xt7qjq0srg90 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0srg90/data/mets.xml Minogue, Anna Catherine, 1874- 1921  books b92-62-27078491 English [s.n., : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Dominican Sisters. Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena. Pages from a hundred years of Dominican history  : the story of the Congregation of Saint Catharine of Sienna / [by Anna C. Minogue] text Pages from a hundred years of Dominican history  : the story of the Congregation of Saint Catharine of Sienna / [by Anna C. Minogue] 1921 2002 true xt7qjq0srg90 section xt7qjq0srg90 

SAINT CATHARINE OF SIENNA

 
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         Pages from
A Hundred Years of
Dominican History
               By
       ANNA C. MINOGUE
  Author of Cardome; Borrowed From The Night;
     The Waters of Contradiction; Loretto;
         Annals of The Century.

 

3mprimatur:
DENIS O'DONOGHUE,
                 Bishop of Louisville,
                 Louisville, Ky., November 21, 1921.

 

         Pages from
A Hundred Years of
Dominican History
    The Story of the Congregation
    of Saint Catharine of Sienna
a i
            For Sale by
     FREDERICK PUSTET  CO.
NEW YORK               CINCINNATI
52 Barclay Street      436 Main Street

 

                   To
             The Memory of
THE REVEREND SAMUEL THOMAS WILSON, 0. P.
                 and of
 MOTHER ANGELA SANSBURY AND COMPANIONS
             Who Founded the
CONVENTUAL THIRD ORDER OF SAINT DONMNIC
           In the United States,
   This Volume Is Reverently Dedicated by
               The Author.



 

                     CONTENTS.
                                                    Page
CHAPTER  1. Introductory The Order of Saint Dominic... 19
CHAPTER 2. The Coming of the Friars-Catholics in Ken-
                tucky-Saint Rose Priory Founded . . . 31
CHAPTER 3. The Foundation-First Reception-Mother
                Angela Sansbury Elected.... . .    . 41
CHAPTER 4. Pioneer Days-New Home of Sisters-
                Academy of Saint Mary Magdalen Opened  53
CHAPTER 5. A Time of Trial-Father Munes Succeeds
                Father Miles-Debt Oppresses Sisters-
                Final Victory.... . .  .. . . .    . 59
CHAPTER 6. First Branch House-An Humble Friend-
                Sisters Nurse Cholera Victims ......... 71
CHAPTER 7. Development of the Society-New Chapel
                Built-Sisters Enter Tennessee Care of
                Orphans  ....   . ..  . . . . .    . 79
CHAPTER  8. Early Members of the Congregation-Mother
                Angela Sansbury-Other Prioresses   .... 91
CHAPTER 9. War Time-Sisters on Battlefield-Memxphis
                Convent Becomes Hospital .... .    . 105
CHAPTER 10.
CHAPTER 11.
CHAPTER 12.
CHAPTER 13.
Change in the Government of the Congrega-
   tion-Holy Rosary Academy-Other Foun-
   dations .119
Sisters Nurse Yellow Fever Victims-Destruc-
   tion of Saint Agnes-Distinguished Pupil 129
Mother Regina O'Meara and Her Work-
   Father Cubero, Chaplain-Visit of Mas-
   ter General.. .....                 141
Missionary Work Among Colored Children-
   Other  Schools-District  Schools-Mis-
   sions in Kentucky and Illinois  . . . . 149

 

CHAPTER 14.
CHAPTER 15.
CHAPTER 16.
CHAPTER 17.
CHAPTER 18.
CHAPTER 19.
CHAPTER 20.
CHAPTER 21.
Missions in the East and West-Silver Jubilee
   -Progress of Schools in Nebraska .... 159
Improvements and Other Events at the
   Mother House-Acceptance of New Rule
   -Dominican Fathers Withdraw as Chap-
   lains .175
The Fire-Sisters and Pupils Homeless-
   -Friends Hasten to Help-Saint Cath-
   arine Rises from Ruins .185
New Missions-Academy at Hastings, Nebras-
ka-Death of Mother Agnes Hunt    . . . . 205
The Congregation Approved by Rome-Mother
   Francesca Kearney-New    Schools . . . 217
Sisters Again Become Nurses-Account of
   Work at Camp Zachary Taylor-Mining
   Towns Visited .233
Chaplains and Friends Among the Clergy  . . 247
Educational Ideals .267
   Appendix .278



 

                  ILLUSTRATIONS.
St. Catharine of Sienna........   . ..  . .   . Frontispiece
Our ilIoly Father St. Dominic.... . . .   . Facing Page 18
Bishop Fenwick   .   .   .                              36
First Convent -Called Bethany .   .  .   .  .   .  . 44
Group of Early Members .   .   .  .  .  .   .  .  .  . 48
St. Magdalen Chapel   .   .  .   .  .   .  .  .   .  . 56
Bishop Miles             .    .   .   .              . 64
St. Catharine in 1830           .   .    .           . 72
Interior of Chapel Dedicated in iSIS        .           84
Some of the Superiors  .   .  .  .   .  .  .   .  .  . 92
Group of Early Memnbers   .  .   .  .  .   .  .   .  . 100
St. Catharine in 1870           .   .   .            . 108
Holy Rosary Academy, Louisville, Ky...     .      ..120
St. Catharine in 1894   .                              132
St. Agnes Academy, Memphis, 1922                     . 136
After the Fire, January 3, 1904                      . 144
Paper House after the Fire             .             . 146
St. Catharine in 1922                                . 152
Main Entrance       ..156
St. Dominic Academy, Waverly, Mlass.     .   .       . 160
Spalding Academy, Spalding, Nebr.     .   .   .      . 168
Salve Procession, Chapel, 1922    .  .   .   .       . 180
Rectory and Guests' House     .   .   .   .  .       . 188
Grotto of Lourdes             .     .    .   .       . 196
Immaculate Conception Academy, Hastings, Nebr.       . 208
First Council  .  .   .   .   .   .                    224
Conservatory of Music, Memphis, Tenn. .  .  .  .  .  . 228
Scenes in Lourdes Park   .   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 240
Sacred Heart Acaiemy, Watertown, Mass.   .   .   .   . 256
Dominicans Undei the Mantle of Our Blessed Mother
. 272

 
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                 FOREWORD.
    In presenting this history of the first establish-
ment in the United States of the Conventual Third
Order of Saint Dominic, we ask the indulgence of our
readers for its shortcomings. What Bishop Spalding
said of the Dominican Fathers in Kentucky, "They
did much and wrote little, " is applicable also
to the founders and first members of Saint Catharine
of Sienna Congregation of Dominican Sisters. In the
following years, this failure of theirs to preserve the
history of their work was, in a measure, made good,
and reliable accounts of the early days of the commu-
nity were gathered from various sources, while a rec-
ord of its current history was kept. But these were
destroyed by the fire in 1904. The Book of Profes-
sions, which happened to be in the novitiate and
which was carried out by one of the novices on that
dreadful January night that saw Saint Catharine of
Sienna Convent and Academy reduced to ashes, was
all that was saved of the accumulated historical rec-
ords. The sisters have since striven, as far as lay in
human power, to repair their loss. The result of their
efforts to rescue the history of eighty years from ob-
livion, as well as their fidelity in preserving the his-
tory of the succeeding twenty years, will be seen on
the pages of this book.
    The author wishes to express her gratitude to
the superior general of Saint Catharine of Sienna
Congregation, the Reverend Mother Francesca Kear-
ney, and to Sister Margaret Hamilton for their many

 

FOREWORD
courtesies and great assistance in preparing this
book. Sister Margaret had gathered the fugitive
leaves of the history of the Congregation into an or-
derly arrangement, which relieved the author of a
hard part of the work. In her research, extending
over several years, Sister Margaret received great as-
sistance from the oldest members of the Congrega-
tion, from the archivists of the various academies and
missions, from old friends and pupils of Saint Catha-
rine Academy. She is also deeply indebted for
assistance in her work to the Reverend Domini-
can Fathers of Saint Joseph Province, especially
its archivist, the Rev. Victor O'Daniel, and to the
Sisters of Nazareth, who placed at her disposal the
files of Catholic periodicals! preserved at their
mother-house near Bardstown, Kentucky.
    But while deploring the loss of the records of her
life, we do not require them to assure us that Saint
Catharine Congregation has ever been true to the
Dominican ideal, with all that that implies. Her
present history so informs us. In her century of ex-
istence she has faithfully performed her God-ap-
pointed work; in the school to which she is dedicated;
in the military hospital and plague-infested places,
when there was need for her services. By her, in-
numerable souls have been led to God. For that pur-
pose she came into existence. That she has been
faithful to it during these hundred years, is her
greatest tribute, her highest praise.
                       Anna C. Minogue.
Dinmore Park, Latonia, Kentucky.
12

 

PREFACE
    This is an age of students and writers of his-
tory. Perhaps, indeed, no other era has ever had so
many scholars devoted to this study. Nor is the
reason far to seek. History is one of the most use-
ful and practical of the sciences. Through its pages
the life of the world and its peoples passes before
us in kaleidoscopic picture, affording us an endless
field of information that is not only highly prof-
itable, but likewise fraught with a human inter-
est to which few other sciences can lay claim. The
diligent historian comes into contact with all races,
and lives the life, so to express it, of past genera-
tions within the brief span of his own.
    History may be called psychology translated in-
to action, for it reveals the souls of men as related
in their deeds. It is this, in fact, that makes it one
of the most impelling of the sciences. The inter-
est is all the greater in proportion to the numbers
and principles involved. Thus the history of an
entire nation, other things being equal, affords the
reader more pleasure than that of a part of it. Simi-
larly, perhaps nothing appeals so strongly to the
human heart as does the story of a struggle in the
cause of justice and right, or of charity, religion
and humanity.
    No branch of history contains greater interest,
or affords more instruction, than does that which
is known as annals or chronicles. Such chronologi-

 

cal registers of events and facts give the unbroken
thread of the life of a nation or community-a
straight, orderly record of its ups and downs, its
struggles for existence or for good, its failures and
accomplishments. They delight the student or read-
er at the same time that they store his mind with
useful knowledge, suggest wholesome thoughts, and
inspire the courage to imitate the noble example of
those who thus pass in review before the mental
vision. Perhaps no other study is better calculated
to teach the righteous-minded the wisdom, even
from a mere human point of view, of singleness of
purpose and honest action.
    Pages from a Hundred Years of Dominican
History belongs to the category of annals' The
author of the book makes little attempt at rhetorical
display but this is in keeping with the quiet, self-
sacrificing lives led by the members of the institu-
tion whose story she traces-Saint Catharine of
Sienna, near Springfield, Kentucky. Indeed the sim-
ple, easy style in which the volume is written lends
an added charm to the narrative of the life-work
of a body of religious women that cannot fail to be of
no small interest to American readers. The Church
of Kentucky is the mother of three of our most noted
communities of sisters, Loretto, Nazareth and Saint
Catharine of Sienna. All three were American-born.
There, too, was matured the design of establishing
the Xaverian Brothers, although it was conceived
and given birth in Belgium. The history of early
Catholicity in the state of Kentucky is as a chap-
PREFACE
14

 

PREFACE
ter on heroism. Nor are its least charming pages those
which treat of the foundation and labors of the Do-
minican Sisters of Saint Catharine of Sienna.
    Whilst Saint Catharine's was likely the first
in design, owing to the poverty and busy lives of its
founders, it did not come pinto existence until a
decade of years after Loretto and Nazareth had en-
tered upon their noble work. To this circumstance
is largely due the slowness in the early growth of
the institution. The field of labor to which the sis-
ters were devoted was already occupied, and voca-
tions had been started in other directions. However,
though few in numbers, its members consecrated
themselves with a spirit of heroic self-sacrifice to the
service of God and to the betterment, both spiritual
and temporal, of their neighbor.
    The extraordinary single-mindedness with which
these good women followed the spirit of their Order,
and carried on the work of their calling, reminds
one of the lives led by the nuns of Prouille, the first
community founded by the chivalrous Saint Dom-
inic. Their one purpose was to sanctify their own
souls, to bring others nearer to the Blessed Master,
and to spread His kingdom on earth. To effect this
end, no privation was too great, no toil too hard or too
menial. While the sisters' specific work was the edu-
cation of girls in their academies and the conducting
of parochial schools, the poverty of pioneer days
necessitated the heaviest and severest labors. These
they endured with a patience and fortitude that could
have been born only of a love of Christ. Doubtless
15

 

PREFACE
the later rapid increase of the community in numbers
was largely heaven's reward for its spirit and the
holy lives led by its early members.
    By priority of foundation Saint Catharine is
the proto-community of the various establishments
of Dominican Sisters scattered throughout the
length and breadth of the country. Of many, by
division and subdivision, she is the mother. Taken
collectively these institutions form an aggregate
which few other orders of women equal either in num-
bers or in good accomplished. With the numerical in-
crease of the American daughters of Saint Dominic
has come a corresponding variety in their work,
which to-day embraces every sphere of Christian edu-
cation, active charity and spiritual endeavor.
    Thus the tender plant of Saint Dominic which
Father Samuel T. Wilson took under his paternal
care, and watched over with eager solicitude from
Saint Rose's, near Springfield, Kentucky, has grown
into a giant tree whose spreading branches cast their
benevolent shadows into nearly every portion of the
United States. Few of our dioceses there are, wheth-
er great or small, that have not a colony of Domini-
can Sisters. Some have many. Everywhere these
religious women regard Father Wilson and Bishop
Edward D. Fenwick, in a broad sense, as their spiri-
tual fathers. Everywhere they give themselves heart
and soul to their vocation, which is the salvation of
their fellow-man. Few there are who will deny that
in the United States our nuns, through their parochi-
al schools, are real apostles of the faith. No order
16

 

of our sisters is more extensively or more effectually
engaged in this noble mission than are the spiritual
daughters of Saint Dominic, whose lives are princi-
pally devoted to the work of Christian education as
their way of bringing souls to God and of advancing
the cause of religion. Among these, Saint Catharine's
occupies a conspicuous place. It is one of the glories
of Kentucky's Church.
    To tell the story of Saint Catharine's founda-
tion, growth and labors during the first century of
its existence, which it has just rounded out, is the
message of Pages from a Hundred Years of Domini-
can History. The work is an edifying tale of gen-
erous sacrifice and high-minded endeavor in the
cause of the Lord. When success is measured by
eternal values (and these, after all, are the only
true values), the greatest success in life is that
achieved by the servants of God. The world at all
times needs the stimulating example of such persons,
to-day perhaps, more than ever before. Their lives
are as books from which all may learn lessons of the
most practical wisdom. This makes the present vol-
ume both timely and useful.
    Doubtless, saints there were in the community,
but they practiced none of those extraordinary and
superhuman things which repel rather than attract
the multitudes, through sheer despair of ever reach-
ing the heights of holiness attained by some of God's
elect. The sisters were human beings contending
with human conditions. Their human nature offered
trials against which, like the rest of us, they were
obliged to combat. Brave Christian women that they
PREFACE
17

 

PREFACE
were, they confronted difficulties with a perseverance
and a submission to the will of God that brought
sanctity to their souls and success to their chosen
field of labor. One could not wish a more salutary
example than that set by these Sisters of Saint Dom-
inic.
    All this renders Pages from a Hundred Years
of Dominican History the more consoling. The story
is told with a simplicity of style and candor of mind
that draw the reader and hold his attention. It
quickens 'a love for the religious life, the while
it inspires courage. It will convince many a young
lady that she can lead such a life-mayhap be the oc-
casion of realizing not a few vocations. Fortunately,
the conventual archives and other first-hand docu-
ments are permitted to tell their own tale. This is
the safest way of avoiding the personal bias often so
inimical to historical accuracy.
    The Catholic history of the United States has
been all too much neglected. Happily many of the
notable gaps are gradually being filled. It is to
be hoped that the volume before us will be an in-
centive for other works along the same lines, as our
communities celebrate their centenaries. Only when
the lacunae are bridged over, can we expect a com-
plete history of our American Church and of the in-
stitutions which have contributed so largely to its
making. Such a record, well written, would make us
all the prouder of our religion. Catholics have ex-
ercised a strong influence in the molding of American
ideals, no less than played a glorious part in the his-
tory of the republic.
                        V. F. O'DANIEL, 0. P.
18



 

OUR HOLY FATHER SAINT DoMINIC

 
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CHAPTER I
                INTRODUCTORY
            The Order of Saint Dominic
      . .... And there was bom
      The loving minion of the Christian faith,
      The hallow'd wrestler, gentle to his own,
      And to his enemies terrible........
      ........ ; and so they called him Dominic.
      And I speak of him as a laborer
      Whom Christ in his own garden chose to be
      His helpmate. Messenger he seemed and friend
      Fast knit to Christ,"-DANTE, Paradiso, Canto XII.
    The Dominican Order, as its name implies, is the
handiwork of Saint Dominic, "the hallow'd wrestler"
as Dante called him. Few saints have been endowed
with a character and personality so strongly marked,
or with a spirit so admirably adapted to the great
and noble work which Almighty God called upon him
to perform, as was our Holy Father Saint Dominic.
Yes, great and holy must have been the founder of
the Order, which, after more than seven hundred
years of mingled prosperity and adversity, still lives
and provides for the shifting needs of the times.
When Saint Dominic drew up the Constitution of the
Order, he gave to it an elasticity which rendered it
adaptable to all times and to all peoples, so that the
Order in the restless twentieth century is as useful as
it was in the glorious thirteenth.

 

20     A HUNDRED YEARS OF DOMINICAN HISTORY
    In the year 1206, Saint Dominic was sent by
King Alphonso IX of Spain on a mission which took
him through southern France, the stronghold of the
Albigensian heresy. Saddened at the sight of the
havoc wrought by this insidious sect on the faith and
morals of the people, Saint Dominic burned with zeal
to reclaim them for Christ. From this time he
cherished the desire of spending himself for the con-
version of the heretics, and of instituting an Order
which would have for its motto, "Omnia ad salutem
animarum."
    Saint Dominic returned by way of Rome and was
commissioned by Pope Innocent III to assist in com-
bating the Albigensian heresy in Languedoc. It was
in the early summer of 1206 that Saint Dominic first
climbed the steep road between the meadows and
vineyards that lead to the quaint old village of
Fanjeaux. Here he began his labors in France.
If the medieval world was saved from the mighty
Albigensian heresy, it was in large part due to the
great courage and burning zeal of this holy
man of Caleruega, who with wisdom and foresight,
threw up the impregnable dikes of Catholic
teaching and morality against the dark waters of
heresy that rushed onward and downward. Others
before him had tried to stem the tide, but their efforts
had been unsuccessful because they had failed to
measure the strength of the forces opposing them.
    When Saint Dominic entered the plains of
Languedoc, to combat this heresy, he studied
the strength of his foes, their methods of warfare and

 

THE ORDER OF SAINT DoMINIc
plan of campaign, before taking up his sword in de-
fence of the Church. The Albigensian heresy had
made very deep inroads on the faith of the women,
among whom it numbered many of its most earnest
propagators. The sect maintained several schools for
girls and young women, and in this early training
Saint Dominic perceived the secret of the peculiar
success of the heretical faction. To counteract this
tremendous influence, he determined to found a con-
vent to mold and protect the faith of the women con-
verts that God granted him to make. Every day he
saw more clearly that a convent must be founded,
but where he knew not. On the evening of July 2,
1206, in a lonely spot just outside Fanjeaux, the Saint
was praying for direction and guidance in the found-
ing of this new convent, when suddenly a globe of fire
darted downward and rested on a spot about a mile
and a half distant on the plain. This remarkable oc-
currence happened several days in succession. Saint
Dominic looked upon this as a direct answer to his
prayer, and concluded that God wished this first con-
vent to be founded on the spot designated. Conse-
quently Prouille was chosen as the site of the first
convent of the Second Order of Saint Dominic in the
year 1206.
    Prouille lies in a vast and richly cultivated plain,
through which flow many clear streams fringed with
long rows of willows. On the south it is shut in by
a range of hills, still covered with the remains of vast
forests which once rose to their summit. Dotted
    Life of Saint Dominic-Drane.
21

 

22     A HUNDRED YEARS OF DOMINICAN HISTORY
here and there are villages and farm houses, with
many a church tower rising towards heaven against
the clear blue sky. This plain stretches for many
miles toward the east and toward the west, but on
the north it is bounded by what is called the Black
Mountains, the slopes of which in the time of Saint
Dominic were covered with a thick forest. Here in
this plain, a little village constructed principally of
mud houses, then clustered around the church of
Saint Martin, which for a long time had been the re-
sort of pilgrims. The first abode of the nuns consisted
of a few of these mud cottages, which they occupied
until the reception to the habit. It was on the feast
of Saint Cecilia in the year 1206, that Saint Dominic
gathered together his first religious (nine in number)
whom, by the authority of the Bishop of Toulouse,
he clothed in the habit he had chosen for them, a
white woolen tunic and a black mantle and veil. At
this time, they were established in their new home
of which the land and buildings had been given by
generous and loyal friends, notably the saintly
Bishop of Toulouse, the Bishop of Osma, and the
Chatelaine of Fanjeaux.
    Saint Dominic gave them the Rule of Saint
Augustine, and added a Constitution drawn up by his
own pen. Besides the hours devoted to prayer and
the recitation of the Divine Office, it also provided
that a certain time each day be given to manual work,
that is to spinning, sewing, painting and decorating,
in order the better to avoid idleness, the cause of so
many evils. The sisters gave themselves whole-
heartedly to a life of contemplation and intercession

 

TmEi ORDER OF SAINT DOMINIC
for the Church and the world; they prayed especially
for the work of Saint Dominic and the brethren. It
was by means of such prayer, but especially of the
Rosary that the heresy was suppressed. Enlight-
ened from on high, the Saint understood that
this form of prayer would be the most pow-
erful weapon for overcoming the enemies of
the  Church   and   defeating   their  impiety.    The
event proved that he was right; for, in fact,
the use of the Rosary having been spread and
practiced according to the instruction of Saint Dom-
inic, piety, faith and concord once more flourished,
the enterprises of the heretics failed, their power
gradually decreased and a vast number of souls re-
turned to the true faith. Another prayer recom-
mended by the holy founder, and dear to the heart of
every child of Saint Dominic is the "Salve Regina."
This, too, was used in the first foundation at Prouille,
a description of which I quote from "In Saint Dom-
inic 's Country. "
    "Behind the grille which completely fills in the eastern
arch of the sanctuary, the unseen nuns are singing 'Nunc Dimit-
tis.' A sweet voice in the invisible choir gives the blessing, and
there is an instant of supreme silence. Then on the wings of a
wonderfully thrilling voice, rises the petition, 'Salve Regina.'
Whoever has heard it once longs to hear it again, that marvelous
'Stalve' rising and falling in tender greeting, '0 dulcis Virgo
Maria' sung as Saint Dominic's eldest daughters sang it at
Prouille. And then, '0 Lumen,' which means so much
more there than elsewhere that one's eyes fill with tears.
'Praedicator gratiae, Nos junge beatis' plead the soft voices of
the choir, and one thinks for a moment of the life of penance
behind that grille, and what the prayer of each of those nuns
must mean to the Church "
   In Saint Dominic's Country-C. M. Anthony.
23

 

24     A HUNDRED YEARS OF DOMINICAN HISTORY
     Saint Dominic continued to traverse the country
 and gradually his magnetic personality, so fiery, so
 impassioned, but withal so gentle and so sweet, drew
 about him a small number of men who threw them-
 selves zealously into the work of the saint. In this
 little band he saw the nucleus of the Order he had
 dreamed of founding to combat heresy and extend
 the empire of truth. Pope Honorius III approved the
 Order on December 22, 1216. It soon became appar-
 ent that Saint Dominic's ideals necessitated some-
 thing greater than he himself had foreseen. For by
 the circumstances of their first work, his followers
 were forced to do what Cardinal Newman has so
 graphically phrased in his "Mission of Saint Phillip,"
 "to form the whole matter of human knowledge into
 one harmonious system, to secure the alliance be-
 tween philosophy and religion, and to train men to
 the use of the gifts of nature in the sunlight of divine
 grace and revealed truth."
    In order to do this, it was necessary for
them to attend the universities, to keep them-
selves informed of all the learning of the day,
to organize their whole educational training, to
spare no pains in forming themselves into a body of
well equipped teachers. Then and then only could
they set out to accomplish their mission. From the
pulpit, whether in some great cathedral, or in the
lecture room of a university, or in the open street,
they would teach the truth. The world was going
wrong, not from the heart, but from the head. It was
not viciousness so much as ignorance that accounted

 

THE ORDER OF SAINT DOMINIC
for the evils of society. The ideals of men had be-
come perverted because they had lost the guiding
star of truth. To set right, therefore, the wrong
done by false philosophy, Saint Dominic founded the
Order of Friar Preachers.
    The convent of Prouille grew and flourished. In
1218, Saint Dominic sent Sister Blanche and seven
companions from Prouille to Saint Sixtus in Rome,
to assist in training the sisters of this second founda-
tion. Sister Blanche and two of these sisters re-
mained at Rome; the others returned to Prouille.
Saint Dominic and the brethren lived at Saint Sixtus
until the convent at Santa Sabina was ready to re-
ceive them. It was here that some of Saint Dominic's
most wonderful miracles were wrought. The great
Dominican scholar, Vincent of Beauvais, relates that
one day the brethren who had been sent into the city
to beg, returned empty-handed. Giacoma del Miele,
who filled the office of procurator, came to the holy
Father to represent the case, saying that there was
absolutely nothing to set before the brethren, then
forty in number, save a few crusts of dry bread. Saint
Dominic, full of joy and holy confidence, commanded
him to assemble the religious in the refectory and to
distribute to them the bread he had. The brethren
sat down to table, and were preparing to content
themselves with the crusts, when two beautiful
youths entered the refectory, carrying in the folds of
their garments, fresh loaves. These they distributed
in silence, beginning at the lower rows, one at the
right and the other at the left, and placed before each
25

 

26      A HUNDRED YEARS OF DoMINICAN HISTORY
brother one whole loaf of bread. Then, when they
had come to Saint Dominic, and had in like manner
placed an entire loaf before him, they bowed their
heads and disappeared, without anyone knowing
whence they came or whither they went. This prac-
tice of serving the younger members first is still daily
commemorated in every Dominican refectory.
    Here, too, on another occasion Saint Dominic re-
turning from his nightly vigil in the church, saw,
according to the legend, his beloved Queen of the
Rosary passing through the corridor, sprinkling the
brethren as she went, and heard in reply to his in-
quiry as to who she was, the encouraging words: "I
am she whom you invoke every evening. When you
say 'Eia ergo Advocate nostra,' I prostrate before my
Son for the preservation of the Order."
    The Order spread rapidly into all the countries
of Europe. The foundation at Madrid was the third
convent of the Second Order established by Saint
Dominic. The singular interest with which he
watched over this foundation is evidenced by the let-
ter which, after his departure, he addressed to the
nuns on hearing of their taking possession of their
new convent. This letter possesses a special value as
being almost the only authentic fragment of his
writings which has been preserved to posterity.
    Brother Dominic, Master of the Friar Preachers, to the
Prioress and Sisters of the convent of Madrid, health and increase
in all virtue;
    We rejoice greatly at the report we have received of your
conversion and give thanks to God that he has. delivered
    This letter was preserved by the Cardinals of Aragon and is now in
the archives of the Order of Saint Dominic in Rome, Italy.

 

THE ORDER OF SAINT DOMINIC
you from the mire of the world. Continue, then, my daughters,
to combat your enemy with prayer and watching, knowing that
none shall be crowned save those who have fought valiantly.
Hitherto you have had no house suitable for following the religi-
ous rule, but now you have no such excuse for negligence, seeing
that you are provided with a convent in which you can carry
out every detail of the religious life. I desire therefore, that
henceforth silence be better observed in places of silence, such
as the choir, the refectory and the dormitory, and that you live
in all respects according to the Constitution that has been given
to you. Let no one go outside the enclosuie, and let no one be
admitted within it, unless it be some Bishop or Prelate who shall
come to preach or visit you. Do not neglect vigils and discipline,
and let all be obedient to the prioress. Let none waste time in
idle conversation about unnecessary things.
     And inasmuch as we cannot help you in your temporal
necessities, we desire not to burden you, nor will we permit that
any Brother should have authority to receive novices, but only
the prioress with the council of the convent. We command our
dearest Brother, who has labored so much for you and has gathered
you together in this 'holy state, that he will dispose all things
as seems best to him, to the end that your life may be ordered in
a holy and religious manner. Therefore, w