Dominican Saints and Blesseds

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The Virgin Appearing to Dominican Saints (detail). Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo_-The_Virgin_Appearing_to_Dominican_Saints(detail)_-_WGA22283.jpg.

ST. DOMINIC – St. Dominic was a Castillian priest and canon, who was born in 1170.  While on a mission with his bishop, Diego, he encountered Cathar heretics. Dominic and Bishop Diego started a mission in the south of France to convert them back to the Church.  In 1215, Dominic sought approval of Pope Innocent III to formally start a religious order dedicated to preaching against heresy.  He dedicated his remaining years to helping administer and grow his nascent order.  He died on August 6, 1221 and was canonized in 1234.

ST ALBERT THE GREAT – Albert was born somewhere around the year 1197 in Bavaria.  He was educated at the University of Padua and joined the Dominican Order in the 1220’s.  He would later teach at the University of Paris, where he found his most famous student, St. Thomas Aquinas.  He briefly served as a bishop and was then charged with preaching the Eighth Crusade. He was a scientist, philosopher, theologian, writer, and diplomat.  He died in 1280, beatified in 1622, and canonized in 1931.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS – Thomas was born in 1225 in Sicily. He began studies in Naples.  There, he was introduced to the Dominicans and decided to join them. His family resisted, and he was imprisoned by them for almost a year, until he escaped.  After joining the Dominicans, he went to Paris and studied under St. Albert.  His classmates called him “dumb ox” because he didn’t say much, but he would become a gifted theologian and wrote many important works, including the Summa Theologiae.  A mystical vision shortly before his death caused him to stop writing more, saying that all he had written seemed as if straw.  He died March 7, 1274 was canonized in 1323, and declared a doctor of the church in 1567.

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA – Catherine was born in 1347 in Siena.  She dedicated her life to God at an early age, having received numerous mystical visions from an early age.  Her parents’ wanted her to marry, but she resisted, eventually becoming a Dominican tertiary, continuing to live at home though she never married.  She experienced a “mystical marriage” to Jesus, and devoted herself to acts of charity around Siena.  She would later travel parts of Italy, advocating for clergy reform and had dictated many letters (Catherine herself was illiterate).  She also received the Stigmata. She also served as a diplomat.  She died on April 29, 1380, was canonized in 1461, and named a doctor of the Church in 1970.

ST. MARTIN DE PORRES – Martin was born in 1579 in Peru, the illegitimate son of a Spanish noble and a freed slave.  He was apprenticed to a barber-surgeon after his mother was unable to support him.  While under Peruvian law he couldn’t formally join a religious order, he was eventually allowed to take vows in the Third Order and later became a lay brother.  He became well known for his works among the poor and later a healer at an infirmary.  He was known to have performed several miraculous cures.  He died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized in 1962.

ST. ROSE OF LIMA – Rose was born in Peru in 1586.  Growing up, she began fasting and abstaining from meat at a young age and rejected all suitors.  Her father gave her a room in the house, which she rarely left, except to attend church.  Forbidden by her father from becoming a nun, she entered the Third Order and slept only a couple hours a night to better devote herself to prayer.  She also sold lace and embroidery to the poor. She died on August 24, 1617 and was canonized in 1671.

ST PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI – The Order’s newest saint, Pier was born in 1901 in Turin.  From a young age, he showed a generosity to help others, including giving his shoes to a mother and child who showed up to his family’s house begging. He had a fondness for practical jokes and was dedicated to social action, including opposing fascism. He entered the Third Order in 1922.  He developed a reputation and a mountaineer and athlete. He died of tuberculosis on July 4, 1925, was beatified in 1990, and his canonization is scheduled for September 7, 2025.