Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/433

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PREACHERS


369


PREACHERS


several preparatory houses. In the Philippines it has charge of the University of Manila, recognized by the Government of the United States, two col- leges, and six establishments; in China it administers the missions of North and South Fo-Kien; in the Japanese Empire, those of Formosa and Shikoku, besides establishments at New Orleans, at Caracas (Venezuela), and at Rome. The province of Spain has seventeen establishments in the Peninsula and the Canaries, as well as the missions of Urubamba (Peru). Since 1910 it has published at Madrid an important review, "La Ciencia Tomista". The province of Holland has a score of establishments, and the missions of Curasao and Porto Rico. Other provinces also have their missions. That of Piedmont has establishments at Constantinople and Smyrna; that of Toulouse, in Brazil; that of Lyons, in Cuba; that of Ireland, in Australia and Trinidad; that of Bel- gium, in the Belgian Congo, and so on.

Doctrinal development has had an important place in the restoration of the Preachers. Several institu- tions besides those aheady mentioned have played important parts. Such is the Biblical school at Jerusalem, open to the religious of the order and to secular clerics, and which publishes the "Revue Biblique", so highly esteemed in the learned world. The faculty of theology of the University of Frei- burg, confided to the care of the Dominicans in ISOO, is flourishing and has about 250 students. The Collegium Angolicum, established at Rome (1911) by Hyacinth Connier (master general since 1902), is open to regulars and seculars for the study of the sacred sciences. To the reviews mentioned above must be added the "Re^oie Thomiste", founded by Pere Thomas Coconnier (d. 190S), and the ".\nalecta Ordinis Prsedicatorum" (1893). Among the numerous writers of the order in this period are: Cardinals Thomas Zigliara (d. 189.3) and Zephirin Gonzalez (d. 1891), two esteemed philosophers; Father Alberto Guillelmotti (d. 189.3), historian of the Pontifical Na\'>', and Father Heinrich Denifle, one of the most famous writers on medieval history (d. 1905).

In 1910 the order had twenty archbishops or bish- ops, one of whom, Andreas Friihwirth, formerly master general (1892-1902), is Apo.stolic nuncio at Munich (Sanvito, "Catalogus omnium provinciarum sacri ordinis prcedicatorum", Rome, 1910; "Analecta O. P.", Rome, 1893 — •; "L'AnniJe Dominicaine", Paris, 1859 — ). In the last two publications will be found historical and bibliographical information con- cerning the history of the Preachers during the con- temporaneous period.

B. The Second Order. Dominican Sisters. — The circumstances under which St. Dominic established the first convent of nuns at Prouille (1206) and the leg- islation given the second order have been related above. As early as 1228 the question arose as to whether the Order of Preachers would accept the govern- ment of convents for women. The order itself was strongly in favour of avoiding this ministry and struggled long to maintain its freedom. But the sisters found, even among the Preachers, such ad- vocates as the master general, Jordanus of Saxony (d. 1236), and especially the Dominican cardinal, Hugh of St. Cher (d. 1263), who promised them that they would eventuallj' be victorious (1267). The incorporation of monasteries with the order con- tinued through the latter part of the thirteenth and during the next century. In 1288 the papal legate, Giovanni Boccanazzi, simultaneously placed all the Penitent Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen in Germany under the government of the pro\'incial of the Preachers, but this step was not final. The convents of sisters incorporated with the order were especially numerous in the province of Germany. The statistics for 1277 show 58 monasteries already incorporated, 40 of which were in the single province XII.— 24


of Teutonia. The statistics for 1303 give 149 con- vents of Dominican nuns, and these figures increased during the succeeding centuries. Nevertheless, a certain number of monasteries passed under the jurisdiction of bishops. In the list of convents drawn up during the generalship of Serafino Cavalli (1571-78) there are only 168 monasteries. But the convents of nuns are not indicated for most provinces, and the number should really be much higher. The Council of Trent placed all the convents of nuns under the jurisdiction of bishops, but the Preachers frequently provided these houses with chaplains or almoners. The statistics for 1770 give 180 monas- teries, but they are incomplete. The revolutions, which affected the ecclesiastical situation in most Catholic countries from the end of the eighteenth cen- tury, brought about the suppression of a great many monasteries; several, however, survived these dis- turbances, and others were re-established. In the list for 1895 there are more than 150 monasteries, including some of the Third Order, which are cloistered like the Second Order. These monasteries are most numerous in Spain. In Germany the convents of nuns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries witnessed the development of an intense mystical life, and several of these houses have preserved accounts of the life of the sisters, usually in the vernacular.

The Dominican sisters, instructed and directed by an order of preachers and teachers, were remark- able not only for spiritual but also for intellectual culture. In the course of seven centuries various nuns have left literary and artistic works which bear witness to the culture of some of these monas- teries ("Script. O. P.", I, pp. i-xv; II, pp. i-xix, 830; "Bull. O. P.", passim; Mortier, "Hist, des maltres g^n^raux", passim; Danzas, "Etudes sur les temps primitifs de I'ordre de St. Dominique", IV, Poitiers-Paris (1877); "Analecta O. P.", pa.'isim; Greith, "Die deutsche Mystik im Prediger Orden", Freiburg i. Br., 1861; de Villermont, "LTn groupe mystique allemand", Brussels, 1907).

C. The Third Order. — Neither St. Dominic nor the early Preachers wished to have under their jurisdic- tion — and consequently under their responsibility — ■ either religious or lay associations. We have seen their efforts to be relieved of the government of nuns who, nevertheless, were following the rule of the order. But numerous laymen, and especially lay women, who were leading in the world a life of penance or observing continence, felt the doctrinal influence of the order and grouped themselves about its convents. In 1285 the need of more firmly uniting these lay elements and the idea of bringing under the direction of the Preachers a portion of the Order of Penance led the seventh master general, Muiion de Zamora, at the instance of Honoriu": IV, to draw up the rule known as that of the Penance of St. Dominic. Inspired by that of the Brothers of Penance, this rule had a more ecclesiastical charac- ter and firmly subordinated the conduct of the brothers to the authority of the Preachers. Honorius IV confirmed the foundation by the collation of a privilege (28 Jan., 1286). The former master general of the Friars Minor, Jerome d'Ascoli, having become pope in 1288 under the name of Nicholas IV, regarded the action of his predecessor and of the master general of the Friars Preachers as a kind of defiance of the Friars Minor who considered them- selves the natural protectors of the Brothers of Penance, and by his letters of 17 Augvist, 1289, he sought to prevent the desertion of the Brothers of Penance. Muii6n de Zamora discharged his office of master general as it had been confided to him by Martin IV. The Order of Preachers protested with all its might against what it regarded as an injustice.

The.se events retarded the development of the Dominican Third Order, a portion of the Preachers