in A.D. 1220. There
the vow of poverty, which was hitherto insisted upon only in
the sense of all the earlier orders as a mere abandonment of
property on the part of individuals, was put in a severer form,
so that even the order as such kept itself free from every kind
of possession of earthly goods and revenues, except the bare
cloister buildings, and exhorted all its adherents to live
only on begged alms. Thus the Dominicans, even earlier than the
Franciscans, whose rule then permitted begging only in case of
need, constituted themselves into a regular mendicant order.
Dominic, however, chose voluntary poverty for himself and
his disciples, not like St. Francis simply for the purpose of
securing personal holiness, but rather only to obtain a perfectly
free course for his work in the salvation of others. The official
designation, “=Ordo fratrum Prædicatum=,” was also fixed at this
chapter.[286] At the second general chapter, in A.D. 1221, there
were already representatives from sixty cloisters out of eight
provinces. Dominic died soon after, at Bologna, on 6th August,
1221, uttering anathemas against any one who should corrupt his
order by bestowing earthly goods upon it. He was canonized by
Gregory IX. in A.D. 1233. His immediate successor, Jordanus,
wrote his first biography, adorned, as we might expect, with
endless miracles.
§ 98.8. According to the constitutional rules of the order,
collected and revised by the third general of the order,
Raimund de Pennaforte, about A.D. 1238, the general who stands
at the head of the whole order, residing at Rome, _magister
generalis_, is elected to office for life at the general chapter
held annually at Pentecost, and he nominates his own _socii_ as
advisory assistants. The government of the provinces is conducted
by a provincial chosen every four years by the provincial chapter,
assisted by four advisory _definitores_, and each cloister elects
its own prior. The mode of life was determined by strict rules,
severe fasts were enjoined, involving strict abstinence from
the use of flesh, and during particular hours of the day absolute
silence had to be observed. In the matter of clothing, only
woollen garments were allowed. The dress consisted of a white
frock with white scapular and a small peaked capouch; but outside
of the cloister a black cloak with capouch was worn over it. From
the favourite play upon the name Dominican, _Domini canes_, in
contrast to the dumb dogs of Isaiah lvi. 10, the order adopted
as its coat of arms a dog with the torch of truth in its mouth.
The special vocation of the order as preachers and opponents of
heresy required a thorough scientific training. Every province
of the order was therefore expected to have a seminary capable
of giving a superior theological education to the members of
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