Feast of the Translation of Our Holy Father Saint Dominic

Heaven works the way it wants.  Despite Holy Father Dominic's sincere, humble wishes in his burial, and the best efforts of the Friars to keep miraculous happenings and pious attentions quiet, they knew when to give in when Heaven had other ideas!

Today all Dominicans remember the translation of St. Dominic's relics from his original tomb to a new one on this day in A.D. 1233, which also began the process of his canonization.

Blessed Jordan of Saxony wrote of this:

In its unsearchable wisdom the divine goodness is often accustomed to delay the manifestation of virtue, not that it might slip into oblivion, but rather that after having been hidden, it may be revealed more abundantly at an opportune moment. Whether God wished to so provide greater benefits for the Church or whether for some other reason, certain brothers whose simplicity outweighed their prudence decided that it would be quite sufficient if the glory of Saint Dominic, the servant of the Most High and the founder of the Order of Preachers, were known to God alone. They decided it was not worth the effort to bring that glory to the attention of others.

O God, who has vouchsafed to enlighten Thy Church by the merits and teachings of Thy blessed Confessor, our Holy Father, Saint Dominic, grant at his intercession that it may never be destitute of temporal help, and may always increase in spiritual growth. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Feast of the Translation of our Holy Father Saint Dominic

O God, who has vouchsafed to enlighten Thy Church by the merits and teachings of Thy blessed Confessor, our Holy Father, Saint Dominic, grant at his intercession that it may never be destitute of temporal help, and may always increase in spiritual growth. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Tomb of St. Dominic

Saint Dominic

Today is the feast of St. Dominic on the Ordinary calendar!


In St. Catherine of Siena's Diaglogue, God the Father said of St. Dominic:

My only-begotten Son devoted His whole life, all His acts, His teaching and His example to the salvation of souls. Dominic, my adopted son, had directed all his mind and all his efforts to saving souls from the snares of error and vice: that was the chief object which led him to plant and therefore I tell you that in all his acts he may be compared to My Begotten Son.

Memorare to St. Dominic

Remember, O most dear and holy Father St. Dominic, that, at the close of thy mortal career, thou didst raise thy pure hands to heaven and pray: “Holy Father, since by thy mercy I have ever accomplished thy will, and have kept and preserved those whom thou hast given to me, now I recommend them to thee : do thou keep them, do thou preserve them.'' Animated with unbounded confidence in thee. O tender Father, I cast myself at thy feet, beseeching thee to plead still for thy poor helpless children, to protect us amidst the dangers of om- earthly pilgrimage, to guard and keep us. Be mindful, O great Father, of the comforting assurance thou didst make in thy last moments to thy weeping brethren, promising that after death thou wouldst assist thy children.

A little child takes a long time to recognize its father. At last, however, the moment comes when it fixes its eyes upon the manly figure towards which its mother has persistently directed its attention, and says: "Daddy!" On the day when we made our Dominican profession we, too, recognized our Father St. Dominic. He is more truly our father than was ever our parent according to the flesh. St. Dominic is as far superior to our earthly father as the soul is superior to the body.
--- "The Veneration Due to Our Patriarch" by F.D. Joret, O.P.