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 800th Anniversary of the Founding of the Dominican Order Scott 1635 (2016) Beginning in July of 2023, and continuing through January of 2025, the Dominican Order began the celebration of a Double Jubilee Year. The celebration is focused on the outstanding contributions of one of the giants of Christian theology, Saint Thomas Aquinas. One of the thirty-seven Doctors of the Church, Saint Thomas is referred to as the Angelic Doctor. The Double Jubilee Year started on July 18, which marked the 700th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The jubilee will continue through January 8, 2025, which will be the 800th anniversary of the saint’s birth. The Dominican Order was established by Saint Dominic de Guzman in 1216. The Order, formally entitled the Order of Preachers, was approved by Pope Honorius III. Based on the Rule of Saint Augustine, Saint Dominic hoped to create a balance between contemplation and action, which included prayer, fraternal communion and preaching. The first two Dominican communities were established near Bologna, and Saint Dominic died at one of these sites on August 6, 1221.  Saint Thomas Aquinas, 7th Century of Death Scott 557a (1974) Perhaps the most famous Dominican preacher is Saint Thomas Aquinas, who landmark collection Summa Theologica to this day serves as perhaps the greatest study to affirm the Christian faith. In the twentieth century, the encyclical letters of two popes, Pope Leo XIII (with his Aeterni Patris, ‘Eternal Father’) and Pope Pius XI (with his Studiorum ducem, ‘Our Guide in Higher Studies’), focused on the works of Saint Thomas and inspired renewed interest in Thomism. Issued one hundred years ago, in 1923, on the 600th anniversary of Saint Thomas Aquinas’ canonization, Pope Pius states in Studiorum ducem: It behooves the whole of Christendom worthily to celebrate this centenary, because in honoring St. Thomas something greater is involved than the reputation of St. Thomas and that is the authority of the teaching Church. The pope’s focus on the Church as a teaching Church, as a legacy to Saint Thomas, is highlighted by other passages in the encyclical, with one in particular focusing on the purity of knowledge, taken from the Book of Wisdom (1:4): Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins. For the Dominican Jubilee Year, the Vatican is granting a plenary indulgence during this time to anyone who, while meeting the general requirements for indulgence, makes a pilgrimage to a church, chapel, or shrine connected to the Dominican Order for a jubilee celebration, or by simply spending time at one of these sites in quiet recollection. At the end of the visit, one should pray the Lord’s Prayer, recite the Creed, and invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Thomas Aquinas. REFERENCES: Michael Pakaluk, Thecatholicthing.org, July 19, 2023, St. Thomas on the Twenty-threes Peter Caracci, Vatican Notes, Volume 69, Number 387, 2021, pp. 28-33, St. Thomas Aquinas: Doctor of the Church UPN, November 17, 2016, 8th Centenary of the Foundation of the Dominican Order Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search |
